Samsung & DIRECTV to Introduce DIRECTV Digital Video Recorder

Jan. 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- CES 2003 -- Samsung and DIRECTV Inc., announced yesterday that they have introduced the first lineup of Samsung-DIRECTV DVR, in the United States.

The Samsung SDR-S350-DIRECTV DVR will go on sale at major retailers in Q2 of 2003 and will combine both reception of DIRECTV programming, which delivers access to more than 225 digital-quality channels, with the ability to record and playback programming using DIRECTV DVR with TiVo service.

Multiple models of Samsung's DIRECTV DVR will offer consumers a broad array of recording capacity, starting at up to 35 hours of programming* on its internal hard disk drive. The provision of two tuners means the receiver can record two programs simultaneously, or record one channel while viewing another.

Premium movies and TV series will come alive through the Dolby Digital sound when connected to a home theater system. Samsung will manufacture DIRECTV DVR Receivers with larger capacity hard disk drives later in 2003.

"This agreement complements our product roadmap with DIRECTV and rounds out Samsung's offering of quality digital video products," said Tony Goncalves, Senior Marketing Manager for Samsung. "This exciting line of DIRECTV DVRs will join our line of award winning DIRECTV Receivers that have been lauded for their features and performance and includes high definition models for an unparalleled HDTV experience. Together with DIRECTV we will uniquely offer retailers one stop shopping for a full line up of direct to home satellite television receivers to meet a variety of consumer needs."

"The introduction of the new Samsung-DIRECTV DVR marks an exciting expansion of our relationship with Samsung and signals a continuing commitment to the DVR product category," said Brad Beale, senior vice president, Product Development and Advanced Services, DIRECTV, Inc. "By combining the technological know-how and outstanding brand awareness of Samsung, TiVo and DIRECTV, we offer our customers an unparalleled DVR experience in terms of entertainment and product quality."

The DIRECTV DVR with TiVo service provides consumers with complete freedom to personalize how they watch television, enabling viewers to pause, instant replay and rewind live TV, create a Season Pass to automatically record every episode of favorite shows, and, using the WishList feature, instruct the recorder to find and record shows featuring favorite actors, directors, sports teams or interests.

The line of DIRECTV DVRs will retail in the United States starting at an affordable price of $199, and is expected to be available at all major DIRECTV retailers. The DIRECTV DVR with TiVo service monthly subscription fee is $4.99 and will be free to customers subscribing to the TOTAL CHOICE PREMIER package.

Please visit http://www.samsungusa.com/ for more information.