Sony's Linux DVR Can Record Two Weeks of TV

DoctorNo writes "Sony will introduce - in Japan only - a Linux based video recorder in early November which can store 342 hours of content with 500GB of hard drive space. As well as the highend machine, Sony will also offer a cut down version with a 250GB drive. They will be priced at $1380(500GB) and $1035(250GB). More information, specs , and pictures (Japanese). Add another to the list of consumer Linux devices..."

MythTV can do it today...

[JeffVolc]

I have a MythTV box which can store about 100 hours on a 120G drive right now. A MythTV box can be built for easily under $500 including the cost of the hardware encoding Hauppauge Wintv PVR 250 card and a 120G harddrive.

Keep your Tivos and your monthly subscription.... MythTV is the best/cheapest PVR out there. I can watch any live or recorded show on any linux box in my house or on the TV in the living room using the TVout of my Linux box in the other room.

I also reencode shows for watching on my Dell Axim PocketPC (they are just Mpeg2 files after all) when I travel. 3 one hours shows fit onto a 256M CF card.

No proprietary formats to mess with either.

Re:Well...

[ruiner13]

If you want to have all episodes of the simpsons (thank you fox indianapolis for playing 3 episodes every day!) recorded and at your becon call, 2 weeks of recording space is barely adequate. There are what, 13 seasons of the simpsons, with around 13 episodes per season, at 30 minutes per episodes (without commercial skip), that makes about 84 hours, give or take. Then add in all the futuramas, all the family guy's, and you can fill up that drive pretty darn fast. Add in some stargate SG-1, and damn, i'm gonna need a terabyte drive. For well over a grand though, i'd hope it would have a DVD-R to pull stuff off of it (I can't read japanese, but it doesn't look like it has one in the picture).

Interesting - but I could buy 14 DirecTivo's

[kmankmankman2001]

I'll grant that it has neato geek factor, but I only paid $99 for my DirecTivo. For $1,400 I could have DirecTivos in every room of my house and my garage and still have plenty of money left to install mega hard drives in each one to up the capacity. And for the record, Tivos ARE Linux boxen which is why they are so geek-friendly when you want to mod them. So other than having a large hard drive stuffed into it I don't really see what makes this device all that special, and certainly not at that price.

No you CAN'T do this yourself!

[AmigaAvenger]

at least half the replies to this article will be "just get yourself a cheap athlon/vid capture card and do it yourself for half the cost..."

for anyone saying that, give it a try. I doubt it will last past the novelty phase, and will NOT pass the girlfriend test... It simply is way too cumbersome to be a usable solution.

So get a TiVo

[tgibbs]

Apparently, TiVo Inc., doesn't see a market for such high-end PVRs. But the secondary market has picked up the slack. Weakknees.com sells a 320 GB TiVo for $660 (but remember that it's another $300 for lifetime service; the article doesn't state whether Sony's prices include service). The one big advantage of the Sony unit over TiVo is that it provides a save-to-DVR option--but only if you link it to a Sony-brand computer.

Re:Are these TiVos?

[nearlygod]

Then get a ReplayTV. They suppurt larger drives and dual drives. Install 2 250GB drives and you are done. I bought a 40 hour ReplayTV for $400 (lifetime service) and install 2 160 GB drives that I got for $90 after rebate. That gives me 320 hrs for a total of $580. In a few months the larger drives will be available for that price but I am happy with 320 hrs.