Heading off to IFA in Berlin. It’s a huge bun fight, but often raises a good story.
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TrekStor MP3-RadioStation f.ox: IFA 2006
There are a couple of dilemmas for anyone who takes their MP3 player to play in the car. How do you get the sound to the car stereo and how do you stop the thing sliding about all over the place? The TrekStor MP3-RadioStation f.ox tackles these.The TrekStor MP3-RadioStation plugs in to the cigarette lighter slot (or cigar if you’re posh), which means it’s easy to find and there’s no need for a separate power source.
Where do the tunes come from? There’s no storage on board, as the music is supplied via a USB memory stick that plugs in the bottom. This arrangement brings the advantage of low cost expansion and that the music storage is only limited by the size and number of memory sticks you’ve got.Navigating tracks up, down and pausing is done by the button on the top.
To get over the challenge of getting the audio between the player and legacy car head-units, TrekStor have used low-powered FM transmission with a selectable frequency, available to some other players as an after-market add on.
To set it up, simply press the Channel button on the top of the MP3-RadioStation until an FM frequency that isn’t used by a radio station is displayed on the top, then tune your car stereo into that frequency. Bingo.
Sadly for UK users, devices like this can’t be used legally, as Ofcom don’t differentiate between low-power gadgets such as this that transmit over a short distance and a full blown radio station.Expected release date is November 2006, priced at around €15.
SanDisk Forced to Remove MP3 Players From IFA:Exclusive
Societa Italiana per lo Sviluppo Dell’ Elettronica, S.p.A., (Sisvel), a Turin, Italy-based patent management company filed a complaint with German public prosecutor in Berlin last week over SanDisk not paying Sisvel a license fee for using their ‘essential’ MP3 patent. Prices for stereo equipment start at 60c US per player, reducing with volume.
The German public prosecutor was convinced by the argument and issued an injunction to remove all of the MP3 players from the Sandisk stand. Those visiting the stand will only be able to look at its pictures of the MP3 players.
The outcome
Clearly this will hit Sandisk pretty hard, not only in the embarrassment of the story getting out, but they will not be able to show any of their MP3 players to the German retailers who visit them at IFA – don’t forget IFA is a trade as well as a consumer show.
During an interview with Digital-Lifestyles [MP3 of Interview], Roberto Dini, consultant to sisvel, in his flamboyant style, made the self-proclaimed extreme comparison of the injunction being like cutting off a supplier at the port, so the goods doesn’t get distributed.We asked SanDisk to comment, but they said they didn’t currently have anything to say beyond this official statement.
In a litigation currently pending in the Mannheim District Court, SanDisk is showing that its MP3 player operates a technology which is completely different from a certain audio data transmission and reception techniques that has been patented for Philips and others many years ago. An expert opinion from on os the founders of MP digital audio compression substantiates SanDisk’s position. SanDisk is not infringing any patent in the pending litigation
This has history
This isn’t the first time these two have had legal clashes. The battle between the two parties has been well documented, SanDisk even detailed the various legal actions in their latest stock market 10-Q filing last month.Sisvel have taken action against them in four countries, US, Netherlands, Germany and the UK.
SanDisk have filed its own suit in the English Patents Court back in March, 2006 against Sisvel and owners of the patents Sisvel has tried to assert; Koninklijke Philips Electronics NV, France Telecom SA, Telediffusion de France SA, Institut für Rundfunktechnik GmbH.
Sisvel’s Dini’s response to the action? “It means that the 600 companies, the biggest ones, who have taken a license, they are stupid, because all of the other have paid.”
This one looks like it’s going to run and run.
Listen to the Interview with Roberto Dini, Sisvel
SanDisk
sisvelSanDisk Launches V-MATE Video Flash Memory Card Recorder:IFA
Although there’s no shortage of gadgets like smartphones, PDAs, iPod and PSPs that are capable of playing back video, getting footage on to the fellas can be a bit of a pain.“Today’s increasingly mobile consumer wants to be able to watch their favourite shows and videos, whenever and wherever they want,” insisted Wes Brewer, SanDisk’s vice president of consumer product marketing, and he reackons the new SanDisk V-Mate is a simple and practical solution to the problem.
Video hungry gadget freaks can simply hook up analogue audio or video outputs to the device, slap in the memory card from their multimedia handset and the Sandisk will record the content straight to the memory card.
Users can connect the V-Mate to the AV output of their video recorder, set-top box, Freeview, DVR, DVD player, TV or other device and use the V-Mate’s remote control to configure the device, plus record and access content via a TV-based interface.The SanDisk offers multiple programming slots for entering channel, date and start/stop times to schedule recordings, with users being required to select their playback device to ensure the recordings are playback compatible.
The box also comes with an infrared emitter which can automatically turn on the TV tuner box (cable/satellite/terrestrial receiver or VCR) and select the right channel when programmed to record.
There’s also a mini-USB port on board for connecting the unit to a desktop/laptop PC.
Being designed for the wee small screen of portable multimedia devices, the SanDisk offers a maximum recording resolution of just 640 x 480 – perhaps not great for your 72″ HD plasma screen at home, but just dandy for yer average smartphone.
At this low resolution, punters should be able to grab around three and a half hours of video footage per gigabyte – ample time to keep you entertained on even the most delayed of commuter journeys.
“We are hoping to replace the VCR with this product,” a Sandisk spokesman enthused. “It will be like having a video recorder in your pocket.”
The 5.1″ x 2.6″ x 0.8″ V-Mate is compatible with a ton of memory card formats: SD, MMC, MMCplus MMCmobile, SDHC, MiniSDHC, MicroSDHC, Memory Stick PRO, Memory Stick Duo and Memory Stick PRO Duo, and the device is expected to go on sale in October for $130 or so.
