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Electronista: Japan’s Sanyo recently announced it would bring a DVR device to market that relies on slot-in hard drives that comply with the iVR (Information Versatile Disk) standard shared with Hitachi.

The Repoch will include an integrated tuner for receiving digital terrestrial TV broadcasts to enable viewing recordings on analog broadcast-compatible TVs.

This will allow users to keep their outdated analog TVs even though these broadcasts have been discontinued.

Connections on the Repoch include an Ethernet connection, HDMI output, component audio and video inputs as well as two antenna posts. The Repoch, bundled with a 160GB iVR disk, will cost the equivalent of $668 (€477) when it launches in Japan on September 1st. Pricing of additional iVRs, also available in 320GB capacities, is unknown.

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EngadgetHD: Sharp’s back again with four more Blu-ray DVRs…  in Japan.

The main upgrade from last year is improved compression, going up to 7x, squeezing HD down to 3.4Mbps MPEG-4 AVC to fit up to 30 hours of HD on each disc.

The top of the line BD-HDW40 features 1TB of hardware storage, dual digital TV tuners, 1080p/60 output, BD-Live, and all the oxygen-free copper cabling and anti-vibration tech one would expect, with the other three spec sheets causing predictably lowered paroxysms of pleasure for slightly lower prices.

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NaviGadget: KarKorder is what you may call an in-vehicle DVR. We checked this out CES 2009 and decided it would be worth mentioning.

KarKorder constantly records what’s going on in your car which may later be viewed for surveillance or investigative purposes. It comes with 4GB SD card memory which can record up to 8 hours in single lens mode.

This would be MPEG4 video at 10 to 20 fps VGA at 640×480 pixels.

It uses a CMOS sensor with 140 degree viewing angle and IR enhanced internal camera too so you can keep an eye passengers too.

KarKorder is also equipped with a GPS data logger.

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Electronista: Toshiba recently introduced two new Vardia-series DVRs, including the 500GB-capacity RD-G503 and the 300GB RD-E303. Both sport also sport a DVD burner and are capable of recording video in MPEG-2 TS and in H.264/MPEG-4 AVC formats.

The Vardia DVRs are capable of upscaling standard DVDs to near-HD quality, while a built-in ground and BS/110 degree CS digital tuner are built-in to receive TV programming. The delete function can be set to erase partially recorded TV programs that get cut when the power goes out to prevent wasting hard drive space. Dual-layer and rewritable DVDs are compatible with the Vardia DVRs.

The integrated video DAC is a 10-bit/148.5MHz unit capable of supporting 1080i or 720p resolutions, while the simpler 10-bit/108MHz supports 480i/480p resolutions.

The G503 is available in both white and black, while the smaller capacity E303 will only be offered in black.

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Engadget: Those used to recording dozens of hours worth of SD video on DVRs with just a few gigs of storage often have a bit of a surprise when they move into the HD realm.

Sony is doing its part with a larger, 320GB version of its BRAVIA BRX-series DVR, the BRX-320.

It can tackle about 90 hours of HD content yet is small and light enough to be mountable directly on the back of many Sony displays.

No word on what price tag will be affixed when this releases in about a month.

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Broadbandtvnews.com: In a short space of time the digital video recorder has become the second most essential household technology item, beaten only by the mobile phone.

Seven out of ten owners say they cannot live without a DVR (often referred to as the PVR and occasionally DTR), according to the NDS DVR Report.

The survey carried out on behalf of the technology company by Consumer Analysis Group interviewed 1,012 people aged 18-70 years old who have a DVR at home.

Consumers were interviewed in the UK (256), US (252), Italy (251) and Australia (253); all markets where the NDS XTV technology has been deployed.

Nigel Smith, chief marketing officer, NDS: “The survey results show just how fast the DVR has become an indispensable part of people’s lives in the UK, US, Italy and Australia. It’s one of those technologies that, once tried, has you wondering how you coped before.”

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Engadget: While we knew LG had a pair of DVR-packin’ plasmas lined up, nothing was officially official until now.

The 42- and 50-inch PG6900 plasmas were designed to hold up to 86-hours of programming on its 160GB of internal hard drive space, and the 8-day EPG should give you a pretty decent view of what’s coming on in the near future.

Additionally, you’ll find a 30,000:1 contrast ratio, Energy Star compliance, a DVB-T tuner (plus an analog tuner), three HDMI 1.3 ports, 100Hz refresh rate and integrated speakers .

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CFP: Prepare for your electronics to be assimilated.

No, it isn’t some Borg-like alien invasion you need to worry about. Rather, it’s the accelerating convergence of all your audio, video and computer stuff from separate technological niches into an organized whole in which all of your techno toys can talk – and work – with each other.

It’s a logical development. Everything is becoming computerized and computerization is driving convergence: TV’s can now interface with computers, computers can play movies and the Personal Video Recorder (PVR, a.k.a.  DVR – Digital Video Recorder) uses computer-type hard disk drives to bring incredible new flexibility to watching and recording TV (think of it as the VCR dragged into the 21st century).

And they’re all being tied together by computer networks, which means you can now store your audio and video libraries on a central server and play them back anywhere you want.

Why would you want to? Well, many people have multiple televisions throughout the house – from a big screen HDTV in the family room to a little LCD on the kitchen wall (for those emergency trips to the fridge while the Big Game is on) and maybe even a screen in the master bedroom. Many people have more than one computer, and more than one audio system. Tying them all together adds flexibility and convenience, allowing access to one’s A/V library, and even the Internet, from anywhere in the building.

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I4U: Toshiba highlights that the Vardia RD-A301 can record HD video to standard DVD discs.

The new DVR, HD DVD Vardia RD-A301, integrates HD Transcoder, which achieves longer recording time for high-definition (HD) video, and also supports “HD Rec”, which allows recording of HD video to standard DVD discs in HD quality.
The RD-A301 also supports dual recording of HD broadcasts, a very popular feature of earlier VARDIA models, and can record two digital HD broadcasts simultaneously.

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About: Wouldn’t you just love to record the entire season of 24, LOST, The Apprentice, My Name is Earl, or your favorite Soap Opera, without having to reset your VCR or DVD Recorder every time? Well, using the “Season Record” feature on a DVR, such as TIVO, or a Cable DVR, you can do that and more.

Sal Prince tells you what it exactly is: Recording a TV Show by Season is an important feature of any Digital Video Recorder. (…) It can be configured to record all episodes of a show, or just new episodes, eliminating any repeats. This feature is very handy because it eliminates the need to manually set a show to record on a weekly or daily basis, just set up the show to record at the start of the season, and the Digital Video Recorder will record all the episodes for you. The season recording will even carry over into future seasons of a TV show.

Recording a Full Season of 24

Now for a practical example of Season Recording: I’m a big fan of the show 24 on FOX. On my Comcast Digital Video Recorder (the Motorola DCT6412 Dual-Tuner High Definition DVR) I have 24 set-up to record all new episodes (24 doesn’t have repeats, but older episodes from previous seasons are shown quite often, so I must set it up as record new only to avoid recording those older episodes). I can set up the recording to start and end a few minutes early and late to avoid missing anything. Once set up properly, I can safely watch 24 without worrying about missing an episode.

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