Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Sony's Linux DVR Can Record Two Weeks of TV

Posted by michael on from the brain-burn dept.

DoctorNo writes "Sony will introduce - in Japan only - a Linux based video recorder in early November which can store 342 hours of content with 500GB of hard drive space. As well as the highend machine, Sony will also offer a cut down version with a 250GB drive. They will be priced at $1380(500GB) and $1035(250GB). More information, specs , and pictures (Japanese). Add another to the list of consumer Linux devices..."

5 of 311 comments (clear)

  1. Are these TiVos? by Andy+Dodd · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Considering that Sony and Philips used to be the manufacturers of TiVo units, and TiVos are Linux-based - Are these just new TiVos with huge hard drives?

    --
    retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
  2. Warning.. DRM trap ahead. by wackybrit · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The device comes with a mandatory 'automatic purge' feature. Each recording is marked by a timestamp on disk and thirty one days after a recording has been made, it is automatically deleted. This feature fits in with Japanese copyright rules.

    Oh great, what next? A 'will not record porn because it's not good for the children' feature? When will consumers get treated like adults? This sucks about as much as the end of Jeepers Creepers 2 where all the people except the hot chick die.

    --
    mogorific carpentry experiments
    1. Re:Warning.. DRM trap ahead. by crow · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Something like that would totally change how I use my ReplayTV. The whole point of these things is to let you control when you watch things. I like getting several weeks behind in my favorite shows so that I can watch several episodes together. I didn't even start Firefly or Birds of Prey until after they had aired the last episodes. If I had to worry about shows expiring, it would change my use to be much more like one of those old video tape systems.

      So why would Japanese law have such a requirement? It can't apply to VCRs, so what makes PVRs legally different? Sure, I could understanding having a timeout built into something like the ReplayTV show sharing feature (which is being dropped in new models due to lawsuits), but for stuff that isn't leaving the system you recorded it on, it's already more restricted than video tape that you can loan to a friend.

  3. Re:Thats a lot of bananas by wilper · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Looks like a 500GB fileserver to me. :-)

    Not very big, propably rather silent, has 100Mbit ethernet, now all we need is someone that hacks it.

  4. Re:Well... by jimsum · · Score: 3, Interesting

    It depends how you are trying to use this box. If it is a true VCR replacement, it has to replace the tapes too. How many tapes does the average person have? I have about 60 hours of Simpsons episodes on tape, and about 20 tapes total. One of these boxes could let me get rid of those tapes and probably never buy another one.

    Don't think of this box as a VCR with a big non-removable cassette; think of it as a video jukebox. Hard drive capacity is pretty cheap, and I'd rather have too much capacity since these things are probably not upgradeable when you fill the disk.

    Now, having said that, I understand this model deletes shows after 31 days; so never mind, the capacity is useless :-)

    --
    -- Pot is safer than Beer