March 13th, 2009 by
var digg_url = ‘http://digg.com/tech_news/Sony_France_boss_held_hostage_by_disgruntled_workers’; The American Foreign Press is reporting that Serge Foucher, president of Sony France, is being held “hostage” by angry workers whose plant is about to close. “He won’t listen to us, we didn’t find any other solution,” said the union spokesman. Foucher had come to the video tape manufacturing plant at Pontonx-sur-l’Adour in southwest France to meet with the 311 workers one more time before the plant’s closure. Unhappy with the the compensation offered, the workers barricaded the entry with tree trunks late Thursday night. Look, times are tough, but let’s be civil, ok? Besides, demand for video tapes is certainly not at risk.
Filed under: Misc. Gadgets
Sony France boss held hostage by disgruntled workers originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 13 Mar 2009 02:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Posted in europe, sony, france, hostage, serge foucher, SergeFoucher | No Comments »
March 12th, 2009 by
Sony caved long ago and began producing sound systems for devices Designed in California[TM], so it’s no real shock to see it delivering yet another variant that handles iPods and iPhones. The CMT-LX30iR, which has yet to be certified as real by Sony in North America, will purportedly aim at lower-end consumers by giving ‘em just ten total watts of oomph, a slot-loading CD player, FM / AM radio, line-in and a headphone jack. There’s also a remarkably basic 1-line LCD and a few equalizer presets, and the one-touch CD-to-USB Sync Recording is a fine touch. The unit has surfaced over on Amazon’s German portal for €161 ($202), though we’ve no idea how pricey it’ll be (or what it’ll be called, for that matter) whenever Sony decides to take a hint and ship it stateside.
Filed under: Home Entertainment
Sony’s CMT-LX30iR USB micro system loves on Apple devices originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 12 Mar 2009 20:18:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Posted in sony, boombox, CMT-LX30iR, micro system, MicroSystem, usb micro system, UsbMicroSystem | No Comments »
March 12th, 2009 by
We were wondering (seriously, it has been on our conscience at night) which carrier would be the first to go completely DRM-free in respect to its music catalog, and now Vodafone has stepped in to claim said throne. This week, the operator has inked deals with Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment and EMI Music to bring tunes to handsets and PCs sans any nasty DRM, and for those who already downloaded DRM-laced files in the past, they’ll be able to upgrade to DRM-free without a charge so long as they do it soon. And to think — something like this would’ve been stopped cold at the drawing board by record label execs just a few years back. Desperate times call for desperate measures, right?
Filed under: Cellphones, Portable Audio
Vodafone’s music catalog goes DRM-free for mobiles and PCs originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 12 Mar 2009 10:08:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Posted in Music, sony, drm, emi, audio, sony bmg, SonyBmg, vodafone, realnetworks | No Comments »
March 11th, 2009 by
Apparently the folks at Sony Computer Entertainment UK are experiencing some time anomalies of late, with Senior VP Ray Maguire talking about PSP’s much-abused UMD format in the past tense. It might not be the biggest blunder on earth — he stated that “The UMD model wasn’t brilliant for third parties,” and it certainly hasn’t been — but with rumors all over about Sony dropping the format in the near future, it’s not looking good for those little ill-fated discs. Maguire went on to add, “The downloads side of it will increasingly become a bigger part of its future,” so it looks like either way we know where Sony’s emphasis lies, and we won’t be shedding too many tears if / when it comes to pass.
[Via Joystiq]
Filed under: Gaming, Handhelds
Sony VP Ray Maguire claims UMD ‘wasn’t brilliant’ for third parties, forgets we’re living in the present originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 11 Mar 2009 16:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Posted in sony, psp, umd, ray maguire, RayMaguire | No Comments »
March 10th, 2009 by
Not a ton of details to go on here, but it looks like Citroen and Sony are set to team up on a PSP-themed version of the C-Crosser SUV. The C-Crosser Exclusive PSP Edition will come with a black PSP Slim, two games, a 4GB Memory Stick PRO Duo, and a special headrest speaker mount so rear-seat passengers can catch up on some awesome UMD movies. Europe-only, obviously, and those stickers won’t come cheap — prices start at €33,990 ($43,340.) A few more pics at the read link.
