Hitachi's cool and quiet drive targets digital video recorders

Stephen Withers
Tuesday, 10 February 2009 09:40

Business IT - Technology

Never mind the pokey drives still found in many of the PVRs cluttering store shelves - Hitachi's latest combines 500G of storage with reduced power consumption and "ultra-quiet" operation.

PVRs, surveillance systems and some other consumer electronics devices are by their nature left running around the clock, and power consumption is becoming an increasingly important consideration for consumers.

Hitachi claims the new CinemaStar C5K500 2.5in hard drive uses 1.4W during read/write operations, 22 percent less than previous models.

The drive incorporates the company's SmoothStream technology to help provide good performance in digital video applications, and its small size and power efficiency allows the design of smaller PVRs with similar features and functionality to physically larger products.

In contrast to TVs where bigger is still seen as better, "Home theatre systems are becoming increasingly compact, as users seek out space-saving and power-efficient component designs," according to Brendan Collins, vice president, product marketing, Hitachi Global Storage Technologies.

The C5K500 is expected to ship early in the second quarter, and will be available in capacities ranging from 160 to 500G.