4 posts tagged “sony”
Sony's 700 series digital music players were recently launched and they have some sweet features:
But is this enough to challenge the iPod nano? On price, the answer would have to be no. Amazon sell the 4GB iPod nano for £114.50 and the 4GB NW-S706 for £128.99. But is price the only issue?
For me, the decision to replace my Hi-MD recorder and buy the 700 instead of a nano came down to:
1. The ability to play multiple formats. In addition to Sony's ATRAC format, the 700 supports MP3, unprotected WMA and unprotected AAC. I've got music in all of those formats. If I remember correctly, the iPod can only play MP3 & AAC.
2. Nice long battery life. 50 hours is seriously long. The Hi-MD recorder can only be charged by putting it on its docking station and using a mains adapter. The Sony 700 & the iPod can be charged from USB.
3. Ability to record. This is a major requirement of mine. As you may remember from previous postings, my Hi-MD recorder recently trashed a recording of my sister's wedding as I transferred it to the computer. The 700 can perform recordings with the purchase of an additional cable or the use of a docking station. You have a choice of various ATRAC compression rates or PCM encoding. To get the recording into the computer is a simple Explorer drag and drop which means it is a read-only operation whereas the Hi-MD operation clearly involved writing back to the disc.
Of lesser importance to myself but a recognition of how Sony are trying to put together a better ecosystem is that there are a lot more accessories available for this series of DMPs. You've got a choice of cases, strap, charging cradle and then, in direct competition with the iPod infrastructure, docking speaker systems. There are also Bluetooth adapters with stereo headsets and, not mentioned in the linked article, in-car systems as well.
One of the criticisms levelled at Sony over these products is the SonicStage software. This is Sony's answer to iTunes and, whilst it has had a bad reputation in the past, the latest version is (in my opinion) pretty good. The Connect store may be more expensive than iTunes (99p vs 79p per track) but according to Forrester, nobody buys tracks anyway! The software does a decent job of ripping CDs quickly into ATRAC format and also of managing your music library (in any of the supported formats) and transferring the music into and out of the player.
Time will tell as to whether or not people take to this device. I think it looks good, it has a solid feel to it and some strong features. People are in a Sony-bashing mood at the moment, which won't help, and there appears to be some inconsistency in which countries get which models & accessories. That said, this is a new release so hopefully it will settled down over time.
If you are in the market for a Flash-basic music device and are considering the iPod nano, give these a look.
From Digital Video Editing:
Sony Demos HVR-V1U HDV 24p Camcorder in NY Event - nice photos, particularly of the HDD recording unit that was announced at the same time as the V1U.
An Interview with Sony's Bob Ott; talking HDV 24p, CCDs vs CMOS, hard disk recording - some interesting points being discussed. Part 2 (not yet published) will cover the V1U camcorder.
HDBeat have reported that Sony, Samsung and Sharp are pushing up the manufacturing schedules for their 52-inch 1080p LCDs next year.
I'm still not sure what to go for ... I'm not looking for a back-projection system, I know that much. So I'm left with LCD, plasma and SED. The latter isn't available yet but is being hyped as the killer technology for HD displays. I'm hoping that it is everything that people think it might be, 'cos otherwise I'm stuck trying to choose between plasma & LCD. They've both got their good points & their bad points.
Still, with the dearth of HD programming in the UK, I'm not in a particular hurry yet ... possibly this time next year at the earliest.
Douglas Spotted Eagle has put together a short but informative first look at Sony's new HVR-V1U, a 3-CMOS professional camcorder. It offers true 1080/24p, also 30p and 60i and uses the same imaging system as the recently announced HDR-FX7. The PAL version, the HVR-V1E, supports 1080/25p and 50i. Camcorderinfo.com has a comparison chart between the HVR-V1U and the HDR-FX7.
It uses HDV tape and the article mentions that as part of the process of writing out to tape, the video changes from full 1920x1080 to 1440x1080. Does this mean that all HDV footage is anamorphic, regardless of whether or not the camcorder has a full-size sensor?
There are a couple of WMV files and a raw MT2 file for your perusal. I've looked at one of the WMV files and the clarity of the picture is fantastic.
I'm happy with my HC1 for now :). Yes, I know that there isn't really a comparison, even between the HC1 and the FX7. I think if I was looking to replace the HC1, the FX7 would be high on my list. I'm only a prosumer, though, so I don't need all of the extra bells and whistles that the V1U brings. I'm not sure that I even need what the FX7 offers ... it certainly costs a lot more than the HC1 did.
