Electronista: Sony yesterday introduced a third model in its video-capable Walkman line. The A910 series is one of the few media players anywhere that can not only receive TV but play it as well: courtesy of a built-in 1Seg tuner and an electronic programming guide, the A910 can play digital over-the-air broadcasts on its 2.4-inch LCD and encode the shows on the fly as permanent copies. Up to 100 hours of footage can be saved on a 16GB player, Sony says. Direct line-in automatically creates individual audio tracks from a CD player or a similar device. Playback is also special in the A910, Sony adds. For the first time, noise canceling is built into the player itself and will eliminate most background sounds whether watching TV or listening to music.
The new premium Walkman is capable of playing all the pre-recorded formats of Sony’s latest players, including H.264 and MPEG-4 video as well as AAC, MP3, and WMA music. The device also handles the outgoing ATRAC music format and even plays ATRAC Lossless files, according to the company. Battery life is said to be the strongest of any video Walkman with up to 10 hours of offline video, 8.5 hours of video recording with the display turned off, and 6 hours of active TV viewing. Music lasts for a continuous 36 hours and is supported by an FM radio when the user’s own collection is not enough.
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