I found this from a review for the Toshiba PDR-M4 (http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/PDRM4/M4A.HTM):

"Video? As we "went to press" with this review, Toshiba had just emailed us a firmware upgrade that supposedly adds some level of video-capture capability to the camera(!) Apparently, the super-fast CPU in the PDR-M4 has enough horsepower to handle MPEG compression, so they're able to add this function via firmware. (Very unusual feat, that!) We haven't had time to check it out yet, but will test it and update this review once we have done so."

But I haven't seen this upgrade anywhere. Not even on the Toshiba Driver Webpage. Was this scrapped? I think that'd be a neat function to have on my camera.

-- Jason Chin (superman@mycalgary.com), January 08, 2000

Answers

Argh! - I've *really* got to get around to updating that review: You're right, the movie firmware was scrapped. We got a (very) beta version to play with from a technical guy at Toshiba US, who was very enthusiastic about it, and who indicated it would be available in a matter of weeks. For whatever reason though, Toshiba Japan decided not to release it, so it died before it was fully born. Too bad! It definitely would have been a nice enhancement to the camera. (I'll really try to get back to that review this week, to include this updated information.)

Thanks for calling it to our attention!

-- Dave Etchells (web@imaging-resource.com), January 10, 2000.