[Via Edmunds]
Filed under: Gaming, Transportation
Citroen announces C-Crosser Exclusive PSP Edition SUV originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 10 Mar 2009 23:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Posted in sony, psp, c crosser, c crosser psp, c-crosser, c-crosser exclusive psp edition, C-crosserExclusivePspEdition, CCrosser, CCrosserPsp, citroen | No Comments »
March 10th, 2009 by
Well, we can think of a few other devices we’d rather see get the smackdown, but we really got a kick out of the Vaio Z durability test videos on Sony’s site — and we think that you might too. Sure, the company stops a bit short of the Survival Research Labs treatment (nary a fireball, gunshot, or cloud of shrapnel in sight), but if you’re anything like us your inner child can’t help but smile at the thought of a robot dropping, slamming, or crushing a piece of consumer electronics. And to the little guy’s credit it does all right, surviving automated drops, shocks, spills, and other assorted abuses. In all, not a bad way to spend an afternoon — although we’re really looking forward to seeing what sort of trials the company has in store for the Vaio P.
[Thanks, Mehul J]
Filed under: Laptops
Sony’s durability test metes out years of punishment on the Vaio Z originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 10 Mar 2009 19:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Posted in sony, vaio, vaio z, VaioZ, durability, durability testing, DurabilityTesting | No Comments »
March 9th, 2009 by
We’ve been itching to spend some quality time with Sony’s NWZ-X1000-series player since its granite-sided shell was first revealed just ahead of CES, and now that it’s inching closer to release (in the Old Country, at least) we finally have a full spec sheet to parse. On the audio side it’ll play MP3, WMA, and AAC at up to 320kbps, and for video there’s MPEG-4, H.264, and WMV support, sadly in most cases crippled at 320 x 240 despite that 3-inch OLED screen’s 432 x 240 native resolution. That’s nearly a quarter of those pixels gone to waste. Other goodies include FM tuning, 802.11g/b WiFi, internet browsing with YouTube support, and 33 hours of battery life when grooving to tunes, 9 hours when watching video, and surely much less when cruising the web. Still no confirmed domestic release date, but it can’t be long now.
[Thanks, Steve]
Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video
Sony’s OLED Walkman specs revealed, QVGA rears its ugly head originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 09 Mar 2009 08:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Posted in sony, dap, oled, walkman, x-series, amoled, nwz-x1000, Sony Walkman, SonyWalkman, NWZ-X1050B, NWZ-X1060B, sony nwz-x1000, sony nwz-x1050b, sony nwz-x1060b, sony x-series, SonyNwz-x1000, SonyNwz-x1050b, SonyNwz-x1060b, SonyX-series | No Comments »
March 8th, 2009 by
Adding even more credibility to the whole “beauty is in the eye of the beholder” mantra is this… masterpiece / abomination. Inspired by the iconic Aliens films, this completely over the top PlayStation 3 case mod is about as ridiculous as it gets. We’re not really told how the modder went about crafting this lovely interpretation, but we are given a few more snapshots to gawk at in the read link — which you won’t visit unless you too are an Aliens freak, but hey, that’s cool.
[Thanks, Jeremiah]
Filed under: Gaming
Aliens PS3 case mod is staggeringly ugly to non-fans originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 08 Mar 2009 22:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Posted in playstation 3, Playstation3, ps3, sony, hack, diy, enclosure, case mod, CaseMod, mod, case, aliens, alien, ps3 mod, Ps3Mod | No Comments »
March 8th, 2009 by
Thanks to the work of the gang making time over at their Vaio P forum, the folks at Pocketables have been able to compile benchmarks of all the various configurations of the ultraportable. Including the three models available domestically (which all sport a 1.33GHz Intel Atom Z520) and the various 1.6GHz Z530 and 1.86GHz Z540-based machines available elsewhere, this ragtag group of benchmarksters have come to the conclusion that the main factor when it comes to the machine’s performance is the disk drive type. “Yes,” writes Jenn Lee, “the faster CPUs give the ALU/FLU numbers a noticeable bump up, but it’s not as significant as the increase seen between a HDD and SSD.” Hopefully this is some small comfort to those of you who are miffed that the 1.86GHz model isn’t available in the States. Of course, now that we’ve seen the Vaino we’re so over Sony’s sassy’n'classy non-netbook, but if you’re morbidly curious the read link tells the whole sordid tale.
