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Sony PC/DVR Incorporates 7 Tuners & 1TB HD
GFD writes "TechJapan has an article on the 'Type X' Viao PC/DVR that will have 1TB and 7 tuners - allowing the recording of 7 shows at the same time. It also has a very cool look."
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It looks like a black box with "VAIO" on it.
Damnit man lets give them an award!
Get paid to code OSS
But they're all analog... you can optionally buy a single digital tuner. But, really... why? How is someone ever going to find seven shows they want to watch at once in general, little yet if they're limited to the analog band?
And, obviously, no HD capabilities either.
Philip Sandifer's academic website
Isn't this overkill? What consumer would honsestly need this! When have there ever been seven TV programs worth watching on at the same time?
~c
Now you can record 7 different Star Trek episodes at once!
....I'll buy it in no time flat, even if it costs US$2,200. :-) But we really don't need that many tuners built into the box--maybe three to four at most.
You have to wonder if Sony is using licensed TiVo technology for this box.
So does that mean I need 7 boxes from my SAT or cable company? Do they offer some kind of bulk discount for that?
Sony held a meeting in Tokyo on the 10th to present their new "VAIO" products. Among them was the "type X," a HD recorder on a PC base.
The device features 7 above ground analog TV tuners, as well as more than 1TB of HD space, and a maximum of 7 channels can be recorded at the same time. one can store about one week's worth of programming from seven different channels, and Sony has said that it is "to keep in touch with past and present programs like a time machine, one can choose their favorite program and watch it."
Sony plans on releasing the machine before the end of 2004, and since it is currently under planning/development, concrete specifications have not yet been finalized.
The device has been placed in the "next generation recorder with a PC base" category, and unifies AV and PC functions. It can also be used as a normal PC with a wireless keyboard/mouse and remote controller. Also, using the D4 output, it can output to flat panel TVs such as the "Wega" series.
Furthermore, Sony also plans on selling an optional terrestrial/BS/110 CS digital tuner. There is currently no PC supporting digital transmissions besides NEC's "VALUESTAR TX/TZ." The VALUESTAR also has limitations such as only being able to output up to 480p, so much attention is being paid to what the type X will support, since the current specifications are not final.
At the announcement event, there was also a demonstration from Sony's IT & Mobile Solutions Network Company NC President, Keiji Kimura, involving the type X and a portable video player currently in development. He introduced the company's next generation AV concept by wirelessly outputting video to a Wega from the video player, whose video data was transferred from the type X.
From May 14th until the 16, there will be reference models of the "type X" on display at Sony's Mediage in Odaiba, in the "Do VAIO World 2004" event.
Wait, hold up. We at /. are complaining about overkill on a cool new tech toy.
And when has it been said you need all that you buy it for. We buy SUVs and only like 1% of people can use them for what they are for. Overkill has bragging rights.
Evolution or ID?
it will look sexy, but will be crippled by some DRM, I'm afraid.
The article is slashdotted already, but what DRM will it have? Sony has too much to protect (Sony Music) to allow people to enjoy their hardware fully.
I've had a Sony MD, you could transfer from your PC to the MD with the USB cable, but what you recorded on the MD (even if recorded with an analog device, you couldn't transfer it back to your PC...)
I hope they haven't done the same kind of mistake: making a great hardware, with functionalities crippled by some DRM.
-- No signature yet.
In a non-home setting, this device could work really well as a video surveilance setup. I mean B&W vid @ low res, you could channel 7-sources into it, and keep a great deal of informatio stored. Now I am sure thats not the purpose of this, but that is the only thing I can think of, for seven tuners at one time. Unless you really want to watch every station's take on a presidential message, im sure the slight camera angles make all the difference in the world ;)
je suis parce que j'aime
thanks to gvision.google.com!
Boffoonery - downloadable Comedy Benefit for Bletchley Park
Analog = RIP. And dedicated separate digital tuners/descramblers = teh suck for timeshifting etc.
:(
What I need is a 1TB box with 2-3 *digital* (DVB-C or DVB-T for us euros) tuners, and with a Conax descrambler smartcard support. So I could record at least one channel while watching another (or maybe 2 channels while watching third). In full digital glory. HDTV support would be a bonus, but that is not happening in europe at such a fast rate - I think broadcasters first want to move to digital, and then its easier to reuse the spare frequencies for HDTV signals once analog is dead and buried.
