Designed to be compatible with the Archos DVR Station Gen 5, shown above, which is a docking station for the latest 605 and 405 PMP units, and coming complete with a rather nifty remote control with full QWERTY keyboard, altogether it adds up to what Archos are calling “the only DVR to integrate seamlessly with a portable device.”

Software plug-ins can add new funtionality to the TV+, including support for Flash (can anyone say YouTube?), while a simple to use EPG is ready out-of-the-box.  It should be available imminently, priced at £179 ($361) for the 80GB and £259 ($523) for the 250GB.

Archosfunctionality

Available in four capacities – 30GB, 80GB or 160GB using traditional hard-drives, or a 4GB flash-based version – the 605 WiFi can obviously play both music and video in a variety of formats (MP3, WAV, WMA and protected WMA; MPEG-4, WMV, protected WMV, MPEG-2, VOB, H.264) but it’ll also function as a digital video recorder (DVR) when used with the DVR Station Gen 5.  A built-in EPG makes scheduled recording straightforward, and shows are captured in MPEG-4 format for easy transfer to your PC.

Of course, having a WiFi connection means you can also locate and download content online, including paid content at Archos’ store, and if you have a home network with media shares on it you can stream those too.

Meanwhile, the Archos 405 is a video-centric PMP complete with 3.5-inch LCD screen, 2GB of built-in flash memory and an SD slot for expanding that.  It’s also compatible with the DVR Station Gen 5 for directly recording TV shows to the device, and has the same music/video/photo playback support as the 605.

If your pockets are particularly small, however – in both financial and spacial terms – then you may be curious about the Archos 105 ultra-mini media player (pdf link).  Measuring just 7mm thick, it nonetheless packs a 1.8-inch 160 x 128 colour OLED screen and 2GB of flash memory; in synchronises with Windows Media Player via USB 2.0, and comes in black, red or silver.

The 105 is available now in Europe, priced at €99.99, with worldwide availability this Fall priced at $89.99 US.

Both the 605 WiFi and 405 are available now.

Archos

It also looks to be bloody good fun at playtime, too, as this ball-rolling game shown at IFA proves.  Supporting resolutions of up to 1200 x 1600, there’s no “sweet spot” that the viewer needs to stay in; the head-tracking lenticular-screen allows for head movements in all three dimensions with little to no ghosting or image distortion.

Fraunhofer Free2C

The DMC-L10K has seemingly be designed not only as a prosumer camera but as a bridging kit for photographers moving into digital-SLR models; although it has a wide range of user-adjustable settings, it also features five preset scene modes, a Face Detection function, Intelligent ISO Control and 49-zone multi-pattern light aperture monitoring.

An industry-standard mount for alternative lenses and a 2.5-inch swing out, poseable display round out the camera.

Meanwhile, if it’s your purse or pocket that needs a new snapper, the Lumix DMC-FX33EG-K and DMC-FX55-EG-S might float your boat.  Both are boast 8.1-megapixel Leica lenses and 3.6x optical zooms, while the former has a 2.5-inch screen and the latter a 3-inch.  27MB of built-in memory is good to see, as is the SD/SDHC card slot, while the optical image stabiliser should see you producing reasonable shots. 

Both can shoot QuickTime videos at 30fps in either 16:9 widescreen or 4:3 standard, and there’s a PAL/NTSC TV-out socket so that almost nobody is safe from being bored by clips of you cavorting around a caravan site.

Panasonic

Both sets have matching subwoofers, and are available in a variety of colours.

Meanwhile, The Amp is a four-source compact amplifier offering 2 x 50W output and remote control, all in a unit that can either sit on its tripod legs or be mounted on the wall.  Two sets of stereo phono inputs and two of standard line-in jacks mean it’s equally suited for regular HiFi as DAP and iPod use.  It’s available in the same range of colours as the Scandyna speakers.

Scandyna

Each disc can store up to 7.5GB – although that works out to only an hour of highest-quality footage – and there’s a choice of resolution settings that can eke up to two hours from a single disc.  The BD7HE can be used to edit footage stored on the hard-drive without needing to hook up to a computer, and then burn it to one or more BluRay discs; alternatively you can connect via USB 2.0.  Both camcorders are also compatible with 8cm DVD media, have 10x optical zooms and 2.7-inch widescreen LCD monitors.

