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RCA handheld 80-hour DVR?
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Posted by: widget

I may have just missed this, but reading the Business Week article that came out today about "digital convergence"

at http://biz.yahoo.com/bizwk/030306/b3823088mz063_1.html

the following snippet caught my eye:

With storage this cheap, it's easy for RCA to stuff 20 gigabytes into its $400 handheld personal video recorder, which can handle 80 hours of video.

Is this product available today? Anybody know anything about it?

Posted by: mikedaly

Hmmm... I think not. I suspect this is a "it's easy to see that they could do this" article.

Posted by: edc

quote:
Originally posted by widget

With storage this cheap, it's easy for RCA to stuff 20 gigabytes into its $400 handheld personal video recorder, which can handle 80 hours of video.

I would like to be on the planet where they currently have a codec that gives you an hour of video at watchable, full-screen quality in 250MB.

Posted by: Maniacal1

RCA has announced a version of its Lyra MP3 player that will have a 2.5" LCD screen for videos. For such a small LCD, I would imagine they could compress the tar out of an mpeg file.

Posted by: mikedaly

quote:
Originally posted by Maniacal1
RCA has announced a version of its Lyra MP3 player that will have a 2.5" LCD screen for videos. For such a small LCD, I would imagine they could compress the tar out of an mpeg file.

Yah, no doubt. I would say the key word in your post, though, is PLAYER.

There is no such handheld PVR from RCA. The article was speaking in hypotheticals. And when you think about it, is there any real utility in a handheld PVR?

Posted by: Mr. Soze

quote:
Originally posted by mikedaly

There is no such handheld PVR from RCA. The article was speaking in hypotheticals. And when you think about it, is there any real utility in a handheld PVR?

I would buy a device that could take programs off my Tivo that I could plug into the RCA jacks for the DVD system in our minivan, IN A SECOND! Even if it only had 20 hours, that's be plenty. With lots of episodes of Powerpuff Girls, Yugioh, DragonballZ etc. , road trips would be bliss!

Posted by: mikedaly

quote:
Originally posted by Mr. Soze
I would buy a device that could take programs off my Tivo that I could plug into the RCA jacks for the DVD system in our minivan, IN A SECOND! Even if it only had 20 hours, that's be plenty. With lots of episodes of Powerpuff Girls, Yugioh, DragonballZ etc. , road trips would be bliss!

That's a very good point that I hadn't thought of. Thanks! :) You could even use it to take a show (or shows) to somebody else's house to watch them. Interesting... Too bad it doesn't exist.

Posted by: PrimeRisk

quote:
Originally posted by Mr. Soze
I would buy a device that could take programs off my Tivo that I could plug into the RCA jacks for the DVD system in our minivan, IN A SECOND! Even if it only had 20 hours, that's be plenty. With lots of episodes of Powerpuff Girls, Yugioh, DragonballZ etc. , road trips would be bliss!

Hey, that sounds like a good use for your old S1 TiVo. Load it up with shows and use it in the minivan. Heck of an idea! The TiVan! You could use an inverter and a buck/boost UPS for the short term or replace the AC powersupply with a filtered 12V computer power supply.

Posted by: GadgetFreak

The player has a 3.5 inch screen. Here is a picture:
http://gizmodo.net/archives/000976.php#000976

Here is the press release. Available this summer:
http://www.rca.com/content/viewdeta...-CI258,00.html?

quote:
Originally posted by mikedaly
Yah, no doubt. I would say the key word in your post, though, is PLAYER.

There is no such handheld PVR from RCA. The article was speaking in hypotheticals. And when you think about it, is there any real utility in a handheld PVR?

Posted by: Jabberer

quote:
Originally posted by GadgetFreak
Here is the press release. Available this summer...

And a price of $399...sweet! :) It makes one wonder if devices like this become popular at that price point, if it will push other, more established PVRs down in price... ;)

Posted by: mikedaly

quote:
Originally posted by GadgetFreak
The player has a 3.5 inch screen. Here is a picture:
http://gizmodo.net/archives/000976.php#000976

Here is the press release. Available this summer:
http://www.rca.com/content/viewdeta...-CI258,00.html?

Pretty cool looking device, actually. Still no real utility for me, though, because getting useful content to it would be a chore.

