Hitachi 1.5
”Hitachi Shrinks Blu-Ray Camcorder, Adds More Megapixels: New DZ-BD10H
Back in January, Hitachi released the BD9H Blu-ray camcorder, and it's taken just six months for the next generation to come along. The DZ-BD10H takes the same core design, but squeezes it into a slightly smaller package. It's still a full HS palmcorder, recording to 8-cm BD, DVD-R/RW/RAM or a 30GB HDD but this time the sensor is a 7-megapixel CMOS and the camera has the ability to write stills and movies to SD/SDHC cards too.
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Sony, Sharp, Hitachi, Samsung and Motorola Agree on Amimon Whole-House Wireless HD Standard
Be happy: A new wireless HD video standard guarantees that major brands including Sony, Sharp, Hitachi, Samsung and Motorola will have interoperable wireless video streaming. Amimon—the chip makers behind the "video modem" wireless HD tech we've been seeing on and off for the last few years, and most recently in Belkin's Flywire—is announcing the WHDI consortium with the above members, formed to standardize their wireless HD spec and embed it in member companies' TVs, projectors and HD video sources. The result is a network of HD components, streaming uncompressed 1080p video not just through one room like competing UWB standards, but to and from any source to any TV in your entire home, with a range comparable to Wi-Fi. Pretty impressive stuff.
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Hitachi Drops Acid, Explains Terabyte Hard Drives In Crazy Cartoon
It's always great when companies break out of their stodgy PR molds and just go for it—remember those fantastic tokusatsu Norton Fighter ads? Here we have Hitachi, no strangers to the out-of-the-box viral video, ushering us all into the "Tera Era," a magical wonderland of smiling flowers, talking bytes, hard disk actuator suns, and catchy Schoolhouse Rock jingles. The juxtaposition of traditional PR-speak on their YouTube page which looks like a clown threw up all over it ("This amazing collision of Capacity, Content and Culture") and this video, which is just another kind of PR-speak, is still pretty incredible. Check out the original "Get Perpendicular" spot for comparison below. More »Hitachi Deskstar 7K1000B is Power Efficient 1TB Drive, Has Encryption Too
About a year ago we brought you the first retail terabyte HDD, the Deskstar 7K1000, and now Hitachi has released the Deskstar 7K1000.B. And Hitachi's worked quite hard on it: With a 32MB buffer and a three-disk layout, it's apparently the "world's most power-efficient 1TB drive" and consumes about 43% less power when idling. And for those of you who think "bleh" to the power savings, it also has built-in encryption, which Hitachi says doesn't impact on read/write speeds at all. Out soon for $279, which puts it in competition with the Samsung HD103UJ. Available July for $279. [Hitachi and BoingBoing Gadgets]Question of the Day: Which Hard Drives Have Crashed On You?
Today when I wrote up a WD RAID drive, the comment boxes were flooded with WD gripes. The funny thing is, the reverse happened when we wrote about Seagate a while ago. And Buchanan won't shut up about Hitachi's infamous "Death Star" drives. Are all drives equally prone to fail, or are there some makers who get it right more often than others? Yes, we would like you to share your most heart-wrenching drive crash stories, if you've finally got up the courage to talk about it. But first: More »Hitachi To Sell 1.5-inch Ultra Thin Plasma Next Year
At CES, Hitachi showed off an impressive 1.5-inch-thin plasma display. Today at the CEA industry update the company has told us that the concept will become a reality when the televisions go on sale in the US sometime during 2009. They also hinted that LED-backlit LCDs could be available in as little as 6 months. As for OLED, that's still a ways off.MRAM: A Blockbuster Slated for 2015 Release
The Good News: Toshiba and Hitachi are both flaunting new technologies to make MRAM (the successor to DRAM) more plausible for public consumption. Plus, the United States and Korea both have begun national-level projects to develop the tech. More »Hitachi EMIEW 2 Vid Shows Segway-Style Legs, Wheely Kneecaps, Creepy Kid Voice
Impress Robot Watch just published footage of Hitachi's anime-styled EMIEW 2, the little guy who took a spill during his debut last November. The new video shows that his feet, tipped with wheels, give him a Segway-like way of staying upright, with little micromovements. If the terrain gets too rough, there's always the second set of wheels on his kneecaps, which you see him using at the beginning. Like many Japanese constructs, this one has a creepy child's voice, with which it apparently says some unexpected things like "What color is love?" (Maybe that's an error in translation, but still...) Watching the Segway-style maneuvering, I am left wondering how two of these would do in a rock-em-sock-em scenario. [Impress]Hitachi's 2.5-Inch HDD Does 7200rpm Speeds With 5400rpm Power
Fujitsu might have been the first to introduce a 2.5" 7200rpm hard drive with 320GB capacity, but Hitachi is hot on their trail. Today, Hitachi announced that they too have a quick lil'-drive, the Travelstar 7K320. The HDD will support the same SATA 3Gbps interface as the Fujitsu, but will supposedly use less power. With only a 1.8 watt read/write power draw and a 0.8 watt low power idle, Hitachi claims the 7200rpm 7K320 power consumption is on par with their 5400rpm models. So if you were set on getting a faster 2.5" 320GB HD for your notebook, Hitachi's version should be available in a few weeks with a $219 price tag. Press release after the jump.