The BD7HE and BD70E will be available across Europe from October 2007.

Hitachi

With a range of bags, totes and sleeves for computers and cameras, as well as some deuced delightful messenger bags, Crumpler don’t hold back on the colour options.  They’re made of things like water-resistant nylon and hard- or soft-shell PVC, giving your prized possessions the expected degree of protection you’d want.

On sale now, prices start at around $45 for a laptop case and $55 for a messenger bag.

Crumpler

Both models have 3-inch super-density 920,000 dot VGA colour monitors, with 170-degree viewing angle and tempered glass covers; similarly, both have 51-point autofocus with 3D focus tracking.  The D300 can shoot up to six frames a second, while the D3 can manage an amazing nine shots a second at full FX resolution or eleven in DX-crop mode.

If extreme ISO ranges make your trouser-parts tingle, then prepare to convulse in delight at the D3′s 100 ISO to 25,600 ISO flexibility; the D300 can’t match that, but it does have the same Scene Recognition System (SRS) with intelligent auto-focus, auto-exposure and white-balancing.

Both will be available in November 2007.

Nikon D3 and Nikon D300

They’re not small, but the controls are relatively discrete being touch-sensitive and only visible when illuminated by the cool blue backlight.  Similarly, there’s a hidden red LED display on the front.  GEAR4 have thoughtfully given the BlackBox a miniUSB port so that you can download future software updates just in case a new cellphone comes out that’s incompatible.

It’ll be available soon, coming complete with a case and remote control, for around £99.99 ($202).  GEAR4 are also releasing a compact, portable version – the BlackBox Mini – which will cost half of that and can be used from an AC adaptor or batteries.

GEAR4 BlackBox Bluetooth Speaker System

Aside from traditional FM/AM radio there’s DAB and DRM support; drop in an SD card with some spare room and then you can pause and rewind broadcasts on the fly.  Support for digital radio EPG means you can schedule recordings and then transfer them to your PC.  Or, of course, you could stick a load of MP3s onto the SD card and use the DRM2009 as a big DAP.

If you’re looking for a HiFi that you could use in the kitchen and then take on a picnic, Himalaya are hoping you’ll give them a call.  It’s available now for around €249 ($340).

Himalaya DRM2009

Available in black or white, it seamlessly pauses and resumes your music at either end of a call, and you can also scroll back through the last nine calls received using the BluEye buttons and your iPod’s display.  If your cellphone supports voice dialling you can initiate that from the BluEye unit too, and they’ve even thrown in an FM radio should you be bored of all your iTunes purchases.

It’s available now priced at £49.99 ($101 at the current awful exchange rate)

GEAR4 BluEye

You won’t be seeing a PVI-branded ebook on the shelves anytime soon – they specialise in building e-paper for other companies.  Back in 2005 they bought Philips’ e-paper department making them the sole manufacturer of active matrix e-ink displays.

PVI

Available in a number of different colour finishes, including the cream seen here and a rather moody black, it has both a USB port and a headphones socket so that you can listen to music directly through the guitar itself.  Behringer bundle it with a collection of virtual amps and stompboxes for you to mangle and wangle the sound on your PC or Mac, and if you’re still learning then there are helpful features like a metronome.

It’s available now from around $179.99

Behringer CENTARI iAXE624 USB Guitar

Sunload use a flexible solar-panel that can be stitched to a fabric bag – they offer messenger bags, business bags or even a leather briefcase – and an indecently clever rechargeable battery pack with two inputs (for multiple solar panels) and three outputs (various adaptors are supplied).  It also has a built-in charger for rechargeable AA and AAA batteries, and you can charge the whole thing up via the mains if the sun isn’t being cooperative.

Sunload will also sell you the different components separately if you’re interested in making your own solar-powered bag or maybe even a solar trench-coat.  The bag range starts at around €479 ($654).

