Through the sheer brilliance of Sony we had the Walkman, now obsolete though, then came the Discman, which was just the next-gen Walkman for playing CDs and not tapes and let’s not forget the Walkman phones from Sony Ericsson. If you were wondering what Sony’s next step (or should I say “Walk”) would be, wonder no more. Enter the world's first HD Video Walkman. Ta –Dah!

The HD Video Walkman is the portable solution for viewing HDV and DV tapes while traveling. It also plays back miniDV tapes (SP and LP) and can also record HDV1080i/DV signals from an external source. It also has an HDMI output that allows HD viewing on any connected HD-ready TV or monitor.

It’s equipped with a 7-inch widescreen (16:9) LCD that offers a resolution of 1,152K (800x480x3[RGB]) dots for monitoring video and still images. An All-scan function ensures that 100% of the recorded frame area is displayed on the LCD monitor for accurate reviewing. Up to six LCD panel setups can be stored and loaded at any time. The on-screen position of displayed timecode can be moved to any of six positions according to user preference. The screen folds down when the GV-HD700E is not in use.


It’s the first Video WALKMAN supporting x.v.Colour. Based on the new xvYCC standard, x.v.Colour almost doubles the gamut of colors that can be displayed accurately on an xvYCC compliant display. HDV tapes recorded with x.v.Colour can be replayed with x.v.Colour signals available via HDMI and i.LINK outputs. x.v.Color signals can also be read via the i.LINK input, and x.v.Color information is passed through to the portable deck’s HDMI output.

A separate HD/SD component output is provided in addition to the HDMI output. An i.LINK port allows direct recording and playback of HDV and DV signals, while analogue video and audio can be recorded and monitored via S Video and RCA input connectors. In addition, still images can be captured from tape (HDV or DV) during playback and stored onto Memory Stick. For convenient operation, any of fourteen commonly used functions (including search, index mark and playback zoom) can be assigned to three function buttons. There’s also a Status Check mode that gives a handy on-screen confirmation of key Audio, Output, Assign and LCD settings. The GV-HD700E can also be used with InfoLITHIUM L and M Series batteries. Supplied accessories include an AC Adaptor, wireless remote controller, component cable and AV Multi Cable (without S Video).

The GV-HD700E HD Video WALKMAN will be available throughout Europe from September 2007 but there’s no information on its price tag yet.