(Japanese Site)
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| JVC Plans to Market D-VHS Players in U.S., Japan
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July 10, 1998 (TOKYO) -- Victor Co. of Japan Ltd. (JVC) said that
the D-VHS standard specifications for making digital recordings on
D-VHS tape have been decided upon, which means it can begin sales
of the players soon.
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JVC plans to launch sales of D-VHS decks as early as the end of this
year in the United States, and in the summer of 1999 in Japan. The
company will sell a standard type deck for around 60,000 yen (US$43
0), while a higher-grade model featuring better image quality will
be available for less than 100,000 yen (US$710).
Both Communications Satellite and Broadcasting Satellite digital
broadcasts can be recorded on the special D-VHS tape. D-VHS tape
also is compatible with the conventional VHS recording standard.
The new standards are intended to be used in the next-generation
home servers for tape media, according to Hiroki Shimizu, a senior
managing director at JVC.
Fourteen other major manufacturers of household electric appliances
have already signaled that they will adopt the new standards. They
include Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd., Hitachi Ltd.,
Sony Corp., Philips Electronics NV, Sharp Corp., Toshiba Corp.,
Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd. and several Korean makers.
The new standards relate to recording modes. In addition to those
for recording in standard mode (STD mode), which had been set
previously, the new standard specifications are for recording in
high image quality mode (HS mode) and in extended recording time
mode (LS mode).
In HS mode the input data rate is 28.2Mbps, which allows for three
and a half hours of High-Definition TV (HDTV) program recordings to
be made on a single tape. As for conventional TV programs, up to
six separate channels can be recorded at the same time. It is then
possible to play back the recording and use the remote controller
to switch instantly between the different recorded programs.
In the LS mode selections can be made among four more data rates,
which range from 2Mbps to 7Mbps. If the 2Mbps option is selected, a
full 49 hours of recordings can be made on a tape.
The D-VHS standard employs a bit-stream recording method, in which
digital broadcasts are recorded straight on the tape, with signals
used for compressing and scrambling data intact.
For this reason, in order to be able to watch recorded BS and CS
broadcasts, it is necessary to purchase a special Integrated
Receiver/Decoder (IRD), also known as a digital broadcast
transceiver. But even taking this extra cost into account, it is
still a less expensive means of making digital recordings, compared
with alternative methods, such as buying a DV deck. For connections
with the IRD or other peripheral devices, an IEEE 1394 standard
interface is needed.
A single D-VHS tape can hold a total of 44GB of data, which means
that its capacity for storing recorded data is greater than that of
comparable disk media, such as DVD-RAM.
In the future, when home servers are in use, disk media like DVD
will be employed for recording data, such as news, that is being
updated frequently. Meanwhile, D-VHS will be used for recordings
that necessitate storing large volumes of video data, such as
movies, according to JVC's Shimizu.
(Nikkei Multimedia)
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