All PVR

On August 31, 2007, I posted an article about a DirecTV secret-weapon. It seemed there was a product leak, featured in a CEDIA color-supplement, about a powerful new “Super-DVR”. A DVR capable of recording 100 hours of HD programming… Well, they’ve finally revealed it’s true identity.

The HR21 Pro is a rack-mountable rig that sports optical HDMI output and supports 1080p. It contains 2 HD tuners (for recording and watching at the same time), and not only records 100 hours of Hi-Def, but records 400 hours of Standard-Def programming.

Superhero of HDTV? Maybe.

The Stinger (above) may be “old-school gamer” on the outside, but it’s all modern-tech on the inside.

David Flagg, President of Game Cabinets Inc., describes it like this:
“Anything you can do on your home computer you can do through this joystick on your TV.â€? That includes surfing the Internet and having fun with online gambling, using Microsoft Windows Media Center Edition, loading in PC games and using its DVR function, he says, adding that it also has a DVD drive.”

Upgrade to The Stinger Plus, and it includes about a trillion old arcade games. It’s like a Video Game conjuring genie, magically producing games like Dragon’s Lair (1 &2), EA Tiger Woods PGA Tour, Pacman, Toobin’, and Dig Dug (click here for entire list of games).

It’s geared toward home theaters, but it’s also a fairly portable video game/entertainment system. With dimensions of 28.5w x 13.75d x 5h inches, you can easily take it to a buddy’s house.

Flagg says it successfully unites nostalgia and modern technology: “It wraps everything into one. The functionality is cool because there is so much you can do with it.�

You can even get a Xbox and PSX adapter, which converts the output from the Stinger Controller into X-Box or PSX commands.

Think it’s expensive? Starts at $499 (’nuff said).

From Spycatcher of Knightsbridge, comes a pair of sunglasses befitting of “007″. As if from the dusty journals of “Q”, these sunglasses are not what they appear. Hidden inside the frame is a color video camera, PVR, and microphone (to film everything the wearer sees). And, that’s not all:

“The personal video recorder includes a built-in colour monitor and speaker, 32MB internal memory, which can be expanded by inserting a more powerful SD/MMC card and the ability to time and date stamp all video recordings.”

“Video system: NTSC/PAL
Resolution: 350 lines
Number of effective Pixels: 510×492 (NTSC) 500×582(PAL)”

Being like James Bond, will of coarse, cost you. In this case, (minus the Martini’s) the price is £816 or $1650.

Many of you have heard rumors that there is a HD projector being sold at a mythical price point, and won’t be released in America. BUT, Mitsubishi will release the HC6000 projector, in the US, soon (no exact date available yet). What we know about this invading monstrosity is: it’s a 1080p projector for less than $4000! Your PVR will never look the same again (it’ll only look better).

It’s alive…ALIVE! A report from Gizmodo has uncovered a creature so fierce, that Dr. Frankenstein himself would weep with jealousy. From the bowels of Harmon Kardon’s laboratory comes “the DVC600″ (insert scary voice here). All we know about this Unix-based media center is:

-It records up to eight high-definition TV shows simultaneously.
-It’ll record and playback Blu-Ray.
-It may, or may not be unleashed upon America (by the year’s end) Yet, it will most certainly flog Europe.
-It’s going to cost as much as Dr. Frankenstein’s electric bill, $3000 to $4000 Euros ($4092 to $5456 US Dollars).

Godzilla has been unleashed upon Japan…only…much smaller. The new Qosmio G40 from Toshiba is set to trample much of Nippon into a pulpy mess. It’s jam-packed with powerful guts, DUAL DIGITAL TV TUNERS, and a heavy price tag (did I mention dual digital TV tuners?).

Here’s a few specs:
-Watch one program, record another (contains CyberLink SoftDMA and HDMI-CEC compatible with new Regza TV’s).
-HD-DVD drive.
-NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT graphics, 256MB.
-17-inch WUXGA (1920 x 1200) display.
-2 megapixel webcam.
-2GHz, T7300 Core 2 Duo processor.
-2GB memory, upgradable to 4GB.
-320GB of HD space.

And so, the “thunder-lizard” stampedes on, cutting a swath through Japanese cities the size of the Amazon river basin. To tame the beast it’ll cost you Â¥400,000 or $3252.29 USD.

Engadget.com