IFA 2006
IFA is… … the world’s largest Consumer Electronics trade fair with over 1,000 exhibitors and 273,800 visitors (2003) … the industry’s No. 1 place for orders, with a volume of 2.4 billion Euros … a trade fair for both experts and the public, featuring special services for trade visitors and a varied program with special events for consumers … an incomparable media event: 6,800 accredited journalists from 78 countries, and 95 hours of TV reports in Germany alone http://www.ifa-berlin.de/
Toshiba HD DVD: European Dates Announced (Photos):IFA
The first HD-DVD players for Europe have just been announced by Toshiba at their press conference at IFA in Berlin.There will be two models available initially, both before the end of the year. This follows the US release earlier this year. Toshiba were at pains to point out that the European machines are a second generation of player.
HD-E1
The first to be introduced will be the Toshiba HD-E1, coming out in November this year. Capable of playing both at 1080i and 720p. An HDMI 1.2a port will be included. Audio playback will be Dobly 2.1. Expected price €599-€699.
HD-XE1 (pictured below)
The following month (December) will see the release of the higher quality player, the HD-EX1.It will add playback at 1080p to the 1080i and 720p of the HD-E1. HDMI support will be the latest release HDMI 1.3. Dolby 5.1 will also be supported.
The price will be €899-€999, depending on the country bought in.Both machines will feature Ethernet ports, enabling Internet connections for interactivity and to access additional content.
Current DVD’s will also playback, but will be up-scalled to the highest resolution available to each machine.
The units will be released in three regional batches, with the UK, France and Germany (amoung others) leading the pack; the rest of Europe will follow; brought up by the previous Eastern Europe and Iceland.
IFA Berlin 2006
The second largest CE show in the world and the largest in Europe. Boy this is a big show with every company that you could imagine being there. From this year it changes to be yearly, from its twice yearly previous. IFA is… … the world’s largest Consumer Electronics trade fair with over 1,000 exhibitors and 273,800 visitors (2003) … the industry’s No. 1 place for orders, with a volume of 2.4 billion Euros … a trade fair for both experts and the public, featuring special services for trade visitors and a varied program with special events for consumers … an incomparable media event: 6,800 accredited journalists from 78 countries, and 95 hours of TV reports in Germany alone Berlin, Germany http://www.ifa-berlin.de/
YP-K5: Samsung MP3 and Speaker Combo (Video):IFA
During his keynote, Gee Sung Choi, President and CEO of Samsung announced the launch of the YP-5K, a very slick MP3 player with built-in pivoting speaker, letting you ‘entertain’ your friends or fellow train passengers.The hinge mechanism is very neat. As it slides the silver grill of the stereo speakers is exposed. When fully expanded the front pivots, enabling the unit to be placed on a table, with the speaker angled towards the listener. Ideal for listening to. (Watch the video).
They’ve also gone to town on the visual interface, with celestial collection of glowing blue pixel, rearranging themselves to form the different icons. (Watch the video).Make no mistake, this is a slick bit of kit, with photo display and 30 hours of playback time.
It’s going to be available in 1Gb/2Gb/4Gb capacity using solid-state Flash memory.
US pricing – $210 for 2 GB and $260 for 4 GB.
Sun To Join Blu-ray Board: IFA News Blip
The Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA) has just announced that Sun Microsystems will join their board.Why Sun? The interactivity of Blu-ray is powered by Sun’s Java, so in someways it’s pretty surprising that they weren’t there already.
Here at IFA, there’s a pretty strong feeling that the battle for the Next Generation of video disc has been won, with stronger and stronger support for Blu-ray being shown over it’s rival HD-DVD.
Mike Dunn, President of 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment announced a roster of 8 films that will be released on Blu-ray, with the first being Ridley Scott’s Kingdom of Heaven (Director’s cut). This title has extensive use of Java-driven interactivity, including a video game that uses scenes from the film.The BDA board already contains some of the largest names in consumer electronics; computing and film companies.
GoGear SA9200: Philips’ Nano Competitor: IFA
As we’ve all witnessed, Apple’s Nano is a beauty to both behold and hold. The whole industry has been gunning for Apple, ever since they realised that Apple had shifted the market. We’ve seen many attempts to put out devices to match or catch them, only to watch them fall by the wayside..Today we saw the Philips GoGear Flash player and very sweet the thing is too. The same thickness of the Nano, it’s just 9cm long and weighs in at a nearly unnoticeable 48g.
What’s it like?
It looks like they’ve done a great job on the interface, which displays rich icons. Controlling it uses their touch sensitive SuperScoll, so tapping, dragging or swiping a finger on the smooth surface is possible.The ‘buttons’ themselves glow an attractive blue, complementing, rather than distracting the eye away from the 1.7″(4cm) colour screen, that is also able to display photos.
They reckon there’s up to 14 hours of continuous play in the battery. Unclear if that’s playing mp3s or the Windows Media DRM10 files which we suspect will need additional power to service the DRM fucntion. PlayForSure is supported, which we’re not sure is the biggest selling point.
There’s going to be an optional docking station that works with the newly-upgraded Streamium, WiFi HiFi. Once the GoGear (a nifty name, the more you say it) is docked, its track list appears on the streamium and tunes can be played through it.There will be two versions available; 1Gb (SA9100) and the 2Gb (SA9200), ‘at the end of summer’ (when ever that is) and will sell for €149 and €199.
Year on year, Philips really do look like they’re pulling themselves out of the old rut they had – great R&D, but terrible looking products.