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Sezmi's low cost cable / satellite premium TV alternative launches in L.A.

by Richard Lawler posted Nov 16th 2009 at 4:03PM

Ready for yet another way to watch TV? Sezmi has just gone on the air in Los Angeles, offering its unique blend of premium OTA and internet delivered video to a few limited trial users. $5 a month brings whatever local networks you can pull in, basic IPTV (YouTube, OnNetworks, podcasts) and internet VOD (CinemaNow) access, while throwing an Andrew Jackson on top of that adds "more than 100 cable TV networks," delivered via antenna. According to the L.A. Times that doesn't include any channels from the Disney or Fox family like ESPN, regional sports networks or premium movie channels, but if those are already stations you're avoiding, it's a cheaper option than most cable TV plans. Other than the allure of sticking it to the current distribution model, the 1TB DVR package includes a rather unique UI to aggregate and even seek out new shows for you from those varied sources, while maintaining individual profiles for different users. The three month trial has just the right price -- free -- so even with little info on how much high definition Sezmi's network can handle or what areas or channels will be added next, it's at least worth a look.

[Via Zatz Not Funny]

GE shows off 1TB holographic discs but Wolf Blitzer remains skeptical

by Richard Lawler posted Oct 1st 2009 at 11:04PM

We're confused as to how technology that was supposed to be available in 2006 can still be featured at an Emerging Tech conference in 2009, but so it is for General Electric's attempt at holographic storage. Predicting drives for archival purposes in two or three years with consumer products around two years after that, manager Peter Lorraine claims Blu-ray has "two to four years of life to go" and expects licensees to clean up with speedy 3ms access time, 1TB+ storing (up from a mere 200GB), backwards compatible hardware. The latter portion, plus other breakthroughs in cost and reliability are listed as reasons to believe the market will catch HVD anytime soon, but right now it's about as likely returning to a matching 2006-era MySpace page or believing Wolf was staring at anything other than a mark on the floor on Election Night.

[Via Physorg]

Western Digital 1TB DVR Expander pre-orders up at Amazon, Apricorn add-ons get a face lift

by Richard Lawler posted Apr 12th 2009 at 10:49PM


We understand, you're not ready to let go of the BSG season finale just yet even though Tiger and Phil are charging up the back nine at Augusta, but keeping a lot of HD on the DVR can fill up space quickly -- which is where these two come in. Amazon is now taking pre-orders of the long-awaited 1TB edition of Western Digital's TiVo compatible (or other eSATA enabled box) DVR Expander, although no ship date is listed, and Apricorn took our advice on its fugly 500GB, 1TB or 1.5TB sized boxes, giving them a sleek new look. It's dual USB 2.0 / eSATA compatible, but not TiVo, so Scientific Atlanta 8300, DirecTV and DISH ViP owners can claim this one at $219 for the 1.5TB, while the WD will set you back $183.

Read - Apricorn Unveils New Look for the DVR Expander
Read - Western Digital WDG1S10000N My DVR Expander 1TB eSATA (Black)

Cable customers can get SlingLoaded too with the T2200S tru2way DVR

by Richard Lawler posted Mar 30th 2009 at 3:06PM


Want a taste of the SlingLoaded DISH Network 922 DVR (pictured), without switching to satellite? Echostar, as expected, is ready to show off a tru2way compatible version of its latest box, the T2200S, this week at the Cable Show '09. The T2200S contains the 1TB hard drive, expandable storage and of course, Sling Media's placeshifting technology ready to send live or recorded TV to your Internet connected device of choice. Since it's tru2way, it's also capable of running either the SlingGuide software, or whatever middleware is chosen by the provider, and enabling remote video diagnostics, hopefully making many truck rolls unnecessary. Like the 922, we've no price or release date yet but hopefully all that work on tru2way and M-CARD means whether or not our cable company signs up, we'll still have the choice of purchasing one at retail.

Update: Looks like the box is planned to start testing June, and go into production in Q4 of 2009, the specs from the PR are after the break. [Thanks, Justin]

Continue reading Cable customers can get SlingLoaded too with the T2200S tru2way DVR

Four new Aquos Blu-ray DVRs on the way from Sharp

by Richard Lawler posted Mar 5th 2009 at 8:04AM


Sharp's back again with four more Blu-ray DVRs unlikely to ever see release here in the U.S., but all the rage in Japan. The main upgrade from last year is improved compression, going up to 7x, squeezing HD down to 3.4Mbps MPEG-4 AVC to fit up to 30 hours of HD on each disc. The top of the line BD-HDW40 features 1TB of hardware storage, dual digital TV tuners, 1080p/60 output, BD-Live, and all the oxygen-free copper cabling and anti-vibration tech one would expect, with the other three spec sheets causing predictably lowered paroxysms of pleasure for slightly lower prices.

