Sharky Extreme opinion: Several vendors besides Panasonic announced DirecTV HDTV decoders at CES, and some for as low as $699.
Once the gee-whiz aspect of network HDTV content wears off for new owners of HDTV systems, we expect them to flock to the new HDTV DirecTV system in droves for their movie content, since land-based cable certainly isn't in any hurry to expand into HDTV in most areas.
This is a great development, and it makes it much easier to justify the purchase of an HDTV setup in the year 2000, unlike in 1999 where consumers could purchase HDTV systems only to quickly be frustrated by a lack of quality network programming.
HDTV DirecTV provides the easy solution.
PV-HD1000: In this era of DVD-this and DVD-that, we had hoped that the antique VHS tape cassette was finally in the grave waiting for us to throw the dirt over its casket once and for all. I mean really, it's been more the 20 years! Let's move on!
VHS Lives On In Panasonic's HDTV Recorder
Unfortunately nothing could be farther from the truth, and much like the comic book character "Spawn" who dies only to rise from the dead to do the work of the devil, the VHS tape is rising from the grave for a new era of sales and retail presence before it's finally consigned to the underworld some four to five years from now.
The reason for this is that not even "prototype" HD-DVD video recorders more than three years away from production using proprietary technology and other voodoo magic tricks are able to record an acceptable amount of HDTV content due to their limited space.
Most can't even hold an hour of HDTV 720p or 1080i broadcast content currently, and again, that's a figure from the state of the art, best of the best, single concept HD-DVD video recorder designs deep in developer's labs.
But we bet you know already what media format DOES have the space to hold the massive data of a 720p or 1080i HDTV broadcast...Over three hours worth in fact...
You guessed it, a variation on the massive-sized geriatric VHS tape.
So-called "DVHS", (Digital VHS) VCRs are making their way toward retail, and Panasonic had their first model, the PV-HD1000 at this year's CES.
Actually the PV-HD1000 has been on sale since December 1999, at an MSRP of $999. For that price users get a VCR that includes the bells and whistles that normal high-end VCRs have featured for over 10 years now. Oh, and it plays normal low-quality VHS tapes as well.
Snooze.
The PV-HD1000 will continue on in 2000, and will likely be joined by second generation DVHS decks late in the year.