Dish Network have announced their latest set-top box, the 722s High Definition PVR, which features the company’s collaboration with Sling Technologies. The 722s basically includes a Slingbox media streamer and a Slingcatcher, to show internet-based video on your HDTV. There’s also a Yahoo!-branded internet browser and a remote with a touchpad.
According to Crave UK, Sony are looking to release their PlayTV digital TV receiver accessory for the PS3 in September this year. The tuner uses the digital terrestrial service, for instance Freeview in the UK or TDF in France, plugging into one of the console’s USB ports and turning it into a PVR. Crave had some hands-on time with the system recently, and have produced a pre-release run through.
Sony has announced three new combination DVD recorder and hard-drive PVRs, boasting direct digital copying from compatible camcorders, 1080p upscaling and a choice of analogue or digital TV tuners. The RDR-HX1080 and RDR-HXD1090 both come with a 500GB hard-drive, enough for 1420 hours of recordings at the lowest quality level (or 73 hours at HQ+ maximum quality). The HXD1090 and HXD1095 both have a DVB-T digital terrestrial tuner alongside their analogue tuner.
TV addicts looking for PVR functionality on their PS3 will have to wait a while longer for Sony’s PlayTV device, is the official statement from the company. PlayTV, which is a twin-tuner accessory compatible with over-the-air digital TV – such as the Freeview system in the UK – was first announced at the Leipzig games show in Germany last year. Amazon.co.uk recently put up a pre-order page for the gadget, pricing it at £59.99 ($118.82) for a July 31st launch; however, that has since been taken down.
It’s an HD network multimedia play that is also a PVR and HDTV Tuner. It can playback HD (and I assume SD is no problem either) content from its hard drive, USB ports, or from any computer connected to it via the local area network.
Canadian can finally enjoy the famous TiVo service as TiVo announces its availability in Canada. Tivo Series 2DT is the only device that will be sold during the launch giving Canadian consumer up to 80 hours of recording time. The set top box sells for $199 at some stores such as Best Buys and Future Shop. As for the subscription rates, TiVo said it should be close to what US consumers are paying.
TiVo service goes live in Canada [via electronista]
The fusty cynic in me still baulks at paying a monthly fee for something I could get a decent facsimile of for free, but TiVo’s latest deals – supposedly “Holiday Promotions” – do tip the balance a little further in their favour. Previously you could only get the pay-as-you-go deal if you were willing to sign up for a three year contract, but now the $12.95 package is open to everyone. Pre-pay options are rejigged too, with the biggest reduction being $50 off the one-year deal (down to $129) while the two-year is reduced $30 to $249. They’re also temporarily bringing back the “lifetime” subscription deal, priced at $399.
If you’ve ever needed to extend, distribute or generally modify your audio/visual content then you’re likely to have come across Gefen; the company has a strong back-catalogue of media extenders, KVM products and high-def converters. Now they’ve bundled up all that know-how into a home-grown PVR, that looks ostensibly like a Mac mini clone but in actual fact is a dedicated media recorder.
Here’s something I really can’t wait to get my hands on: Archos’ TV+ PVR/media streamer/web surfer, which the company were flaunting at IFA 2007. An instant competitor to the AppleTV – and, so my gut feeling says, with the potential to blow it out of the water – the compact box has a choice of 80GB or 250GB hard-drives and a plethora of connectivity including HDMI (outputting 720p Hi-Def), WiFi, USB 2.0 and ethernet.
So the iPhone is getting all the YouTube coverage for its fancy built-in video player, but how about some of that “man tripping up and crushing his genitals” footage for the rest of your home entertainment? Neuros’ OSD open-source media box has just been upgraded with YouTube flash video compatibility, not by Neuros themselves but by the fan community who follow it.
SlashGear Japan
