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Television Media

Sony PC/DVR Incorporates 7 Tuners & 1TB HD 341

Posted by CmdrTaco from the thats-a-helluva-pvr dept.
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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Sony PC/DVR Incorporates 7 Tuners & 1TB HD More

Sony PC/DVR Incorporates 7 Tuners & 1TB HD

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  • "...very cool look" (Score:5, Funny)

    by Beatbyte ( 163694 ) on Tuesday May 11, 2004 @09:40AM (#9116489) Homepage
    It looks like a black box with "VAIO" on it.

    Damnit man lets give them an award!

  • Sure, it has seven tuners... (Score:5, Informative)

    by Snowspinner ( 627098 ) * <philsand@3.14ufl.edu minus pi> on Tuesday May 11, 2004 @09:41AM (#9116506) Homepage
    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.

    • Re:Sure, it has seven tuners... (Score:4, Funny)

      by mjpaci ( 33725 ) on Tuesday May 11, 2004 @09:51AM (#9116626) Homepage Journal
      The Olympics will be broadcast on plenty of GE/NBC/Universal's stations simultaneously.

      NBC, CNBC, MSNBC, USA

      That leaves only three tuners for PORN.
    • SPICE(multiple), Playboy(multiple), HBO, SHOWTIME, TECHTV, and Adult Swim, oh and the F1 race.

    • Re:Sure, it has seven tuners... (Score:4, Insightful)

      by blixel ( 158224 ) on Tuesday May 11, 2004 @09:59AM (#9116715)
      How is someone ever going to find seven shows they want to watch at once in general

      Sometimes there probably are actually seven things on at the same time that I want to see. Fox News, Discovery, TLC, TechTV, Sci-Fi and/or Comedy Central, local news, and the Discovery Science channel .... but the real problem is finding the time to actually go back and watch all those shows.

      I only have 2 tuners on my PVR that I have now and I find myself going through and deleting unwatched shows a couple of times per week.
    • How is someone ever going to find seven shows they want to watch at once?

      Sports. That is the only kind of junky that I can think of that would need/want such a capability.

    • Re:Sure, it has seven tuners... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Suidae ( 162977 ) on Tuesday May 11, 2004 @10:08AM (#9116788)
      I'd have to agree. Before I buy a PVR its going to have to be able to handle at least two digital streams at once, preferably by directly storing the compressed video data without reencoding, ala DirecTivo.

      Frankly, I'd prefer if the cable company would just store all this stuff at THEIR end, dump all the broadcast channels, and use the bandwidth to feed the cable modem system so I can watch anything I want, whenever I want, without having to make copies at my end. 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.

      They can even set up 'suggested lineups' for different viewing preferences so it works kind of like regular TV where shows come on at regular times, but they can talior the steams for more groups. This would let them take advantage of multicast capabilities and let them hit viewers with highly directed programming (ie, I want the sci-fi and technology stream, no chick flicks, and no horror-pretending-to-be-sci-fi, but my wife might want the cooking, home-improvement, and drama stream).

      It would be nice to still have the stream cached locally so I can pause whatever I'm watching, but I don't really want to have to keep a terrabyte system sitting around so I can watch older stuff, that should be provided by the cable company.

      Come on networks, use your imagination, this stuff shouldn't be too hard! I've already got purchase on demand, streaming, pause-able, rewindable digital movies, start doing it with regular TV too!

      • Re:Sure, it has seven tuners... (Score:5, Insightful)

        by Le Marteau ( 206396 ) on Tuesday May 11, 2004 @10:22AM (#9116937) Journal
        Before I buy a PVR its going to have to be able to handle at least two digital streams at once...

        Whatever. I figured, at about $300 for my Tivo, if it lasted two years, that's .50 cents a day for the privilige of never needing to sit through another commercial again. It was, and is WELL, WELL worth the price, and I just can't concieve having to deal with those inane, insulting, idiotic commercials again.
        • Whatever. I figured, at about $300 for my Tivo, if it lasted two years, that's .50 cents a day for the privilige of never needing to sit through another commercial again. It was, and is WELL, WELL worth the price, and I just can't concieve having to deal with those inane, insulting, idiotic commercials again.
          Which is why pay-per-view tv(I mean being able to watch anything pay per view, not just porn) will be the real future. Advertisers are not going to pay for tv programming if nobody watches the commer

      • Re: I'll even pay extra (Score:4, Insightful)

        by ShieldW0lf ( 601553 ) on Tuesday May 11, 2004 @10:30AM (#9117008) Journal
        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?

