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<br>-----------------------------------------------------------<br>Issue No. 274 Thursday September 20, 2007<br>Subscribers: 9467<br>SUBSCRIBE AND UNSUBSCRIBE TO GADGET WATCH:<br><a href="http://www.japaninc.com/newsletters/free_sign_up">
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<br>=================================================================<br>Name: eRevolution Segnity<br> Category: Portable audio/video<br> Price: Open Price<br>Release date in Japan: September 28, 2007<br> <br>The Gist: Every so often, a Japanese company will take a
<br>seemingly normal piece of equipment and add some extra <br>gimmick that somehow makes it ultra-Japanese. Such is the case <br>with eRevolution and their newly announced 'Segnity,' a portable <br>1-Seg television.
<br><br>As we've addressed in several previous editions of Gadget Watch, <br>'1-Seg' refers to terrestrial digital TV broadcasts that are <br>specifically aimed at mobile devices. The new Segnity is <br>barebones from a technical standpoint -- it's essentially just a
<br>1-Seg tuner, 2.7inch LCD screen, and miniSD card slot -- but that's <br>not why someone would go and pick up this product.<br><br>What's particularly Japanese about the Segnity is the voices that<br>provide guidance while you use the device. When you first power
<br>it on, a rather unfriendly female voice mocks you (in Japanese, <br>of course): 'Gonna watch some TV, huh?' The feature is designed <br>so that there are three different emotional states of the <br>guidance: 'tsuntsun', or Short, 'tsundere',
<br>Hhot-cold, and 'dere', Fawning. Those translations lose <br>some of the effect of the original Japanese words, but the point <br>is that the voice guidance essentially becomes gradually <br>attached to you as you continue to use the device: imagine
<br>hearing 'No!!!! Don't go!' when you go to turn the thing off. <br>These three emotional states apply to all 11 of the device's <br>different actions (such as lowering the volume, changing the <br>channel), giving users 33 different voice samples they can enjoy.
<br><br>To make this feature even more glorious, users can load <br>customized voice tracks on miniSD cards via software to be <br>released on October 28, and use them with the device. On these <br>SD cards, you can also load as many as 64 different still images
<br>that will be shown when changing channels. eRevolution wants <br>users to be able to exchange customized voice samples over the <br>web. The company even said they're considering offering miniSD <br>cards pre-loaded with voices of famous characters (let's be
<br>honest... anime characters) and voice actors. <br><br>More info: <a href="http://www.e-revolution.co.jp/zakka/segnity/index.html">http://www.e-revolution.co.jp/zakka/segnity/index.html</a><br>=================================================================
<br>=================================================================<br>Name: Hitachi IV-R1000<br> Category: Home audio/video<br> Price: Open Price; estimated around 60,000 yen<br>Release date in Japan: November 15, 2007
<br> <br>The Gist: For those with serious backlogs of TV programs to watch<br>comes the 'IV-R1000' from Hitachi, a device that essentially <br>allows you to hook two hard drives up to your home audio/video <br>
system. Using the 8-track-sized 'iVDR-S' removable hard drives <br>from Hitachi, the IV R-1000 features a terrestrial <br>digital/BS/110 CS tuner and is slated for release on November 15.<br><br>iVDR is a format pioneered by Hitachi Maxell, but it's a bit hard
<br>to call it a "removable media". An iVDR disk is literally just a <br>hard drive slapped inside of a convenient case. While <br>hot-swappable hard drives have been around for a number of years <br>for servers and enterprise-level applications, iVDR is a similar
<br>technology brought to the world of consumers. Specifically, <br>Hitachi has oriented iVDR for recording high-definition video; <br>one of the standards ('iVDR-Secure,' or iVDR-S) format supports <br>the necessary Digital Rights Management technologies required for
<br>recording HD broadcasts in Japan. Hitachi also recently announced<br>a plasma TV (part of their 'Wooo' line) with a slot for iVDR-S <br>drives. It's probably safe to assume the hard drives are sourced <br>
