(Nikkei BP Group)
(No.1 High-Tech News Site in Japanese)
|
|
| Matsushita Prototypes Consumer Digital Recorder with HDD
|
|
October 8, 1998 (TOKYO) -- Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. is
developing a consumer digital recorder using a hard disk drive, a company
spokesman told Nikkei Electronics.
|
To find uses for the recorder, the major electric appliance manufacturer
is developing two prototypes, which it introduced at Electronics Show
98 to be held in Osaka from Oct. 6-10.
The prototypes are: (1) a digital TV broadcasting receiver with a recording
function using a hard disk drive, and (2) a device connected by the
IEEE 1394 interface to a digital video system camcorder.
Both prototypes use a 12.7-GB 3.5-inch HDD, which is now commercially
available. They are capable of recording about an hour of super density
video data and about five hours of the MPEG2-based SDTV broadcasting.
The former device can record MPEG2-based broadcasting data by a reservation
method adopted for the Electronic Program Guide system. When users refer
to a program history on the EPG, the device will automatically indicate
the top of recorded programs with an animated icon. By selecting a specific
program, they can have immediate access to the program and replay it.
The latter device can replay recorded programs in specific ways by transferring
picture data shot by the digital camcorder to a HDD. Such replay, for
example, a maximum 32-times fast forward and very slow at one sixteenth
the normal speed, is difficult with existing VTRs.
Matsushita has also prototyped a settop box Media View. The device was
designed in anticipation of being used when more than one digital recorder
is used in one household.
A kind of universal settop box, Media View can receive broadcasting satellite
broadcasting, communications satellite broadcasting and terrestrial
wave broadcasting. With multiple IEEE 1394 ports, it can link to another
digital video VTR, D-VHS VTR or another HDD recorder.
The most notable feature of the settop box is its user interface and
software. It can be used for different broadcasting media and with different
types of recorders because of its centralized control using an EPG screen.
(Nikkei Electronics)
|
|
|
