Price reductions averaging 35% were announced by Pioneer on DVR-A03 DVD-RW drive to reflect economies of scale achieved on higher OEM and aftermarket consumer demand. List price of drive drops to $649 from $995 and blank DVD-RW media 25% to $15.99 from $19.99. Pioneer spokeswoman said DVR-A03 had been selling for $799 street price.
“System-on-chip” device that adds PVR capability to set- top boxes was announced in sample quantities by STMicroelectronics as part of its Omega line of decoders. Company said new capabilities of its STi5514 device allow for low-cost implementation of PVR hard-disc recording in set-top boxes and other “convergence” components. It said new device was backward-compatible with predecessor ST-5512, of which more than 8 million have been shipped.
FCC’s new DTV Task Force should make cable role in transition its top priority, CEA Pres. Gary Shapiro said. CEA said critical DTV issues include cable interoperability, competitive retail market for cable set-tops, HDTV programming. CEA projected consumer investment in DTV products would reach $5 billion by year end, and said sales of DTV sets and monitors would top one million units by end of year, 2 million by end of 2002.
Electronic Arts updated its recently opened James Bond 007 in… Agent Under Fire Web site. Game of same name is to ship Nov. 13.
Frustrated by reluctance of high-tech industry chiefs to testify at upcoming hearing on copy protection and digital rights management standards, Sen. Hollings (D-N.C.) has told 3 trade associations he expected them to help him obtain witnesses.
WRAL-TV (Ch. 5, CBS) Raleigh-Durham started TotalCast datacasting service as part of its DTV signal, using Triveni Digital technology, companies said. Service transmits broadband content direct to PCs, using portion of DTV signal. Content includes video-on-demand of station’s news shows, custom news Web content, computer games, short videos, software, local programming. Content is received via accessDTV Digital Media Receiver PCI card installed in PCs.
New C-3020 Zoom digital still camera (DSC) from Olympus will ship by month’s end at $499. Latest addition to Olympus DSC line is 3.2 megapixel (2,048x1,536 pixel resolution) model with 3x optical zoom aspherical glass lens and 6-mode flash with slow synchro red-eye reduction mode. New features are 5 Scene Program Modes that Olympus said make it easier to get “perfect shot,” “My Mode” function that creates unique custom camera settings, Noise Reduction System, USB Auto- Connect capability that allows user to connect camera to almost any USB-compatible Windows computer.
Two new DualCam digital cameras will ship from Logitech in U.S., Canada and Europe next month. ClickSmart 310 at $79.95 and 510 at $149.95 combine functionality of digital still cameras and Internet video cameras and can be used attached to or detached from PC. Swiss peripheral maker said ClickSmart 510 featured 640x480 VGA sensor that allowed for still image resolution up to 1.3 megapixels. It comes with automatic strobe flash, built-in microphone, 8 MB SmartMedia memory card, self-timer, SmartMedia port. Card can store up to 480 still images or 90 sec. of video, Logitech said. ClickSmart 310 features CIF 352x288 sensor that company said also allowed for still image resolution up to 640x480. It can store up to 160 still images and 15 sec. of video captured away from PC. Included are protective lens cap and self-timer. When attached to PC, each model can be used in conjunction with Logitech’s Web camera software. Each of cameras runs on 4 standard AAA batteries.
At our deadline, Amazon.com was planning once again to offer Xbox bundles for presale Monday for limited time between 3 and 5 p.m. E-tailer said: “Based on the previous presales, we expect the limited time to be very brief.” When Amazon and its online partner, Toysrus.com, started preselling Xbox bundles in early Sept., they said they sold out of initial allocation within 30 min. As part of trend, Amazon/Toysrus.com and other major online retailers are selling next-generation game consoles only online as part of pricey bundles that also feature software and extra controller. All-Star and Premier packs they are selling are priced at $499.99 each. Microsoft’s console on its own will have $299 price.