Hitachi
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Hitachi's new DZ-BD10H camcorder pairs Blu-ray with a 30GB HDD
We're not saying it can't be done, but you should have some considerable trouble managing to run out of room for your expertly-shot, highly-narrative vacation antics with Hitachi's new DZ-BD10H camcorder, which records 1080p HD video to Blu-ray discs or to its built-in 30GB hard drive. There's even an SD slot, which we aren't positive you can record video to, but it's a fair guess. Other specs include a 2.7-inch LCD and a 10x optical zoom. Price should be around $1,500 when it hits Japan on August 9, but no solid word on a US berth just yet.
Hitachi promotional video highlights Tera Era, effects of hallucinogens
We're not too sure how the advertising director that green lit Hitachi's bizarro perpendicular recording video is still on staff, but sure enough, he / she has been cut loose again as evidenced by the latest spot. We knew the outfit was pushing this whole "Dawn of the Tera Era" slogan with the introduction of its Deskstar 7K1000.B, but this is just taking things entirely too far. Fair warning: the video hosted after the jump contains cartoon scenes that could easily be used by D.A.R.E. officials looking to keep kids from trying drugs, but somehow we get the impression its just a plug for having lots of (Hitachi-branded) storage space. Hmmph.[Thanks, Frederick]
AMIMON, Motorola, Sony, et al. join hands on wireless HD standard
Be still, our hearts! After watching the wireless HD / HDMI sector fumble along for years on end, a team of mega-corps have finally agreed to push their self-interests aside and collaborate on a standard. WHDI creator AMIMON has joined forces with Motorola, Samsung, Sony and Sharp in order to form "a special interest group to develop a comprehensive new industry standard for multi-room audio, video and control connectivity" utilizing the aforementioned Wireless Home Digital Interface technology. Reportedly, the group will have a standard completed before 2009 dawns, but we all know how easily these things can get pushed under the rug. Nevertheless, the overriding goal here is to "enhance the current WHDI technology to enable wireless streaming of uncompressed HD video and audio between CE devices such as LCD and plasma HDTVs, multimedia projectors, AV receivers, DVD and BD players, set-top-boxes, game consoles and PCs." A tall order, sure, but one we're elated to see taken on. Full release (and promo spot) after the break.
Sony, others pitted in a Japan vs. S.Korea OLED showdown
Several Japanese tech giants are teaming together today in a quest to make 40-inch and larger OLED panels for televisions. Sony, Toshiba, Panasonic, Sharp and others will participate under a joint development project initiated by the Japanese government. All of this is of course meant to help the Japanese companies compete with South Korea's chaebols, particularly Samsung and LG, as the industry giants maneuver for an advantage over the next, next-generation flat panel technology to dominate the living room.[Via OLED-info]
Hitachi introduces second-gen 1TB Deskstar 7K1000.B hard drive
Remember the day you drooled all over your keyboard when Hitachi introduced a 1TB internal hard drive? Yeah, like a year and a half ago? The outfit's most recent HDD announcement isn't likely to have nearly the same effect, but those who skipped the first-gen version in order to get a more refined product the second go 'round will surely be delighted. Today marks the debut of the 1TB Deskstar 7K1000.B, which goes down as "the world's most energy-efficient 7,200RPM one-terabyte hard drive." Said drive features a new three-disk design which improves idle power consumption up to 43% over its 1TB predecessor, but unfortunately, there's no telling how long you'll have to wait to actually buy this currently unpriced overlord of storage.[Via PCLaunches]
Hitachi and Seiyu develop light bulb with replaceable arc tube
While the rest of the world goes off to win the hearts of environmentalists (and laypeople, too) with LED light bulbs, Hitachi Lighting and Seiyu are taking the road (way) less traveled. Reportedly, the duo has collaborated in order to pop out a "bulb-shaped fluorescent lamp that can be separated into a lighting circuit unit and an arc tube unit." What this means is that the lighting circuit can be used repeatedly (up to 30,000 hours) while the arc tube simply gets replaced every 10,000 hours. The pair is hoping that the bulbs will take the place of traditional 60-watt incandescents, and considering that these only draw around 13-watts each, it's fairly easy to see how Mother Earth would just love you for making the switch. As for pricing, we're hearing that these will sell for around ¥1,500 ($14) apiece when they launch this October in Japan, so don't plan on recouping your investment in energy savings right away or anything.