        • If you're not watching any commercials, why would they give a shit which shows you watched or what you thought about them?

          A little something called Product Placement [chaparraltree.com]

        • Re: I'll even pay extra (Score:5, Interesting)

          by mjh ( 57755 ) <mark AT hornclan DOT com> on Tuesday May 11, 2004 @10:44AM (#9117131) Homepage Journal
          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.

          • Re: I'll even pay extra (Score:4, Insightful)

            by billtom ( 126004 ) on Tuesday May 11, 2004 @11:35AM (#9117735)
            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.

      • Re:Sure, it has seven tuners... (Score:5, Interesting)

        by mjh ( 57755 ) <mark AT hornclan DOT com> on Tuesday May 11, 2004 @10:42AM (#9117111) Homepage Journal
        Frankly, I'd prefer if the cable company would just store all this stuff at THEIR end, dump all the broadcast channels, and use the bandwidth to feed the cable modem system so I can watch anything I want, whenever I want, without having to make copies at my end.
        Not me. I prefer to have the DVR at my house. Mainly because it allows me complete control. DVRs are a distributed problem; everyone has their own set of preferences that don't necessarily align with anyone elses. Consequently, distributed preference implies distributed control. So it makes sense to me that the solution also be distributed:
        • I can manage my own data space without having to rely on the cable company's shared data space.
        • I can decide that I want to keep a program for 7 months instead of relying on the cable co. to automatically delete everything after 7 days.
        • I can decide which shows I want to record instead of relying on the cable co. to decide for me.
        • I don't have to deal with latency associated with sending the command to do something accross the internet, and then be responded to by a machine that's trying to handle a gazillion of these types of requests simultaneously.

        IMHO, DVR is a distributed problem. In the long run a distributed solution works better for everyone.

        $.02

    • Snowspinner writes...
      And, obviously, no HD capabilities either.

      TechJapan writes...
      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

      Unless my english is way too rusty, this certainly sounds like a HD recorder.

  • umm.... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by King-Raz ( 51985 ) on Tuesday May 11, 2004 @09:41AM (#9116509)
    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?

    • wtf (Score:5, Funny)

      by millahtime ( 710421 ) on Tuesday May 11, 2004 @09:44AM (#9116545) Homepage Journal
      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.

      • Re:wtf (Score:3, Funny)

        by haystor ( 102186 )
        What if a game were broadcast with 7 camera angles:
        press booth
        sideline
        overhead
        downfield
        quarterback helmet
        referee
        cheerleaders

      • Re:wtf (Score:4, Insightful)

        by Malc ( 1751 ) on Tuesday May 11, 2004 @09:56AM (#9116674)
        I thought they were meant for wasting money, guzzling fuel, polluting, creating false feelings of security and safety, increasing the feeling of separation from the dirty real world and giving people an excuse to drive badly. Thus 99% of people use them properly!

      • Re:wtf (Score:2, Funny)

        by markt4 ( 84886 )
        We buy SUVs and only like 1% of people can use them for what they are for.

        You mean like driving a family around while not looking like you're driving a station wagon.

        What? That's not what SUVs are for? Right....

      • Re:wtf (Score:3, Funny)

        by trentblase ( 717954 )
        Wait, hold up. We at /. are complaining about overkill on a cool new tech toy.

        I agree. We shouldn't be complaining that 7 tuners is too many. We should be complaining that it's not even a power of 2. I want 8 tuners. Or 16. Or how about just one spectrum analyzer and I can decode thousands of channels at once in software. The Pentium M can do that, right?

