5:25 PM -- New Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rules may toss a monkey wrench the size of Montana into the set-top market, but that's not stopping Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) and Motorola Inc. (NYSE: MOT) from testing some new, less energy-sapping boxes. (See FCC Floats 'Simple' Gateway, CableCARD Rules .)

Verizon says it will try out two models -- the Moto QIP7232 and QIP7100 -- in some select FiOS TV markets later this year (they're not being more specific on when or where) that, they proclaim, are 30 percent more energy efficient than what's out there today.



The QIP7232 is the DVR of the duo, and sports 320 gigabytes of storage -- about twice as much as the previous generation. The box packaging, meanwhile, will also be 100 percent recyclable and made from 75 percent recycled cardboard, they say.

Taking the green thing further, the boxes will be free of lead, cadmium, mercury, and other "substances of concern."

— Jeff Baumgartner, Site Editor, Light Reading Cable