Memory Stick paired with TV

Sony recently announced its intention to bring the PEGA-VR100K to market in Japan on November 1. The device is equipped with a TV tuner and can record television programming content to Sony's Memory Stick storage medium. The recorded content can then be played on Sony's Clie PDAs.

According to Sony, the device can record a maximum of 130 minutes of TV programming. Sony has not announced a price point, but analysts suggest that the device may sell for approximately 30,000 yen (around $260).

Shortly after, on November 10, Sony plans to begin selling in Japan the MSV-A1, a portable television with a 2.5-inch LCD screen and clamshell design, for an estimated 45,000 yen ($385). It also features the ability to record TV programming to a Memory Stick. Currently, Sony has made various versions of the Memory Stick Pro available, one which stores 1GB of data and costs around $600.

Significantly, Sony has previously announced that the PSX console, a PlayStation 2-based device, will feature additional multimedia functionality (including a built-in 120GB hard drive). That device would include a satellite TV tuner and could record television programming through its rewritable DVD drive.

Sony's push for "convergence" and the interoperability of various consumer electronics devices, reiterated at its Sony Dream World event, presents the possibility that its upcoming PlayStation Portable, or PSP, could share content with these and other devices.

While Sony has not announced the PSP's compatibility with the PEGA-VR100K or an ability to record television programming via the Memory Stick, the transfer of recordable and other content between the PSX and PSP (via both devices' USB 2.0 slots), or compatibility with files downloaded from Sony's upcoming online music service, Sony Music Box (planned rollout: spring 2004), Sony may be eyeing the PSP as a platform for viewing recordable television and other programming, leveraging the PSP's 4.5-inch LCD screen, the Memory Stick slot, and USB 2.0 slot.