    • Re:umm.... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by MtViewGuy ( 197597 ) on Tuesday May 11, 2004 @09:44AM (#9116554)
      Given the bad habit of broadcasters to have unusual starting and ending times nowadays for their programming, you'll be surprised how many people want PVR's with multiple tuners.

    • Re:umm.... (Score:5, Informative)

      by jonjohnson ( 568941 ) on Tuesday May 11, 2004 @09:44AM (#9116558) Homepage
      I want to record Law and Order, Simpsons, South Park, and the Daily Show. However, if I try to setup a schedule to do this, I'll have conflicts left and right, because I can only record 2 streams right now. While 7 may be overboard, I can see a need for 4 streams today.
    • Erm, how many adult channels are there?

      More than 7?
    • Ask any sports nut during the opening rounds of the NCAA basketball tournament, the Stanley Cup playoffs, etc. I used to write a column for an online hockey magazine [inthecrease.com], and something like this would have been a real bonus along with the hockey package on DirecTV.

    • Re:umm.... (Score:2, Insightful)

      by therblig ( 543426 )
      Not that this happens all the time, but I would have liked more tuners on my DVR when we had a hostage situation at work, just to see what each station's take on the situation was.

      Of course, "worth watching" is in the eye of the beholder. I HATE local news - they shouldn't need more than ten minutes.

    • Re:umm.... (Score:3, Interesting)

      by Seahawk ( 70898 )
      Well - it would make et possible to look at 6 channels at once to find the one not showing commercials.

      7 tuners isnt just for recording 7 shows at a time - it is for recording 2 or 3, and then use the rest of the tuners for PiP stuff.

      And besides - if the price difference for 7 tuners instead of 2 is minor - why not add them - this is definately not a product where those extra $50(or whatever) will matter

    • Re:umm.... (Score:2, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      "1TB stored and nothing's on."

    • Re:umm.... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by kabocox ( 199019 ) on Tuesday May 11, 2004 @10:08AM (#9116793)
      When have there ever been seven TV programs worth watching on at the same time?

      I'm going to call this one. There have been times that 3 or more shows have been on in the same time block that I'd have liked to watch. I agree that TV generally has gone down hill. The thing Cable has special interest shows.

      If I was a sports person, I might want to record 3-4 games and a sitcom. If I was a homesitter, I'd likely record 4-5 stations worth of daytime soaps.
      When I was a teenager, there was a time block of 3:00-4:00 that all the really good after school cartoons came on. Here is another thought though. Maybe this isn't might all for me. Maybe it is so that I can record my 2 shows, while my wife can get her 2 shows, and my 2 kids can each have some options. I may be interested in entirely different things than my kids, but it would be nice if we had one center media server that did all. In my parents house we started off with 1 VCR. Over the years each individual either bought or recieved a VCR for a gift. PVRs are alot more powerful and personal than VCRs. IF I had the $3-4K that this will likely cost, I'd buy it. I don't have that kinda of money. If it was $500-$1500, I could maybe get it by the wife though.
    • I worked at a University PR office after college, and we had a student flunky whose job it was to program 6 VCRs to record a slew of local news programs and then scan the recordings for stories about the University.

      I can imagine that there a ton of possible uses similar to this in the low-end commercial side. And then there's hard-core sports fans who want to watch *all* the games, and so on.

    • Time Shifting! (Score:5, Interesting)

      by WushuJim ( 595318 ) on Tuesday May 11, 2004 @10:26AM (#9116971)
      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.

  • Slashdotted (Score:2, Insightful)

    by stanmann ( 602645 )
    Ok, not complaining, I really just wanted to know how much the thing will cost and when I can get me one... Oh and of course, will it be cheaper than any other 1TB HD device for offline storage.

  • Sweet, baby! (Score:3, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 11, 2004 @09:42AM (#9116525)

    Now you can record 7 different Star Trek episodes at once!

  • Now, if they do one for DirecTV.... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by MtViewGuy ( 197597 ) on Tuesday May 11, 2004 @09:42AM (#9116526)
    ....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.

  • Price (Score:2, Funny)

    by jbfaninmo ( 540470 )
    Yeah, all for the low price of your arm, leg and first born.