Sunload

Check out the exclusive SlashGear video of the Netgear ReadyNAS after the cut

Aimed at home offices, small businesses and workgroups, the ReadyNAS has gigabit ethernet, hardware RAID controller, system monitoring services and automatic backup, all in a box just 8-inches tall.

X-RAID is Netgear’s version of the industry standard RAID; it much simplifies setup, with new drives being automatically populated as they’re added.  That way you can start off with a single hard-drive and add to the ReadyNAS as you can afford more, without needing to do a complete re-backup of all your systems.

Mac, Windows and Linux compatibility is a given, as is the facility to have the ReadyNAS act as a print server.  There’s also one-button backup of the unit to an external, USB attached drive to make off-site backup easy.  Available in two 1TB setups (4 x 250GB drives or 2 x 500GB drives) and a 2TB unit (4 x 500GB drives) it’s available now.

Netgear ReadyNAS

In addition, there’s an FM radio, voice recorder, synchronisation support for Microsoft Outlook so that you can carry round your to-do list, contacts and calendar, photo viewer and more.  The battery is rated for 5hrs of video playback or 25hrs of audio.

Creative are making a big deal about the high-quality audio output from the ZEN, which is claimed to be 97dB SNR and as such “sounds as good as or better than many home systems”.  We’ll have to wait until we get one in to review to check that out.

The Zen will be available this month priced at €159.90 ($218), €199.90 ($273) and €299.90 ($409) for the 4, 8 and 16GB models respectively.

Creative ZEN

I’m glad to see that these are finally getting released, as it really is some pretty cool technology. Basically you can hook up a monitor to your PC using a USB 2.0 port. You can then plug in up to two more monitors into the first for a total of three while only using a single port on your PC.

While I don’t see this working out well for gamers since you generally need a dedicated GPU for most games, the monitors are capable of displaying smooth DVD playback as well as Windows Vista Aero graphics.

More footage and photos from the exhibition floor, after the cut…

Video 2 with explanation

More IFA 2007 coverage on SlashGear

More video footage – including a feature tour – and photos from the exhibition floor after the cut…

3G, a 3-inch 240 x 400 touchscreen, 5.1-megapixel Schneider-Kreuznach camera with image stabilisation, auto-focus, ISO 800 sensitivity and QVGA-quality video recording at up to an astonishing 120 frames per second round out a seriously media-focused phone. There’s also an instant YouTube upload function, to quickly add fresh video, and you can use the supplied stylus to edit and write on your photos.

LG Viewty Features:

LG Viewty Camera Demo:

With explanation:

LG Viewty Live Demo:

It’ll launch in the UK first, and we’ll be bringing you a review as soon as we get the Viewty in; keep reading SlashGear!

LG Press Release

Check out the videos after the cut

In an attempt to differentiate themselves from the competition, Route 66 are offering free map updates until 2008, free lifetime subscription to the TMC traffic update service in Europe (both models have a built-in receiver) and free safety camera database with on-the-go alerts.

Route 66 MINI:

Route 66 MAXI:

Both models are available now.

Route 66 Press Release

More SlashGear IFA 2007 coverage

More of SlashGear’s IFA 2007 coverage

Not the most exhilarating of announcements, perhaps, but worthy all the same.  The 32GB SDHC card is the world’s first high-density model, and all four new SDHC models meet the Class 4 SD speed classification meaning guaranteed 4MB/s sustained data writing.  The 16GB model will be available worldwide from October, while we’ll have to wait until January to see the 32GB and 8GB microSDHC.

Meanwhile, Toshiba are claiming their TransFlash USB memory is ideal for Windows Vista ReadyBoost purposes, although they’re yet to reveal any data performance figures.  Initially they’ll be available in 1GB, 2GB, 4GB and 8GB varieties from October, with a “Limited Edition” 32GB model landing in December. 

Prices for all are yet to be announced.

Toshiba

Sober in its compact black casing, the G9 nonetheless packs a 1/1.7-inch CCD sensor and can snap RAW images at a high enough resolution to blow up to poster-size.  The same DIGIC III processing as featured on the IXUS range makes for better colour reproduction and cleaner images when taken at high ISO speeds, and in fact the G9 supports up to ISO 1600 (with automatic ISO shift where the camera can instantly raise the ISO to reduce the risk of blurring).

