Nokia's TV box Nokia's Media Terminal, which combines a digital TV decoder with a web browser and a hard disk for audio (MP3) and video recording, will reach UK stores in the autumn.
The company has agreed a deal with TV network ITVdigital, which will add free viewing of some digital terrestrial channels and its ONnet internet portal to the package.
The Media Terminal was developed jointly by Nokia and Intel and uses the Linux operating system. It is expected to retail for around £500, feature a 40GB hard disk, an Intel Celeron processor and use a standard 56k modem. Although the terminal features many PC-style facilities, the bad news is that it doesn't have a CD-Rom drive. Its video-recording facilities are also more akin to a traditional VCR than the intelligent electronic programming system offered by the TiVo hard disk video system. The unit does sport a pair of USB sockets for connecting PC peripherals.
Smallest PC ?
If there's barely space on your desk for a penholder, let alone a PC, online retailer Unbeatable.co.uk has a space-saving solution that might interest you. The £880 M Series PC, right, billed as the world's smallest production computer, looks more like a chubby personal CD player than a PC. It works with a monitor or connects to a TV via S-Video or composite video outputs. The basic M Series PC features a 20GB hard disk, 128MB of memory and a 933 GHZ Intel Pentium III processor. More details from www.unbeatable.co.uk.
Bell video
PC owners, fancy burning your own DVDs? Due in the stores next month is the £1500 Video Dre@m Machine PC from Packard Bell, which features Pioneer's DVD-R recorder. The Dre@m machine can archive home movie clips or TV programmes (via the PC's tuner), on to DVD via the recorder and the PC's integrated authoring software. Although the Pioneer DVD-R recorder is only now on PCs, it has been available with the Apple Macintosh Power Mac G4 since March. The DVD-R discs are write-once only - rewritable DVD recorders and discs will not be on sale in the UK until later in the year. Each DVD-R has a capacity of 4.7GB, which is enough for two hours of high quality video. The drive can also be used to burn CD-R and CD-RW discs. The Video Dre@m Machine includes an Intel Pentium III 1GHz processor, 128MB of memory, a 40GB hard disk drive and an nVidia GeForce2 MX graphics card with 32Mb of memory. Camcorder owners should note that the PC sports three IEEE-1394 DV connectors and analogue inputs for importing movies recorded on a digital video camcorder or converting VHS footage to digital movies. The Dre@m machine also features Sonic Solutions' MyDVDTM video editing and authoring software, and time-shifting video facilities. See www.packardbell.co.uk/dvdr.