    There isn't even enough decent crap to justify 7 tuners. Or more importantly, enough crap for me to want to pay for 7 tuners. And I don't think they make a TB of decent TV a year anyway.
    • Yeah, all for the low price of your arm, leg and first born.

      What were we talking about again? Oh, at that price, it must be gasoline!

      Hey actually... that's a pretty good price right now for gasoline. Where are you getting your gasoline?

      I have to pay a lung, a kidney and my first born. It was pretty horrific for the first gallon... can't wait to get the second gallon.

  • 7 tuners? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by chubbymidget ( 551294 ) on Tuesday May 11, 2004 @09:43AM (#9116531)
    So does that mean I need 7 boxes from my SAT or cable company? Do they offer some kind of bulk discount for that?

  • A terabyte of storage? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Tuxedo Jack ( 648130 ) on Tuesday May 11, 2004 @09:43AM (#9116533) Homepage
    That's enough for anyone to record pretty much whatever they want to for enough viewing for a few weeks... or all the fansubbed anime on Animesuki.com for a few days.

    Question, though - what manner of hookups are we talking about here? How many RF, A/V, S-video, and optical links must be necessary for this many recorders?

    You'd think that the cabling alone would be prohibitive.

  • Here's the text (Score:4, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 11, 2004 @09:43AM (#9116534)
    Just in case you want to record 7 channels at the same time for a week, Sony has just the product. Well it's a PC too so I guess it's not a complete ripoff. Ripoff? Sony hasn't even presented the price yet. I'll take a guess though, and say...$9000? Just a guess.

    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.

  • That's some impressive bandwidth there (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Stopmotioncleaverman ( 628352 ) on Tuesday May 11, 2004 @09:43AM (#9116536)
    Recording 7 channels simultaneously for a week solid to a single drive has gotta take one seriously impressive bus. What are the data flow rates going to be for that? Something slightly ridiculous is my bet. And the hard drive write speed? Since it's unlikely to be a single terabyte-sized drive, I wonder how many drives are in this thing. One for each channel? And is it going to cost the earth? Probably...
    • You honestly think it has a single 1TB drive? For even a moment?

      Largest drives right now are in the 400GB range, and they are still bit expensive.

      I personally expect it to contain 4-8 drives. Possibly with even a raid5 setup.
    • unlikely to be one drive?

      You don't say....
    • Surely the bandwidth depends on image quality. We've been able to record better than VHS quality to CD using the Video CD standard for years - that's 150KB/sec - Seven of those means writing to disk at a fraction over 1MB / second. Given our CD writers these days run at 7 X that speed, it's not exactly taxing for a hard disk. Even if you improve the quality by an order of magnitude, your desktop PC should still keep up in the IO stakes.

  • 7 shows at once (Score:2, Insightful)

    by thebra ( 707939 ) *
    "allowing the recording of 7 shows at the same time"

    Thats great but its hard enough to find one good show on tv, is there really a time that 7 good shows are on?

    • 7 buffers at once (Score:5, Insightful)

      by BugMaster ChuckyD ( 18439 ) on Tuesday May 11, 2004 @10:01AM (#9116730)
      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.

  • If it's from Sony... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by CaVi ( 37216 ) on Tuesday May 11, 2004 @09:44AM (#9116549) Homepage
    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.

  • 7 Tuners? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by telstar ( 236404 ) on Tuesday May 11, 2004 @09:44AM (#9116557)
    7 Tuners ... allowing the recording of 7 shows at the same time.
    • Except that means since I live in a part of the country where virtually every channel is scrambled without a box, I'd need 7 cable-boxes. While it's great that this box would allow me to catch all of the episodes of Law & Order airing at the same time ... something tells me there's not enough content, nor hours in the day to watch recorded content, to justify the extra $50 in cable-box rental fees.
    • It would come in handy for those situations where the networks air a show a minute early or a minute late to try and defeat the PVRs.

  • Well... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by SavedLinuXgeeK ( 769306 ) on Tuesday May 11, 2004 @09:45AM (#9116559) Homepage
    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 ;)
    • Or you could record formula 1 Grand Prix which come in multiple angle's here in France on CanalSatellite. (altough it is digital so you would need 7 decoders..)

