LG has announced the introduction of its inaugural line of digital Freeview Playback DVD recorders with built-in HDDs.
The three DVRs, dubbed the LG RHT399H, LG RHT398H and LG RHT397H can receive up to 40 digital channels and offer time shifting allowing users to record, as well as pause and rewind live TV.
The RHT399H offers the largest built-in HDD, 320GB. The company says that should allow for 935 hours of recording time.
The DVRs also offer a “series link” function which allows you to record full seasons of TV shows with ease. Each also offer “high speed copying mode” which gives users the ability to copy 60 minutes of video to a DVD or the HDD in about 27 seconds.
The high end RHT399H also offers 1080p upscaling through HDMI, Super Multi DVD recording ability, DivX movie playback and “optical output to get digital audio directly to a home cinema system.” Each also offers LG’s SIMPLINK to easily connect the setup to other LG products in the house.
The other two models will offer 250GB and 160GB HDDs respectively. There was no word on pricing, but the DVRs should be available by the end of the month.
Result for: DivX
A new Broadcom chip, the BCM7440, will allow consumer electronics manufacturers to support DivX video in their Blu-ray players by adding DivX Certification.
“There is strong consumer demand for DivX and so we are pleased to extend support for DivX on our BCM7440 Blu-ray chipset,” said Dan Eiref, Vice President and General Manager of Broadcom’s Consumer Electronics Group. “Broadcom is dedicated to designing differentiated products for our customers. We believe that the addition of DivX to our product portfolio opens up a compelling new source of content for consumers who increasingly rely on digital solutions for their entertainment experience.”
“Blu-ray has emerged as the clear standard for high-definition video and, through DivX Certified chips such as the BCM7440, DivX is well-positioned to repeat the success it achieved within the DVD market,” said Patrice Lagrange, Senior Vice President, Products, DivX, Inc.
With the increased competition from internet-based video and general apathy about Blu-ray from consumers, that format’s success could depend on a wider variety of formats being supported by players. Ironically, the same strategy could ultimately provide additional competition for Blu-ray by giving these formats a higher profile than they might have otherwise.
Result for: DivX
Toshiba has announced the availability of its first ever eXtended Detail Enhancement (XDE) DVD player which promises “near-HD” picture quality and a price half that of Blu-ray.
The XD-E500 has a $150 USD price tag and is aimed at the consumer who has a large DVD collection and is not willing to upgrade to Blu-ray players which cost between $300 and $500 USD.
Louis Masses, product planning director of Toshiba’s digital A/V group added however that XDE “is not meant to replace, kill or compete with Blu-ray” and that consumers should not look at it that way.
According to TWICE, the player uses similar upscaling technology already available in DVD players by Toshiba and others but the “XDE adds three user-selectable enhancement modes: sharp, color and contrast. Sharp mode improves edge detail by analyzing an entire image, then adding edge enhancements only in places where the image needs it, not across the entire image. Color mode also analyzes the picture and makes green and blue adjustments where needed to deliver more realistic greens and blues without looking artificial and ‘without a tremendous impact on other colors.’ It also improves flesh tones. Contrast mode lightens up dark areas in high-contrast scenes without washing out the light areas. With it, consumers see more detail in the darker areas of a scene.”
Each mode can be selected manually but only two can run at the same time, either sharp and color or sharp and contrast.
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