Sony announced a new series of recorders, eqipped with high capacity hard disks for large volumes of video storage. The new "CSV-EX11" has a 500GB hard disk and its brother "CSV-EX9" with a 250GB hard disk are expected in the market by November 1st. Although their prices are still open, the "CSV-EX11" is expected to cost around 160,000 Yen (1250 EU) and the "CSV-EX9" approximately 120,000 Yen (950 EU). Both recorders support the the EPG feature enabling scheduling of automatic recording from the TV channels, and are also equipped with 2 tunners and 2 MPEG 2 encoders, allowing simultaneous recording of 2 different programs.

MPEG-2 encoding is done automatically and the video files can be stored to the hard disk, and be recorded on a DVD recorder connected externally in your PC.

The recorders have memory stick slots and can store up to 1,000 still pictures or other content.

The supported recording modes are the High Quality mode HQ (9Mbps), the Standard Play mode SP (6Mbps) and the extended Play mode EP (3Mbps).

Main Specifications:

Video recording system: MPEG-2
Sound Recording system: MPEG-1 (LAYER2)
Signaling system: NTSC
HDD capacity: 500GB (CSV-EX11) / 250GB (CSV-EX9)
Maximum vide recording time :
CSV-EX11: HQ about 114 hours, and SP about 171 hours, and EP about 342 hours
CSV-EX9: HQ about 56 hours, and SP about 84 hours, and EP 168 hours Receiving channel: VHF 1 - 12ch, UHF 13-62ch, CATV C13-C38
Output terminal: One D1 terminal, two composites, two S images, two analog (L/R) sounds
Input terminal: Two composites, two S images, two analog (L/R) sounds
Other terminals: Ethernet (100BASE-TX), data input, control S input and output
Dimensions: (width x depth x height): 430x360x79mm
Weight: 7.2kg (CSV-EX11) / 6.6kg (CSV-EX9)