LG's HDTV plasmas with video recorders coming to UK

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If there’s one phrase guaranteed to get TV manufacturers drooling at the moment it is HDTV. For after agreeing a standard for Europe and sorting out those all important connectors, the makers are delivering sets ready for Sky, and maybe Telewest’s transmissions next year, as fast as they can. Among them are the PY2DR 50 and 60inch plasmas from LG. The sets, which have just gone on sale in the US will apparently land here, though annoyingly not until early 2006. When they arrive though users will be able to take advantage of their integrated 160 Gigabyte hard disk video recorders which according to LG will store up to 13 hours of high def telly.

The sets have all the requisite HDTV connectors (HDMI etc) and feature LG’s fifth-generation ATSC VSB/QAM tuner, which receives terrestrial digital HDTV and unscrambled digital cable, as well as analogue broadcast and cable tuners. The set’s DVRs incorporates an automatic time-shift feature that continuously records in one-hour intervals.

Other features include slow motion rewind and forward capabilities and instant replay. There’s also an on screen electronic programme guide too. Another top feature is a 9-in-2 multi memory card readers (CF/MD/SD/SMC/MMC/MS/MS Pro/MS Pro Duo/xD), allowing users to view still images and listen to digital music, such as MP3 files, through the display.

The only fly in the ointment? Well why would you need a hard disk recorder for HDTV when the only HDTV decoders from Sky and Telewest already have one – maybe much larger than 160 Gigabytes – already built in. Odd eh?

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