More »Hitachi UltraThin 1.5-Inch LCDs Finally Hitting US Soil
Six months after announcing it would bring its 1.5"-thick UltraThin line to the US, Hitachi is finally starting to ship product. Sizes range from 32" to 47" and 1080p from 37" and up—previously we thought the line would stop at 42". HD Guru tells us they don't have integrated HD tuners, so you'll have to use your cable box or spring $299 for a separate tuner. But hell, they are sexy, and they come with 120Hz image processing for better motion. The only thing remotely wrong with them is their high price: the top of the line 47-incher will set you back $4,700—and won't be here until September. What's that saying? Never too thin—or too rich? Specs, pricing and shipping dates of the full line below. More »ASUS M70 One Terabyte Laptop Screams "FIRST!!!"
For the digital pack rats, the ASUS M70 (which was quasi-announced at CES) looks to be the first stock laptop to support a full terabyte of storage (a feat achieved by packing dual 500GB Hitachi Travelstar drives). So what do you do with all that data? Store HD videos to play back on the built-in 17" WUXGA screen displaying 1920x1200 resolution, listen to audio through the four built-in Altec Lansing speakers, or use the M70's HDMI port to watch your footage on your surely larger, more impressive, second mortgage of a television you've got in your living room. Oh, and for those who could care less about storage, the M70 packs facial recognition, fingerprint scanning, Blu-ray "support", and integrated webcam. Here are the full specs: More »Hitachi Release Specs of Its Ultra-Thin Woo TV With Wireless Main Unit
We brought you the good news that Hitachi's swanky UT range of LCD TVs would be coming to the US, and now Hitachi has dished the dirt on their specifications. The 32-inch version will have a 1366 x 768 screen, versus the 1920 x 1080 of the bigger 37- and 42-inch versions. But all are just 1.4 inches deep (that'll be the Ultra Thin bit, then) and sport a 250GB internal HDD. More »
industry
Pioneer to End 42-Inch Plasma Display Production
Pioneer is ending its production of 42-inch plasma displays, as the company hopes to focus all its attention on producing 50-inch models instead. Specifically, Pioneer will be closing the Kagoshima plant in Japan by March 2009, when it will then be put up for sale. So, if you're interested in a factory producing 42-inch displays, you're in luck. Pioneer will continue selling the smaller units, but will purchase parts from Hitachi to meet the demand for sub 50-inch plasmas. [Reuters]
appliances
Hitachi's New Air Conditioner Keeps Your Skin Moisturized
Hitachi has just announced a fancy-pants new air conditioner that not only keeps you chilled, but it actually moisturizes your skin as well. Finally, your skin can be silky smooth without requiring expensive and emasculating lotions! More »
tvs
Sony #1 in LCD; Biggest Names Hold Fast, But Cheap-o Brands Taking Out Weaker Competition
Last quarter was an all-out TV-maker battle, and you my friends were the territory. DisplaySearch's results for Q4 '07 declared the victor in the US LCD category to be Sony for the very first time. Panasonic handily crushed all comers in the smaller US plasma race. Samsung, with strong #2 finishes in both, ended up remaining the #1 overall TV brand in the country, and LG also held its own. But... More »Hitachi W61H Cellphone Packs E-Ink Display on its Bum
Hitachi has just debuted its W61H cellphone, which packs a 2.7-Inch E-Ink display on its reverse side. The display, which has been dubbed the Silhouette Screen, will be able to show off one of 95 pre-set graphics, but beyond the aesthetics the E-Ink offering has, it seems to have little other utility. (No caller data, time, date or SMS information can be viewed.) Jump for another shot.
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