Tokyo Edge Simple Ideas That Save Time and Effort   We look at flat-panel TVs that move via remote control, plasma TVs with built-in DVRs, and 45GB HD-DVD media. Martyn Williams, IDG News Service Wednesday, May 18, 2005 TOKYO--Often the most useful advances in technology come not from hugely complicated new features but from simple ideas that save time and effort. A couple of the new gadgets hitting Asian store shelves this month come with just such innovations. The first is a digital video recorder from Pioneer. This product category has been very competitive recently, and companies have been battling each other by adding numerous menus and settings that allow consumers to adjust parameters they probably never knew existed in the first place. Pioneer's innovation is simple: put in one of your old VHS cassettes and a blank DVD, press a button, and a few moments later the cassette's contents are on the disc. Mitsubishi has also come up with an idea that might be a winner. It has motorized its latest range of flat-panel televisions so you can adjust the direction they are facing. Never again will you have to move around the living room to get a better view of the TV or to a place where reflection is at a minimum--just grab the remote control and adjust the TV's orientation. This will surely be a welcome feature for any couch potato. LG Plasma TV With HD Recorder The latest plasma high-definition television from South Korea's LG Electronics comes with a surprise inside. The PY2DR, which is available in 50-inch or 60-inch wide-screen models, has a built-in high-definition digital video recorder. Other features include HDMI and FireWire interfaces. The recorder's hard disk has a capacity of 160GB, which might be a bit on the small side if you're a big HDTV fan: The drive accommodates up to 63 hours of conventional TV, but this drops to 13 hours for HDTV because of the extra data involved. And you won't be able to get the recorded programs off the hard disk, since there is no HD-compatible optical drive. That means the 13-hour capacity will be even more limited if you want to keep your favorite programs. LG says the PY2DR will be available in the United States sometime this month. The Digital Cable-ready set costs $8000 or $15,000, depending on the screen size. Pioneer One-Button VHS/Hard Drive Transfer The first thing you notice when taking ownership of a DVD- or hard-drive-based video recorder is how easy everything is in the digital world compared to dealing with cumbersome analog VHS tapes. So the urge is strong to transfer all of your analog content to digital and do away with tape forever. Pioneer's DVR-RT7H makes this simple with a one-button transfer function that takes care of everything: rewinding the tape, measuring the recording time, setting the optimal DVD recording mode, copying onto DVD, and then finalizing the disc. The recorder also has a 100X mode that can transfer 1 hour of video from the 200GB hard disk to DVD in about 40 seconds. The DVR-RT7H will be available in Japan in late June for about $805. There are no plans to sell it overseas. Toshiba Libretto U100 Ultraportable It's back! After a 3-year absence, Toshiba revives its Libretto compact laptop. The U100 measures 8.2 by 6.5 inches and is about 1 inch thick. It weighs about 2 pounds with the standard battery. Of course, there's a price to pay for compactness. The key pitch (a measurement of the distance from the center of one key to the center of its neighbor) is a cramped 0.5 inch, which could make touch typing difficult. There's no optical drive built in; if you want one, you'll need to pay extra for Toshiba's DVD Multidrive dock, shown here. The Libretto U100 is based on an Intel Pentium M processor and has a 7.2-inch screen. It's already on sale in Japan and in the United States, where it costs $2000. Sony Hi-MD Data Drive Sony is taking advantage of the 1GB capacity of its new Hi-MD format to push MiniDisc as a recording format for PC users. Hi-MD discs can be used to store any type of data. Sony's DS-HMD1 drive connects to a PC via USB and reads both Hi-MD and older 340MB MiniDisc media. The new drive is reminiscent of a previous attempt by Sony. The company tried promoting its MD-Data format in the 1990s before recordable CDs were available, but the system never took off. The DS-HMD1's chances in the mass market this time around look slim given the ubiquity of cheap CD-R media, but it might suit a niche application well. The DS-HMD1 will be available in Japan this month and will cost about $142. Pantech&Curitel PT-S100 Cell Phone One of the easiest ways for mobile phone makers to draw attention in the competitive marketplace seems to be by experimenting with designs. The PT-S100 handset from South Korean cell phone maker Pantech&Curitel has a shape that's similar to some digital cameras: The optics are fitted across the bottom of the handset and that part of the phone swivels to point in different directions. The camera has a lowly 1.3-megapixel resolution, which is about average--and that's a disappointment because Pantech&Curitel said the phone is aimed at photography enthusiasts. Another design point is the keypad, which is divided in half: The keys are placed down each side of the display. Other features include an FM radio and digital audio player. The $495 PT-S100 is compatible with the CDMA2000 1x standard and is available in South Korea only. LG Notebook PC With DMB Support LG Electronics has launched a new notebook PC that comes equipped to receive satellite multimedia broadcasts. The Xnote Express LW40 is compatible with the Digital Multimedia Broadcast standard used for mobile multimedia broadcasting in South Korea and has a 14-inch wide-screen LCD. The DMB module is the same size and shape as an optical drive and uses the same slot. Users can swap between them as required. The Xnote Express isn't available outside of South Korea; but that doesn't really matter because neither is the DMB service. Prices range from $1600 to $1900 depending on configuration. Sony Qualia 002 Video Camera The latest product to carry Sony's Qualia brand name is a high-definition video camcorder that supports the HDV (high-definition video) tape format. The Qualia 002 records in 1080i format and costs an impressive $5660, which shouldn't come as a big surprise to anyone who is familiar with Sony's other Qualia products. Both the camcorder's price and its size--it measures about 7 by 7.5 by nearly 17 inches and weighs 5.3 pounds--are sure to make it unlikely that you'll be seeing many of these in the hands of tourists this coming summer. It's on sale in Japan and the United States. Mitsubishi LCD TVs Mitsubishi's latest flat-panel HDTVs have a great feature that seems so obvious you might wonder why no one else has done it before: The TVs are motorized and can turn on their base so that they face the viewer. They can manage a turn of 30 degrees both left and right, so you'll still need to be in front of them to start with. This function could be useful, especially when reflections from the sun or other light sources are obscuring the picture. The televisions are available only in Japan; prices range from $2370 for a 26-inch set to $3900 for a 37-inch set. R&D Corner: 45GB HD-DVD Toshiba has developed HD-DVD media that has a 45GB capacity by adding a third layer to a disc. The extra capacity can allow content producers to store longer movies or add extra features to the high-definition disc--but this is one development that might never see the light of day. The HD DVD Promotion Group and the Blu-ray Disc Association are discussing the possibility of a single format for high-definition video discs, which is what consumers say they want. If the talks go well, we're sure to be seeing slightly different high-definition media. Martyn Williams is Tokyo bureau chief for the IDG News Service, a consortium of IDG publications. -