Comcast, Panasonic Team on Portable DVR/DVD Player

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on January 7, 2008 - 12:19pm.

Las Vegas - Comcast (NASD: CMCSA), the nation's largest cable TV provider, announced on Monday that it has partnered with electronics maker Panasonic, part of Japan's Matsushita (NYSE: MC), to develop a portable digital video recorder (DVR) and DVD player that can record programming from both Comcast and other cable TV providers. The AnyPlay device sports an 8.5-inch display, features 60 hours of recording capacity, and is currently slated for release in early 2009.

The interoperable device is part of Tru2way, a collaboration on open standards between cable operators and consumer electronics firms.

Other Tru2way devices in the works include Panasonic's Viera HDTV set, which includes a built-in set-top box compatible with all the major cable operators.