Sony Introduces First Digital Video (DV) Cassette Recorder
Digital Deck Brings Home Video Editing Quality to a Professional Level
NEW YORK, Jan. 22 /PRNewswire/ -- Sony Electronics Inc. today introduced the first digital home video recorder available in the United States. With Sony's digital interface, based on the *IEEE 1394 open standard, the new digital video cassette recorder allows consumers to copy and edit home videos made from digital Handycam(R) camcorders with virtually no loss of quality.
"From families who want to edit their home videos to individuals who need to produce documentaries, presentations or training tapes, our new DV cassette recorder makes it possible to assemble, edit and dub digital and analog tapes," said Jay Sato, vice president, Sony Electronics' Personal Video division. "With this deck, Sony is bringing the remarkable quality and capabilities of the digital video format directly to consumers."
The digital video format provides for superb picture quality with 500 lines of horizontal resolution (compared with 280 lines for a standard VHS picture) with no color blur and an extremely stable picture. It also incorporates digital audio for CD quality sound, as well as drop-frame time code and cassette memory for accurate editing and convenient indexing of tape contents.
The built-in digital video IN/OUT connector found on the digital video cassette recorder (model DHR-1000) allows direct connection with personal computers and other electronic devices. It guarantees virtually no picture quality loss when tapes are edited directly from Sony's Digital Handycam to the deck. The new recorder also can edit directly from Sony 8mm Handycams using LANC edit protocol, which manipulates control between a Sony camcorder and the digital video cassette recorder or other video equipment.
Advanced Features
In addition to the superb image quality, the new deck records sound as digital signals. Two audio modes offer a choice of 12-bit stereo tracks for near-CD quality sound and a 16-bit stereo track for digital audio tape quality recording. This allows consumers to record additional sound like background music, or replace sound from the original tape by inserting high-quality stereo sound from a different source.
The Sony DV cassette recorder also offers a video-on-sound feature generally not found on consumer decks, which can replace the original picture without affecting the audio. This feature makes a professional-looking video, which changes scenes accurately, according to background music.
The deck's controls are positioned on a removable edit tray that is easily detachable from the deck for convenient access. A jog dial and shuttle ring on the edit tray can be used to run the picture faster or slower to locate specific points on the tape. A 10-segment assemble editor with an edit window displays up to 10 pairs of still-image edit points on the screen with time code information, in addition to a playback monitor window. This allows the user to check each editing start or end point.
The cassette mechanism is equipped with a two-well system that enables the deck to play back and record both standard and mini-digital video cassettes without the need for any adaptors. The deck can retrieve up to 16K bits of data.
In addition to advanced editing capabilities, the digital video cassette recorder offers many convenient features including a 181-channel cable-ready tuner and three search modes -- index, date and photo. Sony's "Cable Mouse" controller also allows for unattended recordings of scrambled or digital satellite system broadcasts.
The DHR-1000 digital video cassette recorder will be available in April for a suggested retail price of $4,199.
Personal video products, such as Handycam(R) camcorders, are part of the Personal Audio/Video division of Sony Electronics' Consumer A/V Group, the company's largest sales and marketing group. Sony Electronics expects 1996 fiscal revenues of about $9.5 billion. Headquartered in Park Ridge, N.J., the company has nearly 20,000 employees in North America. A recent Harris Poll cited Sony as the best brand name in America, noted for such product developments as the MiniDisc digital audio system, the micro-floppy disc and Trinitron(R) television technology. Sony is also a co-developer of the compact disc, CD-ROM and DVD technologies, and leads the worldwide personal video market with its line of 8mm Handycam camcorders.
* the open standard for connecting computers to consumer electronic products and computer peripherals. SOURCE Sony Electronics, Inc. |
