New Plextor PVR, Universal Computing, Killer Gaming Laptop and Quake 4?
Good eveing all! We've got some interesting tid-bids this evening from several sites that are sure to get some attention. Let's jump right into the game and see what is going on!
Plextor Introduces First PC-Based Personal Video Recorder with MPEG-4 and DivX Hardware Compression
Users Can Pause Live TV and Record Favorite Shows on Personal Computers; DivX Format Offers Nearly 300% More Compression than MPEG-2
FREMONT, Calif. - September 13, 2004 - Plextor Corp., a leading developer and manufacturer of high-performance digital media equipment, today announced the new ConvertX PVR model PX-TV402U with built-in TV tuner. The new PX-TV402U captures and records broadcast, cable, or satellite TV onto a computer hard drive using the DivX, MPEG-4, MPEG-2, or MPEG-1 formats. Users can watch, pause, and record live TV, or use an integrated electronic programming guide(EPG) to schedule recordings with a single mouse click.
Unlike PVRs that connect to a television set, the PX-TV402U does not require a monthly service fee; it allows users to burn their favorite programs and home videos onto CDs and DVDs using their computers CD or DVD recorder; and it supports real-time hardware encoding to DivX and MPEG-4. DivX offers three times greater compression than MPEG-2 without quality loss, so a two-hour movie occupies less than 2GB of drive space at the highest quality DivX setting. DivX files are even small enough to play on portable devices like cell phones, PDAs and personal video players. The PX-TV402U is a DivX Certified hardware encoder ensuring the video files created can be played back in all DivX Certified players.
"The PX-TV402U is a cost-effective way for any home PC user to get all the same benefits of having an expensive DVR hooked up to the television set in their living room, including being able to watch all their favorite shows whenever they want," said Dirk Peters, director of marketing, Plextor. "But the PX-TV402U has the additional advantage of being connected to the PC so users can easily add hard disk storage when they want more capacity, they can burn CDs and DVDs using their CD/DVD burner and they can have access to the Internet so they can share their favorite videos and home movies with peers. PC based PVRs combine the benefits of a TV based PVR with the power and flexibility of a PC."
Plextor ConvertX PVR video capture devices record video to personal computers for editing, storing, and sharing. In addition to recording programs, movies, and sports events from the built-in TV tuner, the PX-TV402U also supports RCA composite audio/video input and S-Video input connections for capturing home video from such sources as camcorders, DVD players, and VCRs.
For more info visit www.plextor.com
Jetway PT800TWIN @ HEXUS.net
"It's a specialist product that works well, but there are a lot of caveats to take into consideration before you'd do so. You'll know straight away if a MagicTwin system is for you, otherwise I'd maybe look elsewhere."
Step toward Univeral Computing @ Wired:
"A Silicon Valley startup claims to have cracked one of most elusive goals of the software industry: a near-universal emulator that allows software developed for one platform to run on any other, with almost no performance hit."
Care to take a peek at Quake 4? Check out the scans over at Beyond3D forums. If this is the real deal, looks like the graphics challenge Doom3 and its BRIGHTER!
ATI Mobility Radeon 9800 @ HardOCP:
"The "new" Dell Inspiron XPS has undergone an upgrade that will be that is likely going to be most important in terms of gaming. Dell has now included ATI's Mobility Radeon 9800 Video Processing Unit, or "VPU," in their Inspiron XPS notebook.
That's it for now, time to catch Monday Night Football!