It’s the manual features that set the PowerShot G9 apart, though, including 9-point AiAF and FlexiZone autofocus and autoexposure, together with face detection for AF/AE/FE and a full 25 different shooting modes.

The A650 IS, meanwhile, has the same big CCD, DIGIC III processor, ISO 1600 support and Face Detection, but fewer shooting modes (down to 21) and a smaller screen (2.5-inch compared to the G9′s 3-inch).  Its screen does, however, tilt and rotate, folding in on the camera body when not in use.  It’ll also shoot 30fps VGA movies.

Both are available now.

Canon

The GO 920 packs the new Enhanced Positioning Technology for more accurate navigation, using movement and gravity sensors to supplement – or, in the case of a lost satellite lock – GPS data.  Compatibility with TomTom’s Map Share service means users can exchange map updates based on road layout changes.  Screen real-estate is ample, thanks to a 4.3-inch touchscreen, and there’s also a Bluetooth remote control for backseat drivers.  Interestingly, voice-prompted address entry means you can tell your satnav where you want to go, rather than jabbing at an on-screen keyboard.

At the entry-level, the ONE lacks such niceties as voice-prompted address entry and Enhanced Positioning, but still gets a 3.5-inch touchscreen and 1GB of internal memory.  There’s compatibility with Map Share too, and an overhauled interface.

Both are compatible with TomTom’s new RDS-TMC Traffic Receiver, which gathers traffic information from FM radio channels, and can be used either instead of or in addition to the company’s existing TomTom PLUS Traffic service that uses a Bluetooth connected cellphone to download road conditions.  Delays and road alerts are displayed on the right-hand side of the TomTom unit’s screen, and tapping it leads to re-routing options.  The RDS-TMC Traffic Receiver is included with the GO 920 (together with a year’s subscription) or priced at $129.95 for owners of other units.

The GO 920 and ONE are available from September priced at $599.95 and $249.95 respectively.

TomTom

In addition, the 960 IS boasts a 3.7x optical zoom with optical image stabilizer, ISO 1600 and auto ISO shift for fast-moving and low-light images, and Canon’s clever DIGIC III face detection AF/AE/FE system that promises to make even casual snaps picture-perfect.  All that in a titanium body with a 2.5-inch PureColor LCD and Touch Control Dial.

Meanwhile, the 860 IS might “make do” with an 8-megapixel CCD, but it actually has a bigger LCD – at 3-inches – and the same ISO 1600/auto ISO shift support.  DIGIC III is there too, and the lens is slightly different being a 3.8x wide-angle.

Both shoot movies at VGA quality (the 960 IS adds XGA too) and have a variety of preset modes for scenarios like beach and portrait shots.  There’s also a pre- and post-shot effects processor that can be applied either during or after a shot is fired off.

Both the IXUS 860 IS and 960 IS are available now.

Still, big is beautiful and so are these displays.  Samsung’s pretty damn proud of the Smart Lighting in the F9, which can selectively turn off parts of the LED backlight to boost contrast levels to a whopping 500,000:1, while the 100 hertz refresh on the F8 supposedly makes it ideal for fast-moving sports and film.  Both of course support 1080p high-definition and resolutions of up to 1920 x 1080, and among the HDMI, component and VGA inputs there’s also a USB 2.0 socket for direct connection to a digital camera.

The F8 starts at €2,399 ($3,273) for the 40″ and €2,999 ($4,092) for the 46″, while the F9 comes in at €4,699 ($6,410) for the 52″ and a staggering €39,999 ($54,567!) for the 70″.

Samsung F8 Press Release and F9 Press Release

It’s not all good looks, however; despite being the world’s most compact printer of its type (only 11cm thick, in fact), the ML-1630 can still manage up to 16 sides of A4 a minute at up to 1,200 x 600 dpi. Meanwhile, the SCX-4500 can not only print at that speed but copy, at resolutions up to 600 x 600 dpi, while scans are completed at up to 600 x 2,400 dpi (or 4,800 x 4,800 dpi interpolated). Connection is via USB 2.0.

