SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Taking a different approach to the promising market of personal video recording, Sony Electronics Inc. is introducing a personal computer with a built-in TV tuner and capacity to digitally store up to 100 hours of programming.
Personal video recording, which allows users to pause live TV or custom-record programming onto a hard drive, is starting to gain traction among consumers as companies including TiVo and Microsoft promote their PVR services and technology.
Sony joins a growing number of firms that are starting to bundle digital video recording features with their products.
In announcing the PCV-RX490TV Vaio computer, Sony says it is the only PC maker to offer U.S. consumers a computer that comes pre-packaged with TV and PVR features.
In Japan, Sony and other Japanese-based companies have been selling desktops with TV-tuner cards as a standard feature for as much as two years now.
"I call this TiVo on steroids," Mark Hanson, Sony's vice president of PC products, said of the new product.
The desktop is designed for those who want to save space and are more "PC-centric" than "TV-centric," Hanson said. "We're targeting tech-savvy consumers."
The computer, which lacks a monitor, comes with a DVD-RW drive that can record video, including TV programming, onto DVDs; a separate 80-gigabyte hard drive for video storage; and a remote control.
It's part of Sony's Digital Studio computer line and is slated to hit store shelves in June with a price of $2,599 and a $100 rebate.