      Or you could as you have said record multiple angles with surveillance tapes. Good thing about it is that we could FINALLY put our DVD burners into action for something legal and burn DVD-Videos with the ISO Multi-angle DVD Playback (as for the concerts).

      BTW, I know there are multi-channel audio-files (Dolby Digital, WMA etc.) But are there multi-c

    • Re:Well... (Score:3, Funny)

      by zapp ( 201236 )
      im sure the slight camera angles make all the difference in the world ;)

      Reminds me of an experiment I tried a couple years back. Hook up 2 webcams to your PC, place the cams about eye-distance apart, and then position the windows on your screen so they're side by side, and play with the horizontal gap between them. How cross your eyes, ala Magic Eye [magiceye.com], and you get to see your head in 3d.

      I wonder if it would be possible to find 2 tv networks whose cameras are just the right distance apart, put 2 tvs si
  • .. but maybe 7 tuners is a little bit over the top.
  • Seeing as how I don't even get seven channels, I don't think I'm the target market. It does sound cool though.

  • Redundant in 5 years (Score:3, Funny)

    by Chuck Chunder ( 21021 ) on Tuesday May 11, 2004 @09:50AM (#9116616) Journal
    thanks to gvision.google.com!

  • Technical question (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Mick Ohrberg ( 744441 ) <mick.ohrbergNO@SPAMgmail.com> on Tuesday May 11, 2004 @09:51AM (#9116625) Homepage Journal
    With 1TB disk, would it be most likely to have some kind of high-speed RAID configuration? I mean, what's the peak bitrate for recording one channel? And what will the peak bitrate for 7 channels be?
  • Could it be I've Fallen in LOVE!?.... um no, not really.
  • 1 TB ain't *that* cheap yet--don't need to spend that much this week

    7 shows at once? A bit much. Again, tuners, while cheap, aren't free. No reason to spend that much on things you'll likely never use.

    By the time anyone *needs* this capacity, the box will cost a whole lot less. Well, OK, there may be *some* people who want and can afford this right now, but probably not enough to spool up production for. They can always several four dual-tuner DirecTiVos ($49-149, depending on sales, rebates, etc) and pop

  • Useless. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Jarnis ( 266190 ) on Tuesday May 11, 2004 @09:53AM (#9116648)
    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... :(
  • It looks like they want $9,000.00 for this thing. It looks like a whole lotta fun in a shiney black box, but I don't think there is enough good stuff on TV to have the need to record 7 different things at one time. BUT... It could allow you to access Cable, Satellite, Over-The-Air Broadcast possibly High-Def and standard, maybe 7 tuners is about right?? I wish the site wasn't so slashdotted, I was barely able to get to the price and then I started getting server errors. I'll have to remember to check bac

  • Copy Protection (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Prince Vegeta SSJ4 ( 718736 ) on Tuesday May 11, 2004 @09:55AM (#9116662)
    1TB and 7 tuners - allowing the recording of 7 shows at the same time. It also has a very cool look."

    Even so, who wan't to bet on some for of copy protection for things like new releases, and popular series. Sure you can record Kill Bill Volume 10, but I bet you cant transfer the file to your comp and burn a DVD.

    So then your stuck with a bunch of video on your DVR, which must be erased in order to add new content. I have a DVR, and really like it, but beyond recording a show or two to watch a couple of hours or days later, that's it. If I had a terabyte of video, by the time I got around to watching it, I would have recorded over or could care less about the majority of it.

    Now if I could burn it, thast would be outstanding

  • With a name like Viao, is this some kind of special Chinese-market-only product? I think Vaio sounds more likely...=)

    iqu :P

  • Pass the pretzels and change the channel, please. (Score:4, Insightful)

    by malia8888 ( 646496 ) on Tuesday May 11, 2004 @10:02AM (#9116745)
    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."

    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.

    • "TV BAD! DOING THINGS GOOD! LOLOL"
      There are so many downmods that suit this it's not even funny.

