Interesting article regarding new Sony minitowers that record and play back TV for less than $2500 USD.
Sony to Release Minitower PC that Can Record, Play TV Programs
May 25, 1999 (TOKYO) -- Sony Corp. announced two models of a minitower PC containing a standard "Giga Pocket" for recording and playing television programs.
The two, the "VAIO PCV-R50" and "VAIO PCV-R60," are to be available in June.
Giga Pocket is software to record and replay images, including TV scenes, to enhance a PC to handle video images like a VCR. This is the first Giga Pocket-installed product.
The VAIO line with the software comes in seven models in combinations with display monitors. Sony plans to release most of the models on June 12. They will carry open price tags, but the company estimates their shop prices to be about 240,000 yen for the PCV-R50 with a 15-in. CRT and 300,000 yen for the PCV-R60 with a 17-in. CRT. (123.68 yen = US$1)
The two models slated for the release this time are also equipped with features required for the nonlinear edit of video images like the "PCV-S620/S520."
The two models have "i.LINK," an IEEE1394 terminal to connect TV tuners, real-time encoders/decoders, digital video cameras and other devices in the MPEG2 format, "Smart Capture," software to capture video images from digital video cameras connected via i.LINK, "DVgate," software to edit video and others. Combining these edit features with Giga Pocket, the users can produce their favorite video for their own use in combinations of their favorite TV program scenes and video images.
Video images are converted into the MPEG2/MPEG1 or AVI format and stored on a hard disk drive. The video images that have been edited/produced can be output as image signals, so they can be stored on other magnetic media including an 8mm tape and VHS.
The difference between the PCV-R60 and PCV-R50 is that the former uses hardware called media converter to connect between the MPEG2 encoder/decoder and i.LINK's controller LSI. Consequently, the PCV-R60 enables the users to edit video images, including 8mm tapes and VHS, in a DV nonlinear format.
The standard hard disk drive has a large storage capacity as it is designed for recording motion picture files. The PCV-R60 comes with 13GB and PCV-R50 10GB.
The PCV-R60 incorporates a 4x write-speed CD-RW to store motion picture files that require a large storage capacity. The PCV-R50 is equipped with a maximum of 32x speed CD-ROM. Both the PCV-R50 and PCV-R60 come equipped with the Intel Celeron 466MHz processor. The standard main storage capacity is 64MB, expandable up to 256MB.
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