Panasonic's biggest plasma HDTVs get a fall makeover

by Richard Lawler posted Aug 26th 2008 at 1:49PM


Panasonic's finally shipping the larger editions of its latest plasmas, from the updated and suddenly more famous 103-inch model to the 65- and 58-inch PZ800 series that have been leaking into U.S. stores recently. Japan also gets the top of the line PZR900 series that takes the YouTube access available in the latest PZ850 series and throws in a 1 TB DVR to go along with the 30,000:1 contrast ratio and acTVila HD video on-demand support, packed into 42-, 50-, and 58-inch panels. Of course, for those with 5.1 million yen ($48,314 U.S.) laying around and a large amount of wall space, the king sized TH-103PZ800 is nearly entry-level priced compared to its $70,000 predecessor, so why not treat yourself? You deserve it.

Read - TH-103PZ800
Read - TH-65PZ800, TH-58PZ800
Read - TH-50PZR900, TH-46PZR900, TH-42PZR900

WeaKnees now offering upgraded HR20s

by Ben Drawbaugh posted Jul 12th 2007 at 8:45AM

HR20
Love it or hate it, the HR20 is here to stay, and one thing its got going for it is a 300GB hard drive, which is bigger than just about any DVR sold today -- including the Series3. But, just like many other DVRs out there, it is possible to upgrade the drive to expand its capacity and WeaKnees is there for the faint of heart. WeaKnees is well known for their TiVo upgrades, but now they are adding the HR20 to list. So for $999, you can now get an HR20 with 1TB of storage, which should go a long way in the world of MPEG4 or HD-Lite.

Hitachi develops AVSM software to make DVR hard drives "smarter"

by Darren Murph posted Jan 6th 2007 at 11:56PM

It's one thing when the most taxing task your DVR will ever face is the furious fast-forwarding necessary to get the next scene in your favorite recorded drama, but if you've got over 100 hours of HD VOD to churn through while recording tonight's game and sifting through next week's programming list, having a more intelligent hard drive just might help out. In an effort to reduce DVR hard drive fragmentation, lengthen the life of set-top boxes, improve the quality of service / speed to the end user, and give your average DVR the ability to "manage up to 14 HDTV (19.3Mbps) streams from a single 3.5-inch HDD," Hitachi has developed AVSM technology to help your DVR's HDD think things through before going through the motions. The background software differentiates between "streaming applications and best-effort, non-real-time applications" such as electronic program guides, IPTV downloads, and photo browsing in order to manage the line of tasks more efficiently. Overall, the software reportedly reduces duty cycles "by up to 60 percent" and all but eliminates disc fragmentation, but realistically, with new units popping up entirely more frequently than your average hard drive takes to perish, hooking DVRs up with all these smarts might be a bit unnecessary for those who stay on the bleeding edge.

Toshiba's RD-A1 standalone HD DVD burner: $3500

by Richard Lawler posted Jun 22nd 2006 at 11:35AM

We've seen HD DVD-R and HD DVD-RW media announced repeatedly over the last few weeks, now we can see the -- huge -- box you can put it in. While standalone recorders aren't the biggest market here in the US, we've heard they are very much in demand in Japan and this should definitely satisfy. The RD-A1 will debut in Japan on July 14, for a cool 398,000 yen ($3466 US). Reuters reminds us that Sony has had Blu-ray recorders available in Japan since 2003, although at a starting price of 450,000 yen ($3916 US).

Interestingly, this device will output 1080p via HDMI, unlike Toshiba's HD-A1 and HD-XA1 HD DVD players. The RD-A1 also uses Toshiba's existing "RD Engine" hard disk drive recording system to record content from 1 analog and 1 digital tuner (simultaneous recording is supported) to the 1TB hard drive, edit to your liking, then burn to either a 15GB single-layer or 30GB dual-layer HD DVD-R (no -RW) disc. Interestingly, it does not support recording in newer codecs like VC-1 or MPEG-4, only MPEG-2. As early Blu-ray releases suggest, even a dual layer HD DVD may not have the space to provide ideal video quality, although there will be no PCM soundtrack to take up additional space. You can also stream content to DLNA equipped devices like Toshiba's Qosmio laptop. An undocumented feature is the ability to drop it on any small children or Wicked Witches of the East you want to get rid of , because the thing is enormous. No word on US availability yet.

Continue reading Toshiba's RD-A1 standalone HD DVD burner: $3500





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