Both have touch-sensitive buttons and reworked menus, and will be available imminently priced at €199 ($272) for the ML-1630 and €299 ($408) for the SCX-4500.

Samsung Press Release

We might be waiting for a while to see 20mm thick sets in our living rooms, but if Sharp has anything to do with it we’ll have one of these instead. 

The XL2E range will consist of 42″, 46″ and 52″ models each supporting 1080p high-definition, 1920 x 1080 resolution and 100 hertz technology. 

They also showed a particularly pleasing hideaway LCD, which retracted into a gloss-finished cabinet.

You can see a video of the super-slim set in action here

Sharp

In terms of connectivity, Samsung supply two HDMI ports, an analog PC connection, two component, one S-Video, standard video and a RS-232C to round things off.  It’s undeniably a high-end machine, but we’ll have to wait for a release date and the inevitable high price since Samsung are keeping us in suspense (and not, like great-uncle Gordon, in suspenders).

Samsung

Not all of Vincent’s time is spent playing with the cool new gadgets. You can see from the picture above that he has to take time to get his picture taken with important people like Miss IFA 2007, who I must say is smoking hot.

Anyway, there’s a couple of other shots of her in the gallery along with a slew of gadgets, because that’s what you’re really here looking for (right?). Head on over and check it out!

Hopefully we’ll start seeing some more of these dual-format players on the market. Though with the prices falling on HD DVD players, it’s actually cheaper just to buy one of each.

Samsung’s latest product isn’t a first in the industry, Apple has been putting webcams in their iMacs for a little while now, and they are commonplace in most laptops. This does make it one of the few stand-alone monitors on the market to feature a built-in webcam. Personally, I think it’s a good idea, as that just makes one less thing for people to have cluttering up their desks.

The 225UW is a 22-inch monitor that will have a 2MP webcam, 700:1 contrast ratio and a 5ms response time. Look for it on sale soon in Europe for a little over $600 soon.

LG has announced their new line of Pause & Play TVs for the European market today. While I myself am not from Europe and have never heard of Freeview Playback certification, that’s a pretty much the standard certification for DVR systems on that side of the pond. LG has gone out of their way to make sure their latest line of TVs obtained the certification.

LG will be releasing 32, 37 and 42-inch LCD TVs as well as 42 and 50-inch plasma TVs that bear the certification soon.

The new camcorder won’t record in full HD, but then again most people don’t usually need video files of that quality. It supports resolutions up to 1920×720 and features 8GB of internal memory and an SDHC slot for additional storage. Look for it to be released in October.

The B20 will have internal storage of either 1, 2 or 4GB and you’ll be able to add your own SD card for additional storage. You’ll get up to 27 hours of battery life out of it when listening to audio files.

Well, the Power4Life won’t prevent your battery from dying completely, but it will add up to 60 additional hours of life to it. That time will vary depending on what you plug into it of course. The universal plugs that are included will allow you to use it with anything from MP3 players to laptops and includes an LED indicator to tell you how much juice it has left.

They will be releasing several different models of the Power2Charge sometime in December of this year.

The BDP-S300 and BDP-S500 will both feature 1080p output, and your friendly neighborhood Spider-man. That’s right, they’re throwing in all three of the Spider-man movies when you purchase one of the new players. The movies are included, none of that mail-in crap.

The lower-end BDP-S300 will run around £399 (much more than we pay in the US unfortunately) and will giver you 7.1 channel Linear PCM and Dolby Digital Plus Surround Sound. The BDP-S500 will set you back £599 and give you Dolby TrueHD decoding and Bit Stream Output over HDMI 1.3.

The new Aurea TV will only be available in a 42-inch size to start, though other sizes should be expected later on. It creates a more pleasing color effect that its predecessor by using two streams of LEDs around the TV. One shines through the edge of the TV itself, while the other projects light onto the surrounding wall.

In addition to cool color effects, they have also managed to cram 26 different speakers into their new TV which is supposed to give you a more enjoyable experience while watching it. Other features of the new TV include 1080p, 3 HDMI ports and the use of Philips’ new Perfect Pixel HD Engine.