Seiko Epson Japan has today announced the Rio PhotoPC Player P-1000. It is a very interesting product because with the features it has, it could be used in place of PC. It has a new 3.8″ “Photo Fine” TFT LCD, 1.8″ 10GB hard disk of which 9GB is available, Type II Compact Flash slot with support for other cards using a CF adapter, USB direct print to a number of Epson printers and USB connection to CD-R/RW drives for archiving.

The down side to this unit is that it does not support RAW and TIFF type files, rendering the unit useless to any professional or amateur photographer.

It is expected to ship in the summer for approx. 70,000 Yen ($590, 545 Euros).

Specifications

LCD monitor – “Photo Fine” 3.8″ TFT LCD (640×480 resolution) with support for JPEG images containg EXIF information (TIFF, RAW or movie files are not supported)

HDD – 1.8″ 10GB hard disk of which 9GB is available for pictures

Media Support – Type II Compact Flash slot with support for other cards using a CF adapter

Printer Support – USB direct print to a number of Epson printers :
• PM-730CC/740cC/740DU
• PM-830CC/840cC/870cC/890cC
• PM-930CC/970cC, PM-4000PX
• PM-3700CC/970cC
• PM-860PT

Power – Lithium battery

Connectivity
• DC in
• USB 1.1(supports Direct-Print)
• A/V out
• Recognised as a USB external storage device

Misc.
• Docking cradle
• USB connection to CD-R/RW drives for archiving (compatible models will be announced at the time of shipping)

Dimensions – 91.5×23×142mm
Weight – (no batt) 350g