Seagate Ups the Ante with New Storage Options for Digital Video Recorders

The world’s leading DVR hard drive now offers up to one terabyte — as consumers crave more storage for home media

SCOTTS VALLEY, Calif. — Seagate Technology (NYSE:STX) today announced that the fourth generation of its DB35 Series™ Hard Disc Drives – the world’s best-selling drive for digital video recorders (DVRs) and home media centers – has now reached a terabyte of capacity in a single drive, now allowing DVRs to capture up to 200 hours of exciting HD television. Through its significant research and development efforts, Seagate has created the world’s most advanced hard drive for recording and playing audio/video content, with the new Seagate DB35.4 family representing the next evolution of storage for home media.

Consumers continue to drive changes in the way entertainment is distributed and enjoyed, and the entertainment ecosystem is responding with new ways of delivering convenience, choice, and control. Digital video is now available through many channels worldwide, including cable and satellite TV, digital broadcast, IPTV, Internet streaming and download outlets, and mobile networks, to name a few. As a result, consumer demand for storage continues unabated, particularly with HDTV’s rapid global adoption. Today’s announcement furthers Seagate’s leadership in meeting this demand for both the consumer’s digital content hub – the home – and for mobile content on mobile devices, in automobiles, and virtually anywhere. Seagate’s expertise in delivering storage products optimized for digital entertainment has resulted in the world’s DVR manufacturers awarding Seagate a global market share approaching 50%.

“Today’s consumer is no longer asking whether they need hard drive storage for their digital content – they’re asking us how much we can deliver,” said Patrick King, senior vice president and general manager of Seagate’s Consumer Electronics Business Unit. “Today’s announcement furthers Seagate’s leadership in meeting the demands of the consumer’s digital content hub, by offering the highest capacity hard drive for the DVR market.”

More is Better When it Comes to DVRs

Analysts believe that households receiving high-definition content will more than double by 2010 and as a result will increase the need and desire for higher capacity DVRs or solutions to expand the capacity of current DVRs.

Consumers have quickly discovered the ease of use and flexibility provided to them by capturing their entertainment content on a hard drive. Consumers rapid adoption of, and unprecedented satisfaction with, the DVR is a perfect case in point. According to Strategy Analytics, by 2010, more than 130 million households worldwide will be enjoying DVRs as compared to 31 million in 2006.

Massive Capacity, Greater Reliability

The fourth-generation DB35 Series hard drives, with capacities ranging up to 1TB, provide DVR manufacturers with a wide range of options to meet the requirements of all customer segments, from entry-level 250GB drives (storing up to 50 hours of HDTV content, or more than 200 hours of standard definition content) to the highest-performing home media centers utilizing a terabyte or more. For example, many DVRs and home media centers are developed without internal fans for quiet operation, requiring the internal hard drive to maintain reliability at higher-than-normal operating temperatures. DB35.4 media-optimized hard drives perform reliably at the industry’s highest operating temperature – 75° C – improving system reliability and increasing the field life of DVRs and home media centers. Combined with virtually silent operation, high performance optimized for media recording streaming, and a high shock rating for reliable integration, the DB35 family of drives remains the top choice for manufacturers that provide the systems fueling the digital entertainment revolution.

The DB35.4 family of hard disc drives will be available starting in the first calendar quarter of 2008.

Link: Seagate