from within Hitachi, as the company purchased from IBM's hard <br>drive division back in 2003 and renamed it to Hitachi Global <br>Storage Technologies. It's nice to see they have finally found a <br>way those economies of scale to the consumer electronics
<br>division.<br><br>The IV-R1000 does not require much explaining; it's more or less <br>just a tuner with two iVDR-S slots. Because the device only has <br>one tuner, you won't be able to simultaneously record two
<br>programs, which is a downer, but you are able to watch a show on <br>one drive while recording to the other. iVDR-S disks are <br>available in 80GB and 160GB capacities, where the former will <br>allow for about 16 hours of digital high definition recording,
<br>and the latter roughly 32 hours. A quick search revealed that <br>the 80GB iVDR-S disks run just over 17,000 yen, so you're <br>certainly paying 'hard drive prices' for the media. Just for <br>comparison purposes, a 50GB write-once Blu-ray disc currently
<br>runs about 2,500 yen.<br><br>IV-R1000 has one HDMI output, D4 output, S2 output, Composite <br>output, optical audio output, modular jack, and Ethernet port. <br><br>More info: <a href="http://av.hitachi.co.jp/tv/dgtuner/index.html">
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------------------------------------------------------------<br>=================================================================<br>Name: Kenwood Media Keg HD60GD9<br> Category: Portable audio/video<br> Price: Open Price; estimated around 54,800 yen
<br>Release date in Japan: Early October 2007<br> <br>The Gist: Kenwood's 'Media Keg' line of portable digital audio <br>players is renowned for audio quality, and now the company has <br>introduced their newest model, the 'HD60GD9.' While the facade
<br>may look similar, there are a number of changes that make this <br>one worth investigating, especially if you're big on having high <br>quality audio from your portable devices.<br><br>The '60' in the produce code comes from the hard drive upgrade to
<br>60GB. This is a welcome step up from the 30GB capacity of the <br>previous model. There are some rather technical changes under the<br>hood as well, such as giving the audio output jack 10mW per <br>channel now instead of just 8mW, and the addition of 'Search by
<br>Artist' and 'Play Album' to the Quick Menu options. Still another<br>change is addition of support for AAC audio files, which joins <br>MP3, WMA (DRM is supported too), WAV, and Kenwood's own 'Kenwood
<br>Lossless' format. While AAC files are supported, DRM for AAC <br>files (such as those sold on the iTunes Store) are not supported.<br><br>'Supreme EX' is the new audio restoration technology that enables<br>
the player to interpolate data that is lost during the MP3/AAC <br>compression process. The EX is for the new support for <br>frequencies above 22kHz... which is out of the frequency range of<br>many humans' hearing. But that's alright, because surely someone
<br>out there will notice a difference. Some additional features <br>include a USB 2.0 connection, 5-band graphic equalizer, 320x240 <br>dot color display, and three pre-installed songs.<br><br>More info: <a href="http://www.kenwood.co.jp/j/products/home_audio/">
http://www.kenwood.co.jp/j/products/home_audio/</a><br>personal/hd60gd9/index.html<br>=================================================================<br>=================================================================<br>
<br>WANT TO COMMENT?<br>Post you opinion at <a href="http://www.japaninc.com/gw275">www.japaninc.com/gw275</a><br><br>STAFF<br>Written by: Liam McNulty<br>READ PREVIOUS NEWSLETTERS<br>Gadget Watch online archive:<br><a href="http://www.japaninc.com/gadget_watch">
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<br>-----------------------------------------------------------<br>Start a Company in Japan<br><br>Entrepreneur's Handbook Seminar 6th of October, 2007<br><br>If you have been considering setting up your own company,<br>
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<br>Our concept is "Families helping Families" and we invite<br>anyone that wants to meet other families, help other families,<br>or discuss family-related issues pertinent to life in Japan<br>to come and join the Piqniq today!
<br><br>For more information: <a href="http://www.piqniq.jp">www.piqniq.jp</a><br><br>-----------------------------------------------------------