The CE industry’s first HDTV set-tops with ATSC tuners, HD PVRs a...
The CE industry’s first HDTV set-tops with ATSC tuners, HD PVRs and digital CableCARD readiness will be introduced by Sony in late fall, the company told reporters Thurs. The set-tops will be available in versions with 250-GB and 500-GB…
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PVR capacities at $799 and $999, respectively, Sony said. The 500-GB DHG-HDD500 will pair dual 250-GB hard drives and offer the ability to record at least 30 hours of HDTV content and up to 20 hours of standard-definition programming, while the 250-GB DHG-HDD250 will allow 1/2 as much, Sony said. The models will offer new “iterations” of a TV Guide electronic program guide (EPG) that will support the digital channel map, Sony said. Greg Gudorf, vp in Sony’s Home Products Group, has said such set-tops would typify the innovation the CE industry could bring to unidirectional digital CableCard technology that ordinarily won’t support such features as EPGs and video on demand. The TV Guide EPG would be available subscription-free and delivered by over-the-air broadcast signal, Sony said. The models also will feature “flexible” video formats for meshing with a wide variety of displays. Their targets include the 10 million HD-ready TV households that lack an HD tuner solution and the 30 million digital cable homes with limited choices in HDTV set-tops and limited or no choices of HD PVRs. The Sony set-tops will have USB ports for accommodating future services, and component and HDMI outputs but no IEEE-1394 interfaces, Sony said.