Filed under: Laptops
Sony’s Vaio P benchmarked in all its magnificent and diverse forms originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 08 Mar 2009 16:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Posted in sony, benchmark, intel atom, IntelAtom, vaio p, VaioP | No Comments »
March 7th, 2009 by
Thinking of picking up a VAIO P for your left rear pocket? Do you call Deutschland home? In need a mobile data plan? If you’ve somehow managed to answer yes (or “ja,” as it were) to all three of those inquiries, T-Mobile Germany has a deal for you. Sony’s WWAN-packin’ VAIO P — which has seen itself subsidized in America on Verizon Wireless — is currently being offered for just €599.95 (VAT included) with a web’n'walk Connect L data plan. For those too uninspired to search, that’s a €400 discount from what it costs to buy outright over there. Tempting, nein?
[Via Pocketables]
Filed under: Laptops, Wireless
Sony’s VAIO P going for €599.95 with T-Mobile Germany data contract originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 07 Mar 2009 16:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Posted in t-mobile, sony, vaio, ultraportable, germany, mobile internet, MobileInternet, german, netbook, subsidy, t-mobile germany, T-mobileGermany, vaio p, VaioP, subsidized | No Comments »
March 6th, 2009 by
iPod docks come in all shapes and sizes, and while Sony’s last attempt would be hard to miss in most rooms, this latest one is rather more subdued and sophisticated. It’s the CMT-Z100iR, naturally compatible with the iPod, iPod Touch, and iPhone, but also sporting the ability to play CDs through a top-mounted slot-loader. It can even play tunes from other MP3 players through its USB port, if you’re so inclined, and while its pair of 20 watt speakers probably won’t shake the walls, they should suffice for filling your minimalist retreat with the groovy beats of the Future Sound of London. No firm price or availability details yet.
Filed under: Home Entertainment
Sony’s obelisk-inspired CMT-Z100iR iPod dock is full of modernist styling, stars originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 06 Mar 2009 09:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Posted in iPhone, sony, ipod, ipod touch, IpodTouch, ipod dock, IpodDock, CMT-Z100iR, Sony CMT-Z100iR, SonyCmt-z100ir | No Comments »
March 4th, 2009 by
You know, it was just another busy Wednesday here in the Engadget compound until this guy came across our screens and greatly brightened our day. Bearing the appellation that the Vaio P’s highly fashionable media campaign has thus far only hinted at, the “Vaino” is a 10.2-inch, 1.6GHz Atom-powered ultraportable also-ran that, sadly, will not be making it to these shores any time soon.
[Via Slash Gear]
Filed under: Laptops
Keepin’ it real fake, part CLXXXVI: the Vaino not-so-ultraportable originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 04 Mar 2009 16:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Posted in sony, vaio, ultraportable, kirf, irony, netbook, vaio p, VaioP, vaino | No Comments »
March 4th, 2009 by
We’re pretty sure a good lot of you with PSPs have used them for, shall we say, less than reputable means — like playing 16-bit era games using emulators. Soon, there might be a more legit outlet for that fix, as Sony’s head of US marketing for PlayStation hardware John Koller tells MTV Multiplayer it’s looking to bring classics from before Sony entered the arena to the handheld, à la Nintendo Wii’s Virtual Console. The company’s also expanding North America’s library of PSOne downloads to eventually match the plethora of titles available to the Japanese market. It’s all part of a greater initiative to make more digitally-distributed, download-only titles, which we wholeheartedly support — now, about those pesky UMD-less PSP2 rumors…
[Via Joystiq]
Filed under: Gaming
Sony plays catch up with hackers, mulling over PSP ‘virtual console’ originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 04 Mar 2009 02:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Posted in sony, video games, VideoGames, playstation, psp, retro, psp 2, Psp2, psone, play station, classic games, ClassicGames, ps one, retro games, RetroGames | No Comments »
March 3rd, 2009 by
The PSP2 rumor mill has certainly been cranking overtime as of late, and it doesn’t seem to be showing any signs of slowing down, even if it isn’t exactly churning out many new rumors. This time, however, they’re apparently be backed up by a developer source “close to Sony,” who again says that the PSP2 (or PSP-4000, as it’s also being called) will ditch the UMD drive and add a sliding screen that covers most of the controls when it’s closed. According to the source, that would still let folks play games like LocoRoco that only use the shoulder buttons when it’s closed, and Sony is reportedly keen to get developers to create more games that can be played in that state. No word on a release date from the latest source, unfortunately, although Eurogamer seems to be sticking to its earlier report that it’ll launch by the end of the year.