And to be clear, the original poster was asking about a handheld PVR. This unit is most definitely not a PVR. A PVP perhaps?

Edit: Ah, I just noticed a line in the press release which I hadn't before: It easily connects to a television set via its composite video output and includes both audio and video recording mode. Still not a PVR, but I guess it does include recording capabilities. I would be interested to see what kind of recordings it can do on its own; they certainly didn't highlight that fact in the press release, which would lead me to believe it's pretty low-end stuff. But who knows...

Posted by: widget

Hmm. Archos Multimedia Jukebox does this now, at about $350.

Of course neither is a PVR, but neither really needs to be -- as long as you have a way to port your content out from the TiVo to the handheld device. And if TiVo has any say, you never will...

Posted by: GadgetFreak

I have been waiting for a device like this because it includes 2 different functions that I have a use for. I take a lot of digital pictures while on vacation and I have had to bring along my laptop to dump the pics on at the end of every day. I have looked into various digital wallet devices that are basically portable hard drives with flash memory slots for dumping your pics.

The only problem is that many of them are from small manufacturers and their design and build qualities are not great. I kept waiting for a company like Apple to add a flash memory slot to their iPod -- it already has the hard drive they just need the slot.

The RCA device handles that capability. The fact that it adds video playback also helps on some of those vacations. Throwing a few videos for my daughter to watch will make the plane rides easier and if we are in another country we can watch a show back in the hotel at the end of the day , rather than watching "Knightrider" in German.

Posted by: GadgetFreak

At CES where the RCA device was revealed, Microsoft also joined forces with Intel to build a reference platform for handheld video players (they do not record).

Intel had been working with SonicBlue prior to that, so I do not know if Intel is supporting two reference designs or if SonicBlue is going to use the MS platform.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/embedded/pmp/

Posted by: GadgetFreak

quote:
Originally posted by widget
Hmm. Archos Multimedia Jukebox does this now, at about $350.

But isn't the screen only 1.5 inches?

Posted by: smak

I saw the intel version at CES, and I really liked it.

It would be great for a plain if you don't feel like lugging your laptop around, you can offload a ton of stuff from your Tivo, hopefully, and watch it while you're away. Plus you can free up that space on your Tivo to use up while you're away.

I think it also plays mp3's, display's photos, and may even be used as a portable hard drive for files etc...

-smak-

Posted by: mattack

quote:
Originally posted by mikedaly
And when you think about it, is there any real utility in a handheld PVR?

Absolutely. I remember talking about something like this a long time ago (probably on the newsgroup, alt.video.ptv.tivo).
Basically an iPod for video. The screen could even be fairly small.. I'd use it while exercising.. If I could transfer shows from my Tivo to such a device, then watch them on the device, it'd be very very handy.

Posted by: GadgetFreak

Here is another device just announced. This one is also a phone. I think there will be a large number of competitors in this space.

http://news.com.com/2100-1041-991545.html?tag=cd_mh

Posted by: smak

Plus you can plug it into a TV if you want to. I don't know how good it would look, but i think you can.

And why does everything have to be a phone too? I'm going to end up carrying 4 phones with me everywhere, just because I want wireless internet or a portable video player

-smak-

-smak-

Posted by: GBaz

They just had this in Popular Science this month. I looked at it and thought it was cool but of little use. You would not be able to just record dvds to it with out alot of trouble. Then I thought if it as a recorde in on it i could hook the video output of my tivo to it and then just run save to VCR.
This would be great. I could watch all my tv any where I want. But the key is a recorde in. I dont want to have to use the video capture card of my computer and mess with compression and file formats to make it work.
3.5 inches is suprisingly useful for watching tv. (iv watch on a 3 inch and been quite pleased) It has a tv out on it so its great for the car of a friends house (so long as the quality is tolerable) All it needs is record in and its a done deal, I would buy one today if I could.
This device is the next step in the tivolution. (listen up TivoPony there could be a big raise in this idea for you) TiVo and RCA would start the next logical step in the revoultion TiVo started. Not only can I watch shows when I want and how I want, I can watch them where I want. Through a partnership they could make it so that you connect the USB port of the TiVo to the USB of the lyra and transfer the video at high speed as a file instead of a record in. (all legal issues aside ...a big if)
IM IN!!