      1) Offtopic - this crap has little to do with the actual PVR.
      2) Redundant - It's been said on every /. thread that has anything to do with TV
      3) Troll - The poster is likely just wanting a response from anyone who still likes TV.
      4) Overrated - granted this one's subjective, but it seems to fit.

      But despite all these perfectly suitable mods, you give this rehashed, regurgitated crap Insightful? /me sighs and crawl
  • Folks, shut off your TVs. There are never going to be 7 shows worth watching at the same time. On top of that, are you ever going to have time to watch all the 7 shows you recorded before you need to record another 7.

  • More Info and Pictures (Score:5, Informative)

    by doctor_no ( 214917 ) on Tuesday May 11, 2004 @10:05AM (#9116763)
    For those of you interested about the user interface:
    Here [impress.co.jp]& Here [ascii24.com]

    More picture of "Type X":
    Link [impress.co.jp]
    Link 2 [impress.co.jp]

    Thing also seems to have a DVD-burner: Pictured Here [impress.co.jp]

    More links (in Japanese)
    Watch Impress Japan [impress.co.jp]

  • 7 shows at once (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Woogiemonger ( 628172 ) on Tuesday May 11, 2004 @10:06AM (#9116771)
    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.
  • Because you don't have to worry about which shows you record. You set it up to record your favorite channels, let it run constantly, and time-shift everything. You can then watch what you want, when you want. According to the article, it will hold a weeks worth of programming from seven channels.
  • I think I'm in love! On a serious note though folks, I think 7 tuners is totally overkill. I think 3 or 4 should be the most that almost anyone would need. A TB is probably overkill as well, unless we're talking about recording in high def. Then I guess I can see having it. It would be pretty cool to have that much space on a DVR. You could build up quite a collection of movies.

  • What good is 7 tuners (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Monoman ( 8745 ) on Tuesday May 11, 2004 @10:11AM (#9116816) Homepage
    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.
  • I was just at Graceland, and in his recreation room, Elvis had three TVs, which he apparently watched at the same time after having heard that President Ford did the same thing so he could watch all three network news broadcasts at the same time.

  • 7 Tuners? (Score:4, Funny)

    by Cyno01 ( 573917 ) <Cyno01@hotmail.com> on Tuesday May 11, 2004 @10:16AM (#9116868) Homepage
    Still not enough to record every episode of Law and Order thats on at any given time...
  • from http://www.vaio.sony.co.jp/ [sony.co.jp]

    Guides "type X" advanced technology as a personal computer in the base, is the product which is advancing development anew the higher-order origin AV video recording/playback function is actualized as a model "of the next generation AV recorder" concept, this time as information of development.

    Maximum of 7 TV tuners, it loaded the hard disk drive which exceeds 1 tera- byte, maximum of videotaped channel 7 simultaneously, it saw without being conscious of the presently
  • .. all I'm getting is an error message from their website.

    Here's Sony's X page [sony.co.jp] in Japanese.

    multiple TV tuners sound like a good idea for primetime.

    Also comes with wireless keyboard, mouse.

    Seems like a lot of details are still in the design stages.

  • Doing the math (Score:4, Interesting)

    by azadrozny ( 576352 ) on Tuesday May 11, 2004 @11:25AM (#9117605)
    My "small" 40GB Tivo can record about 35hrs of programming. Thats about 1.15GB/hr. Base on that figure a 1TB (1024GB) DVR would be able to record for about 890hrs. That's a shade more than 37 days of continuous programming. That's what I call a couch potato.

    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.

  • 7 tuners is great, but more are needed! 50 tuners (Score:5, Interesting)

    by JGski ( 537049 ) on Tuesday May 11, 2004 @11:38AM (#9117776) Journal
    The folks pooh-pooh-ing 7 tuners don't get the use model. Imagine a combo of channel surfing, instant record PVR and pictures-in-picture. I really miss picture-in-picture with my DirecTV Tivo, and even then having only 2 tuners on my TV in the pre-Tivo days was *way too few*. I'd want to be able to mark a set of "surfable channels" as PiP with PVR available to be running on them while I'm surfing on the others.

    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.

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