Panasonic has announced a new series of DVRs that will be available in September. Six models in all, these new DVRs feature a Blu-ray recorder, a VHS player (for the DMR-BR670V) and your choice of 320GB / 500GB / 1TB / 2TB of HDD.

They come equipped with the latest UniPhier system LSI that integrates new AV data compression/decompression technology. The high-end model, the DMR-BW970 should be able to record up to 320hrs of video in MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 @ 12.9Mbps and supports Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby True HD, DTS-HD, can record on BD-RE / BD-R / DVD-RAM / DVD-R / DVD R DL / DVD-RW, and there’s also HDMI output, an SDHC card slot, the VIERA Link, and is DLNA.

Sanyo has introduced its latest DVR dubbed the Repoch. The device will comply with the iVR (Information Versatile Disk) standard shared with Hitachi. The Repoch will ship with an integrated tuner for receiving digital terrestrial TV broadcasts, allowing you to view recordings on analog broadcast-compatible TVs.

Connectivity options include an Ethernet connection, HDMI output, component audio and video inputs and a couple of two antenna posts. For $668, the Repoch will come bundled with a 160GB iVR disk when it rolls out in Japan this September 1st.

I would have to say that the number one reason for the iPhone’s dominance is the sheer usefulness that the apps provide. And here’s another useful trick that the iPhone has up it’s sleeve: You can use it as a hearing aid.

The $10 SoundAMP app lets you use the iPhone to enhance the sounds around you. CNET’s Rick Broida spent some time with the SoundAMP and he says that all you do is fire up SoundAMP and plug in a pair of earphones, then just raise or lower the oversize slider until you get the volume you want. Apparently it even has a kind of “audio DVR” feature that lets you replay the last 5 or 30 seconds of a conversation just by tapping an onscreen button.

Looks like TiVo is trying to muscle their way into several providers, having gotten a victory out of EchoStar in that DVR patent lawsuit. It’s in talks to bring its service to Time Warner Cable, and according to sources, the endgame is to collect royalties from every pay-TV provider in the US.

That might sound arrogant, or even bullying, but the patents have withstood nearly every legal challenge EchoStar could throw at them, so TiVo is pretty confidant. It has license agreements with Comcast and DirecTV to use as leverage in negotiations too.

LaCie just updated their LaCinema HD media streamer lineup with the new Play and Record models. The former can playback media while the latter can also function as an HD DVR. Both are wireless and can stream 1080p media from the network to your TV and upscale standard def movies to 1080i.

They come with either 500GB or 1TB of internal storage. The Record has added DVR capability for anyone looking to get rid of the set top box entirely. Looks like prices will start at $430.

The cable company that serves my neighborhood sucks. They have about only a few HD channels and didn’t have DVR’s until last year. The company is totally stuck in the early 2000′s. I opted to go with DirecTV instead of cable or Dish Network because DirecTV had more HD offerings at the time.

DirecTV launched a new app for the iPhone not too long ago that allows you to access your DVR, even if it’s not connected to the Internet, and schedule recordings. Dish Network has announced that it is now offering a service called Remote Access that allows users of Dish Network DVRs to access their DVR and record programs from any computer in the world.

I love my DVR. I haven’t watched a commercial in over a year and if I had to go back to life without a DVR, I would rather not watch TV. The only problem with my DVR is that it needs more space, but I can’t simply crack it open and put in a bigger drive. This is where products like the Apricorn DVR Expander that debuted back in January come in.

The DVR Expander is an external hard drive designed specifically to work with certain DVR models. Apricorn has updated the DVR expander with a black and silver color scheme that looks better than the original. The device now works with Scientific Atlanta 8300 DVRs, DirecTV DVRs, and Dish Network ViP HD DVR.

There are lots of reasons to put hidden cameras in your home from the legitimate use of keeping an eye on your kids to the more nefarious spying on other people in the home without their knowledge. Whatever the reason you want to put hidden cameras in your home this new clock radio camera with built-in DVR is not cheap.

The device retails for $499 on sale and has a high resolution, low lux camera that records to a removable 8GB SD card. The device features motion activated recording and records in MPEG-4 mode and can snap Jpeg images for a longer recording time. Images and video can be stamped with the time and date.

Last summer Iomega unveiled a product providing what many DVR owners find themselves needing much sooner than they thought — more storage space. The Iomega DVR Extender is an external 500GB hard drive that connects to DVRs via eSATA.

Iomega announced today that users of Pace set-top cable boxes can now use the DVR Expander to add up to 300 hours of storage for standard def programs and up to 60 hours of HD content. The most interesting part of the announcement is that if users have Pace boxes that lack a hard drive, the DVR Expander will turn them into full featured DVRs.

There are many uses today for hard drives optimized for storing and streaming video files. Uses for this type of drive include DVRs, video work stations, and video surveillance applications. Hitachi has announced its latest video centric drive that is added to its CinemaStar line.

The new drive is called the CinemaStar C5K500 and is a 2.5-inch drive offering a maximum capacity of 500GB. The small drive is designed for silent operation, cool running, and low power usage. The rotational speed of the drive is 5400 rpm and is uses Hitachi SmoothStream technology to enhance digital video streaming applications.

I spend most of my year avoiding commercials to the extent that I don’t even know what movies are at the theater frequently. I can thank my DVR for the lack of product advertisement bliss I enjoy during a normal night of TV watching.

The one time a year that I actually like to watch commercials is during the Super Bowl. That seems more than a little odd to me, but still I watch them and often rewind them thanks to my trusty DVR. If you are a big fan of Super Bowl commercials, superbowl-ads.com has the spots going back to 1998 available for you to watch.

BFG Technologies recently announced it was now taking orders for its new designer PC for the home media room. This machine is called Phobos and, depending upon the configuration, can run around $8,000 and above for the top end model.

The Phobos is designed by BFG to be aesthetically pleasing, making it fit better into a typical home media room. It is outfitted with a touch panel LCD with touch over clocking and comes with what service the company feels is “concierge” level.

Check out this ultra patriotic lighter. If you need to display your love of country every time you light up, this is the lighter for you. The bonus is that it is also a spy camera. Ajoka’s cigarette lighter video camera records 640 x 480 QVGA in AVI format at 30 frames per second and supports microSD up to 8GB.

If American Dad was real and not a cartoon, this is what Stan would be carrying around. It features a lithium ion battery for 6 hours of filming and can be charged via USB. And yes, it works as a lighter. If you know a ton of spys, you can order these wholesale for $150 each.

When you first get your DVR from the cable or satellite provider its 10 or 20 hours of recording time sounds like an eternity. Then you quickly realize that you can’t get your full season of Oprah and The Price is Right without running out of room for necessities like Celebrity Rehab.

Apricorn has announced a new DVR expander called (wait for it) the DVR Xpander that offers 1.5TB of storage space. With that much storage, you can record 843 hours of SD programs or 187.5 hours of HD programs. Surprisingly the price for the 1.5TB version isn’t even that high at $239.

Toshiba intros two new Digital Video Recorders (DVRs) for the Japanese market. The Toshiba Vardia RD-G503 has a huge 500GB hard drive, while the RD-E303 has a 300GB hard drive.

Both DVRs support DVD burners, MPEG-2 TS and H.264/MPEG-4 AVC recording, Digital / Analog tuner, DVD upscaling and two remote controls (one fully functional and one with just basic controls). The Toshiba Vardia RD-G503 and RD-E303 will be released next month for $770 and $660.