SONY DOES TIVO
Adds new PVR to line-up in April 1/3/2000
By David J. Elrich
NEW YORK, NY, January 3, 2000 -- Add Sony's name to those companies offering personal video recorders, the new generation of hard-drive based TV show recorders/manipulators. Like Philips' HDR112, Sony's new SVR-2000 uses TiVo technology, but the Sony model has a longer recording capacity (30 hours), versus 14 for the Philips edition. The SVR-2000 is due sometime in April for around $500 list, the same as the current price of the Philips box. However, with the Consumer Electronics Show just days away, you can expect some new announcements from Philips, keeping them competitive in this potentially exploding category.
During a December press briefing, Sony VP Mike Fidler quoted industry research predicting that PVRs would be the wave of the future with between 11 and 14 million recorders purchased in 2004, up from a paltry few hundred thousand this year. To put this anticipated sea of change in some perspective, one must realize that over 21 million tape-based VCRs were bought in 1999.
Fidler said the main reason people would move to hard-drive based recorders would simply be to "access all the content coming into their homes: to manage it, to store it, to keep up with the information flow." He also noted people initially love pausing live TV shows, easy record and the TiVo service that automatically "tapes" favorite programs. (TiVo requires owners pay a fixed, upfront fee for the service, or a monthly charge of $9.95.) The Sony TiVo PVR records for up to 30 hours in "above VHS" quality, 20 hours at the medium setting, 14 at high quality and nine hours in the best mode, which TiVo says is close to DVD quality.
Fidler pointed out that the SVR-2000 is the first PVR that can dub automatically to Sony VCRs, allowing archiving of programs recorded on the PVR. And cashing in on the all-things-Wega craze, the box is silver-colored so it matches the popular selling big-screen TVs.
Sony has grand ideas for its TiVo box, calling it a Digital Network Recorder, the Gateway to the Home Network. I couldn't resist the opportunity to remind Sony execs that the only items the SVR-2000 could network were a TV, satellite receiver or cable box and a VCR -- which doesn't exactly fulfill the futuristic "vision" of a Jetson-like abode. Fidler admitted that until digital copy-protection issues are resolved, there will be no way to digitally link this box to other systems in the house.
Be sure to visit etown.com frequently beginning Wednesday afternoon as the first CES announcements pour in from the major consumer electronics manufacturers. Our sources tell us there will be additional PVR introductions in Las Vegas from top names. Etown.com will be on top of it. Stay tuned.
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