But no. Sony is designing an obsolete analog tuner box with a ridiculous pricetag...
One of the great things about tiVo is how it buffers the show you're watching so you can pause rewind and skip commercials. When you change channels the buffer is gone and you can't rewind the new channel etc.
With this device you could (presumably) set it up to buffer your favorite channels as well as the one you're watching. You could watch one show and then jump over to CNN (or whatever) and rewind to watch the start of the news broadcast, then jump over to ESPN and watch the baseball game etc.
After reading this I was struck by the fact that we spend so much time watching and so little time doing. That is probably why humans are becoming a rather chubby lot. One doesn't see a pride of lions watching another pride of lions on a glass screen doing lion-like things.
It makes me very sad that we have become life voyeurs. Now we have a device that can rivet our buttocks even deeper into our recliners. I think we need to go for a walk, talk to friends, and turn the T.V. off.
Harpo Tunnel Syndrome--my wrist feels funny.
For those of you interested about the user interface:
Here& Here
More picture of "Type X":
Link
Link 2
Thing also seems to have a DVD-burner: Pictured Here
More links (in Japanese)
Watch Impress Japan
Well, while 7 shows at once might initially seem like overkill, what if you're a talk show host or a journalist and you have to do your research on something going on in the news, or perhaps keep track of different sports games, and yeah, I think the Olympics got mentioned here already which is an easy example.
What good is 7 tuners if I have digital cable or sattelite?
They need to come up with a standardized way to interface tuner cards in TVs or generic set top boxes.
Keep the Classic Slashdot.
Still not enough to record every episode of Law and Order thats on at any given time...
"Sic Semper Tyrannosaurus Rex."
It is one of the monoliths from 2001.
Which explains why I have this sudden urge to wield my remote as a weapon...
// "Can't clowns and pirates just -try- to get along?"
As an owner of a ReplayTV, I can think of one great use for 7 tuners. Time shifting! Buffer the last seven watched channels or however many tuners available. That way if you switch to a channel and see something you want to go back and watch, it is buffered.
I'll even pay extra so I don't have to watch commercials, and I'll be happy to tell the networks which shows I watch, when I watch them, and if I thought they sucked or not.
If you're not watching any commercials, why would they give a shit which shows you watched or what you thought about them?
-1 Uncomfortable Truth
HBO, Showtime, Cinemax, (et al) all care about which shows people watch and whether or not people like them. And in exchange for people paying extra, there are no commercials.
The type of programming that the OP was talking about exists today in the premium channel systems.
Key to financial independence: Spend less than you earn. Save and invest the difference. Do it for a long time.
Now that may sound like a lot, but what if in addition to the 7 input tuners, it had multiple outputs. If you could tie it into some kind of distribution system for your house, throw in Tivo's ability to predict what your family likes, you have a very cool system. Every member of your family could be watching a different program at one time. $9k is a bit pricey, but the price is bound to come down.
Not exactly. The key point to remember is that people watch shows *not* networks/channels. I watch The Sopranos, I don't watch HBO. I watch The West Wing, I don't watch NBC. Etc.
What the grandparent was getting at is that we currently have the technology to completely eliminate channels and simply offer shows. The current setup where shows are offered on channels is technologically obsolete.
We want to change from the model where networks broadcast shows on channels to one where the network-type companies are more like movie production companies. Where they finance the production of new shows and then send them to the distributor (probably the cable/satellite companies) who stores them for purchase by the viewer (then the shows are streamed/downloaded).
Of course, networks are going to fight this all the way. But the continued evolution of tivo-like devices makes it technologically inevitable.
The other serious flaw with most set-tops and tv channel UIs (Tivo almost gets it right) is not having dynamic filtering and style sheets for the schedule and channels attached to the up/down channel buttons. E.g. there are some channels I absolutely never want: fine I lock them out now. But then there is the gray area which is content dependent: I'm not a big basketball fan so I should be able to make channels disappear completely during the time that basketball is on - if I up-channel through it, it just skips and if I chose it's even gone from the schedule. When other "desired" programming is on those channels re-appear again.
Now combine that kind of "editing/filtering" to 50 tuners with PVR and PiP: now you have television usability!!
A serious, serious bone-head UI gaffe on the DirecTV Tivo: you ascend channels up-screen with the channel up/down buttons but the program guide the channels ascend down-screen! Who was the moron...?! Oh yeah, Huge Air Crash idiots own DirecTV.