[Via GameDaily]
Filed under: Gaming
PSP2 rumor surfaces once more, sounds awfully familiar originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 03 Mar 2009 18:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Posted in sony, psp, Psp2, sony psp, SonyPsp, psp-4000 | No Comments »
March 2nd, 2009 by
Not content with just showing off new TVs, home theater systems, Blu-ray players, and cameras, Sony also unveiled at PMA two new photo printers for giving your digital memories a more tangible existence. The $120 DPP-FP67 and $200 DPP-FP97 create 4 x 6 prints in 45 and 67 seconds, respectively. Additionally, the FP97 (above and to the right) also sports HDMI out and a 3.5-inch LCD. No fancy Bluetooth connectivity like Dell’s Wasabi, unfortunately, but the pair does support a variety of cards including SD, SDHC, MMC, xD and of course, Memory Stick. Look for these to help you finish that picture album when they hit retail channels sometime in May.
Filed under: Digital Cameras, Misc. Gadgets
Sony announces DPP-FP97 and DPP-FP67 photo printers originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 03 Mar 2009 01:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Posted in sony, printer, pma, photo printer, PhotoPrinter, PMA 2009, Pma2009, pma 09, Pma09, dpp-fp67, dpp-fp97, fp67, fp97, sony dpp-fp67, sony dpp-fp97, sony fp67, sony fp97, SonyDpp-fp67, SonyDpp-fp97, SonyFp67, SonyFp97 | No Comments »
March 2nd, 2009 by
Sony has finally shown its cards for PMA this year, and that Ten of Clubs up its sleeve looks to be the CyberShot DSC-HX1 we heard about last week. According to the presser, it’s the company’s first digital camera with sweep panorama technology for up to 224-degree horizontal and 154-degree vertical panorama shots with the push of a button. It’s also sporting a 20x optical zoom, 1/2.4-inch Exmor CMOS sensor for 10 frames per second at 9.1 megapixel resolution, a Sony G lens and 1080p HD movie recording. Look for it this March for around five Benjamins.
Filed under: Digital Cameras
Sony’s CyberShot DSC-HX1 camera gets official, coming March for $500 originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 02 Mar 2009 20:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Posted in sony, digital camera, DigitalCamera, cyber shot, cybershot, cameras, DSC, camera, pma, PMA 2009, Pma2009, dsc-hx1, digital cameras, DigitalCameras, pma 09, Pma09, sony cyber shot, sony cyber shot dsc-hx1, sony dsc-hx1, SonyCyberShot, SonyCyberShotDsc-hx1, SonyDsc-hx1 | No Comments »
March 2nd, 2009 by
While these three weren’t quite ready for CES, they’re still being debuted in Las Vegas alongside Sony’s new Blu-ray devices. The W-Series, as with the recently announced BRAVIA Z5100 and XBR9 models, is fully equipped with an Ethernet jack and a Yahoo!-powered widgets engine. Consumers who bite on the 52-inch KDL-52W5100, 46-inch KDL-46W5100 or 40-inch KDL-40W5100 can expect easy access to Amazon Video on Demand, YouTube, Sony Pictures content, etc. The new family also includes Sony’s Motionflow 120Hz technology, DLNA compatibility, a USB port for loading up external media, BRAVIA Sync (HDMI-CEC), four HDMI inputs and the Xross Media Bar (XMB) interface. As expected, each one sports a 1080p panel, and while pricing details are still sorely missing, the trifecta should hit retailers later this Spring. Full release is after the break.
Continue reading Sony expands connected BRAVIA HDTV line with new W-Series
Filed under: Displays, HDTV, Home Entertainment
Sony expands connected BRAVIA HDTV line with new W-Series originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 02 Mar 2009 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Posted in sony, lcd, lcd tv, LcdTv, widgets, hdtv, dlna, yahoo, bravia, motionflow, lcd hdtv, LcdHdtv, amazon video on demand, AmazonVideoOnDemand, connected hdtv, ConnectedHdtv, w-series, BRAVIA Internet Video, BRAVIA Internet Widgets, BraviaInternetVideo, BraviaInternetWidgets, HT-CT500, KDL-40W5100, KDL-46W5100, KDL-52W5100, XBR9, yahoo widgets, YahooWidgets, Z5100 | No Comments »
March 2nd, 2009 by
Hope you didn’t just pull the trigger on a BDP-S350, ’cause we get the feeling Sony’s two newest standalone BD decks are going to make you yearn for the next best thing. Here in Las Vegas, the company has just come clean with the Profile 2.0 BDP-S360 and BDP-S560, the latter of which includes integrated WiFi for tapping into BD-Live content and downloading future firmware updates sans an Ethernet cable. Also, the unit is fully DLNA-ready, handles DVD upscaling, bit-streams audio via HDMI, decodes Dolby TrueHD / DTS-HD Master Audio and plays nice with external media loaded up on a USB drive. As predicted, the lower-end BDP-S360 is essentially the same player sans WiFi.
