BH creates a sexy Set-Top Design for Cram’s Venu

Multi-media content provider Cram approached BH to help develop a new concept in a set-top A/V accessory, a portable SATA hard drive player with 4 levels of electronic and mechanical security to keep the contents safe from piracy. BH worked closely with Cram to develop very substantial security measures that were required to attract media giant partners such as Sony Pictures. These included a substantial tamper-resistant outer housing, mechanical chipset "vault" inside the housing, electro-mechanical integrity grid inside the vault. and finally a robust encryption algorithm.

Once the security measures were approved by industry partners, BH developed the industrial design for VENU. The design language needed to be high-tech, modern and impressive but also aesthetically "quiet" to reside in a home environment. A simple black-on-black form was selected, using materials, texture and lightpipe illumination to set the stage for the unique device.

Finally, BH was asked to develop a semi-functional appearance model in just 4 weeks for the Consumer Electronics Show to launch the initiative. This required an automated glide-in and eject hard drive mechanism using solenoids and embedded controller. The edge-lit lightpipe and backlit interface touch keys were also custom designed to complete the user experience.

Duration- 6 months