Hitachi working on 5TB hard drive, halfway to human brain capacity
Just when solid-state drives were about to catch up to the spinners, Hitachi has gone and announced that it is working on a 5TB hard drive. It says the drive should be available by 2010 in a 3.5-inch format and will use perpendicular CPP-GMR tech to achieve some serious density. Just to show off, Hitachi's Yoshiro Shiroishi pointed out that the human brain has been estimated at (only?) around 10TB. So there we have it -- we're halfway to intellectual obsolescence. Don't say we didn't warn you![Via TechDigest]
Plasma Display Coalition emphasizes picture quality
Don't know how this one slipped by us, but better later than never. The Plasma Display Coalition, made up of Hitachi, LG, Panasonic and Pioneer, recently surveyed plasma owners to find out what drew them to the technology. No big surprise in the results -- 98-percent cited "excellent" or "good" picture quality. Taking the lesson to heart, the coalition has put together a brochure for retail trainers entitled "Plasma HDTV: Simply the Best Picture." As LCD increases its dominance, manufacturers will have to justify keeping plasma displays in their lineups. The titles for "thinnest" and "greenest" are out of reach; so for plasma's sake, let's hope the coalition members leave aside "biggest" bragging rights in favor of "best PQ for normal people."
Hitachi brings up the rear with its CP-WX625 LCD projector
Although the flood has calmed to a trickle, we're still seeing a few more new projectors light up at InfoComm. The latest of which is Hitachi's CP-WX625, a WXGA (1,366 x 768) beamer packing an HDMI socket, 4,000 ANSI lumens, integrated speaker, side-mounted hybrid filter, a lamp good for 3,000 hours or so of PowerPoint projecting and a handful of other inputs more likely to be found in the boardroom / classroom. Mum's the word on a price or availability, but after one look at Samsung's SP-A800B, it's hard to really worry over units like this.
Japan's top rental chain launches Tsutaya TV HD download-on-demand video service
Thanks to the fiber optic connections that connect nearly 12 million of Japan's 48 million households, video rental giant Tsutaya is probably laughing at Netflix's silly set-top box as it launches its Tsutaya TV HD download-on-demand rental service. Based on the acTVila service (a joint venture supported by Sony, Matsushita (Panasonic), Sharp, Toshiba and Hitachi, movies can download directly to connected HDTVs. Transformers, Heroes, Lost and Desperate Housewives will be among the first titles available in a library expected to grow to 2,000 titles by year-end, targeting older customers between their 40s and 50s, as opposed to the company's main in-store customers in their 20s. Full-length flicks run 735 yen (about $7), with a 48-hour rental period. Sure would be nice to have a standard feature set for digital downloads on this side of the Pacific, our jealousy threat level is: high.Read - Japan's top film rental chain offers high-definition downloadsRead - Tsutaya To Offer 2,000 Video Titles On Demand Via Internet TV
Hitachi kicks out CP-X206 and CP-X306 3LCD projectors
Look out -- here's comes a couple more snoozers from Hitachi. Sure, the CP-X206 and CP-X306 3LCD projectors will find their place in the wild, wild world, but with a 1,024 x 768 native resolution, that place isn't apt to be your home theater. Respectively, you'll find 2,200 and 2,600 lumens, while they both offer up a 500:1 contrast ratio, built-in 7-watt speaker and 29 dB noise rating in Whisper Mode. Clearly designed with classrooms and offices in mind, Hitachi threw in some swank anti-theft functionality, remote monitoring / management and a 2,000-hour hybrid filter. We've all been left out of the loop in regard to pricing, but it's not like this thing just rocketed up your list of must-have gizmos, right?
Hitachi's UWB-based TP-WL700H wirelessly transmits HD to Wooo HDTVs
Funny -- just this week we heard Hitachi President Kazuo Furukawa make mention of a forthcoming Wooonet networking scheme for its Wooo HDTVs, and now we're getting a few more details on potentially related peripherals. Analog Devices has just announced that its Advantiv technology is playing a huge role in the TP-WL700H. Said device is an ultra-wideband (UWB) based wireless transmission hub, which is currently available exclusively in Japan and designed to bring high-definition material to Wooo HDTVs sans extra cabling. There's not a peep about the unit ever heading Stateside, but given that everyone and their second cousin once removed is wondering when wireless HD will ever take off here, we'd sure like to see it make the journey.[Image courtesy of Impress]
Hitachi shows off pair of new CinemaStar hard drives
Just after Hitachi President Kazuo Furukawa announced that the company is digging in with its flat panel and hard drive business lines, two new CinemaStar hard drives get a June release date. First up is the 2.5-inch, 320GB CinemaStar C5K320, with SmoothStream to keep your video flowing, um, smoothly. If you need more capacity, there's the 3.5-inch, 500GB CinemaStar 5K500 (not to be confused with the 2.5-inch TravelStar 5K500), which is Hitachi's first drive with CoolSpin to limit current draw. We've never had a problem putting standard desktop hard drives to multimedia use, but limiting heat/power draw and acoustic noise are two area that you should factor in for drives destined for living room or bedroom placement; so if poring over specs like bels and Watts isn't your thing, maybe consider an "approved" video drive like these.