Moving on, we’ve got a new pair of 5.1-channel Blu-ray HTIB systems: the BDV-E300 and BDV-E500W. Both bundles include a BD-Live-capable (Profile 2.0) Blu-ray player, while the BDV-E500W sports integrated S-AIR wireless audio capabilities. In other words, your rear speakers will get their signal sans cabling, and those who opt for the BDV-E300 are getting a kit that’s S-AIR-ready, meaning that you can add modules in the future to get the same wireless support. Both sets also include Sony’s Digital Media Port for controlling peripherals like Apple’s iPod and Sony’s own Walkman line, and the BRAVIA Sync technology ensures that HDMI-CEC lovers are taken care of. The models also bring along the firm’s Xross Media Bar (XMB) interface, a USB port for loading up media and an easy-to-follow setup DVD. As for pricing and availability, we’ve broken all that down below.
- BDP-S360 Blu-ray player: shipping this summer for around $300
- BDP-S560 Blu-ray player: shipping this summer for around $350
- HT-SS360 component home theater system : shipping in May for around $350
- BDV-E300 Blu-ray HTIB: shipping in June for around $600
- BDV-E500W Blu-ray HTIB: shipping in June for around $800
Catch the release in full just after the break.
Continue reading Sony outs BDP-S360 and BDP-S560 Blu-ray players, new BD HTIBs
Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment, Wireless
Sony outs BDP-S360 and BDP-S560 Blu-ray players, new BD HTIBs originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 02 Mar 2009 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Posted in sony, Blu-ray, wifi, wireless, htib, blu-ray player, Blu-rayPlayer, BD-Live, bd live, BdLive, s-air, Profile 2.0, Profile2.0, S560, BDP-S360, BDP-S560, BDV-E300, BDV-E500W, blu-ray htib, Blu-rayHtib, HT-SS360, s360, wifi blu-ray player, WifiBlu-rayPlayer | No Comments »
March 1st, 2009 by
We already knew that Sony’s GPS-equipped HDR-XR520V camcorder (and the slightly lower-end HDR-XR500V and HDR-XR200V models) would start shipping in March, but you’d be rightly skeptical if you thought that meant it’d be arriving closer to the end of the month than the beginning. Sony looks to be bucking the usual trend, however, as the camcorder is now in stock at Amazon and selling for the not-so-discounted price of $1,499 (SonyStyle itself, meanwhile, lists the camcorder as shipping on March 8th). It seems like quantities may be a tad limited to start with, however, as Amazon lists only four left in stock as of this writing. A handful of sellers also appear to have the HDR-XR500V and HDR-XR200V available, which each pack 120GB of storage as opposed to the 240GB on the HDR-XR-520V.
[Thanks, Dave]
Filed under: Digital Cameras, GPS
GPS-equipped Sony HDR-XR520V camcorder now available to order originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 01 Mar 2009 20:07:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Posted in sony, camcorder, gps, handycam, gps camera, GpsCamera, HDR-XR200V, HDR-XR500V, HDR-XR520V | No Comments »
February 27th, 2009 by
The rumor mill seems to be coalescing around a new CyberShot DSC-HX1 camera from Sony in the run-up to the big PMA camera show next week. In fact, on-line camera shops are already adding placeholders for Sony’s new flagship, super-zoom with 1080p video and HQ sound. If true, we’re just days away from seeing the official launch of a 9 megapixel (CMOS) camera with 20x zoom, 2.7-inch (possibly 3.0-inch like the DSC-H50) LCD, optical SteadyShot with anti-motion blur, and a 10fps burst rate at unspecified resolution. Rumor also has it priced at £400 which directly translates to $571 — though it’ll likely be priced between $400 and $500 (pre-tax) Stateside as these things generally go.
[Thanks, Semi]
Read — BuyACamera DSC-HX1 cached entry
Read — DP Review rumor
Filed under: Digital Cameras
Sony CyberShot DSC-HX1 with 20x zoom and 1080p video rumored originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Feb 2009 06:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Posted in sony, camcorder, rumor, 1080p, cybershot, 9 megapixel, 9Megapixel, 20x zoom, 20xZoom, dsc-hx1, hx1, superzoom | No Comments »
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