Hitachi to forge ahead with flat-panel, HDD businesses
Hitachi, like most every other flat-panel producer out there, has hit some shaky ground of late. Still, the outfit isn't planning to ditch its bread-and-butter anytime soon, and that's straight from the mouth of President Kazuo Furukawa. During a recent corporate strategy meeting, the exec affirmed that it would continue to position its flat-panel TV and hard drive divisions as "core businesses," as he saw promise in the fact that "the flat-panel TV market is growing on a global basis." He also made mention of a "Wooonet" networking service for TVs, which would reportedly get going next month. Sure sounds inviting, yeah?[Via Reuters]
Hitachi intros DZ-WR90 Blu-ray burner for hard drive-based camcorders
It looks like those wanting to churn out some high-definition media away from their computers now have a new option to consider courtesy of Hitachi, which has just introduced its DZ-WR90 Blu-ray burner designed to be used with hard drive-based camcorders equipped with an eSATA port (which Hitachi just happens to make). That combo will apparently let you burn three hours of full-res footage onto a Blu-ray disc in one and half hours flat or, if you prefer, you can also cram an hour of 720 x 480 video onto a plain old DVD. No word on a price just yet, but you can apparently look for this one to hit Japan in mid-July.[Via Slash Gear]
Pioneer and Hitachi post losses, point the finger at plasma
The most previous quarter is a sore subject for both Pioneer and Hitachi, as the pair of mega-corps have just posted substantial net losses. The latter announced a $559.3 million net loss, while the former said its net loss for the fiscal fourth quarter ended March widened to $287.2 million. Hitachi pointed at "large restructuring losses in its flat-screen-TV business" as the primary culprit, and it didn't predict a return to profit until the fiscal year ending March 2009. After experiencing the fourth straight year of losses, Pioneer even mentioned that it would "start talks with its unions to shed 300 jobs in Japan" along with closing two domestic plants following the pullout from PDP production. So yeah, we'd probably rethink that plan about jumping into the plasma production biz. [Warning: read link requires subscription]
Hitachi delivers 7200RPM 2.5-inch Travelstar drive
Hitachi went and sucked more desktop performance out of a 2.5-inch, durable laptop drive once again. Their new 2.5-inch Travelstar 7K320 spins at 7200RPM with a 320GB storage capacity. It also boasts 12ms seek times and optional Bulk Data Encryption, which scrambles and unscrambles data as its written just in case you lose your little precious on the road. This drive is shipping now unless you want the enhanced availability version -- meant for media servers and 24/7 uptime -- which should ship this fall. And let's be honest: until solid-state drives hit that elusive price / storage sweet spot, drives like this may just be your best bet in compact computing.
Q1 2008 plasma shipments up 56% from a year ago
It's no surprise to see that the LCD sector is doing quite well; plasmas, on the other hand, have certainly been on the downward trend. According to new data from Displaybank, shipments of PDP modules managed to slide 15-percent during Q1 2008 compared to the always high Q4 of last year (you know, those holidays tend to do that), but the intriguing stat is the year-over-year: it's up 56-percent. For what it's worth, pricing for plasma panels is on the skids as well, and while the 40-inch segment accounted for just over half of all shipments, the 50-inchers claimed another 25-percent. In case you haven't noticed, quite a bit of shaking up has gone on in the plasma industry here recently, and while LG Electronics took back over the lead in Q1, anything is fair game from here on out.
Hitachi's 1.5 UltraThin LCD HDTVs now available in US
You heard it right -- Hitachi's UltraThin 1.5 family that caused such a stir at CES is finally available for US consumers. Available in 32-, 37-, 42- and 47-inch sizes, the lot has been broken down into two distinct clans: the Director's Series (X) and Ultra Vision (V) models. Each member of the former comes with a 2-year warranty and a sticker ranging from $1,999 to $4,699, while the latter gets a 1-year warranty and price tags between $1,799 and $4,499. Curiously enough, it seems that several sets (the UT47X902, UT47V702, UT32A302/W, UT32V502/W, UT42V702 and UT37V702) may actually not yet be ready for shipping judging by their July to September availability dates, but we'll leave it to you to sort out the contradictions in Hitachi's press release with your dealer. Hit the read link for more details. %Gallery-21942%
Hitachi's DZ-BD7HSW hybrid Blu-ray camcorder comes to UAE
Remember that hybrid Blu-ray camcorder Hitachi busted out late last summer? Lo and behold, that very unit has become the first of its kind to grace the markets in the United Arab Emirates. The flagship DZ-BD7HSW incorporates a 30GB hard drive along with BD recording capabilities to log hours upon hours of 1,920 x 1,080 footage of your stay in the Burj Al Arab, and for folks not keen on editing, it offers up a one-touch transfer function to get your HDD-stored material straight to Blu-ray Disc. Unfortunately, a price for the UAE isn't mentioned, but that's about all the reason you need to hop on over for a week and see for yourself, right?
