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Friday, June 23, 2006 12:29 PM PT Posted by Melissa Perenson
Toshiba Announces First HD DVD Recorder
Toshiba announced today that it will ship the first HD DVD recorder, RD-A1, on July 14--but don't get too excited: The recorder will only be available in Japan at launch.
The announcement comes as a bit of a surprise--when last quizzed on recording for the home, the HD DVD Promotion Group indicated to me that recorders wouldn't likely hit until next year, and that may yet be the case for the U.S. market. I was also told that, after the postponements of the HD DVD player, an announcement about a recorder wouldn't come until closer to when something would ship--which is exactly what Toshiba did with its announcement earlier today.
The announcement does explain why, suddenly, media manufacturers, including Verbatim and RitekUSA, announced impending availability of recordable HD DVD-R media. And with this announcement, the precarious balance in the next-gen optical battle is rocked. Only slightly, though.
The timing of the announcement takes attention away from rival format Blu-ray, which this week launched its first titles from Sony; the first player, from Samsung, officially launches on Sunday. None of the manufacturers selling Blu-ray-based players have discussed recorder availability, and the Blu-ray Disc Association can't commit to a time frame for recorder availability--a spokesperson said that will be up to the individual companies involved in Blu-ray.
High-definition recording is not new: Sony, Panasonic, Sharp, and Samsung Electronics have offered Blu-ray-based recorders overseas. What is interesting to note about the Toshiba, though, is that it does support the Advanced Access Content System (AACS) copy controls.
Like those other recorders, the RD-A1 will be expensive: About $3600 in US dollars. For that admission price, you'll get a 1-terabyte hard disk, as well as support for recording to single-layer 15GB HD DVD-R and dual-layer 30GB HD DVD-R discs (for up to 115 and 230 minutes of video, respectively, and for recording to standard DVD-R/RW/RAM media. Other notable specs include: The recorder will output images at 1080p resolution; can upconvert DVDs to 1080p; is DLNA-compliant; and includes Internet connectiviy via Toshiba's Net de Navi software, for remotely programming recordings online.
The specs certainly make me salivate. I'm never home, and need to record my television for viewing later (sound familiar?). I've long resisted the lure of HD in part because I know it would be wasted on me: I'd never be able to watch TV recorded in it (yes, there are HD hard disk recorders now, and none of those would work for me--I'd have them full in no time). Not that I have a spare $3600 lying around (plus more for a high-def display to match), but this announcement makes the future of home recording suddenly seem a lot more real to me--even if I will probably still have to wait another year or two before the prices come out of the stratosphere, and into the realm of us mere mortals.
How important is recording televised HD content to you?
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The RD-A1 is very impressive. It will be very exciting to see how the blu-ray camp will respond. I support HD-DVD all the way. I am kind of pissed at Sony for squeezing blu-ray on PlayStation fans. So I be getting a Nintendo Wii or xbox 360 instead. I think I will sit out the format war and stick to my DVD player.
I am going to take a wait-and-see attitude on this. Sony got burned badly with their failure to licence Betamax technology regarding video cassettes, so hopefully, they have learned something in this regard. I am going to wait until the dust settles and a clear victor emerges, either Sony, or Blu-Ray, or some other yet unknown contender. And $3600 is way too steep to contemplate.
Whatta ya mean Sony got burned? Consumers burned themselves when they bought cheap instead of good. I still have a BetaMax 360 running quality tape delay and an s-VHS running news delay.
Consumers will pay whatever it costs - as long as it's cheaper and somewhat almost as good.
IN A COUPLE YEARS THEY WILL BE $200
Only Japanese can afford to pay $3,600 for a recorder.
This is truly a unique perspective on a format war. We have not seen enough video format wars to make an analysis based on past trends in marketing. The Playstation was the pioneer of the CD. It guided the format to the heights of an every-day medium. Playstation 2 guided DVD to a (currently) universal video media standard. Sony is counting on loyal customers and companion corporations to support the Playstation 3. A large amount of people play their home media from their game stations (which have been making a large move towards defining themselves as entertainment stations). I can't stress this enough to people: the format war is going to be based LARGELY on the console war. Since Xbox 360 offers HD-DVDs as an accessory rather than including it on release, people are less likely to buy the new format based on the Xbox alone. The ONLY issue with the Playstation 3, is the price. Even this issue is partially eclipsed by what people will be paying for the HD-DVD players/recorders and the Blu-ray players.
haaaleloooyyyaaaaaa.....haaaleloooyyyaaaaaa..... WELCOME TO THE WORLD OF FORMAT WARS...MAY THE BEST SURVIVE AND REST IN PEACE....after all peace is what we are looking for....haaaleloooyyyaaaaaa.....haaaleloooyyyaaaaaa..
Hi there Don.
Seek medical help
Cheers
Kenny
Will this do all HDV formats? Like 1080i? How does it do with lower resolutions? What will the media cost?
This is like CDR and DVD recorders all over again: wait a year and the price will drop by at least half. But even then who could afford it?
Then you have to buy a full HDV television or projector - and there are no cheap 1080i or 1080p projectors worth a hoot.
Maybe Steve Bass will buy me one! How about it Bassman?
Blu-ray will win. In the end price does not matter, as they are both very expensive. Prives will go down eventually (supply and demand).
The same happened when DVD players came out, granted it wasnt a format war, but still in essence all electronics go down in price as they become slightly obsolete. (Regular DVD players are obsolete compared to progressive scan DVD players).
Blu-Ray has the most support from Hollywood studios, plus PS3, Samsung is a key manufacturer, and Sony along with Panasonic.
Sony will not be able to release its player until October, Samsung will release it's BD player very soon. In essence sony has a great amount of allies and ultimately I think Blu-Ray will win.
Albeit, this might take a year or two to occur.
Why are we still using CDs and DVDs anyway? The technology is out there for much better solutions in much smaller packages. Although, personally I'd like to store digital media and data directly in my synaptic pathways within my brain, and play them back at will to any device I choose.
I agree with Jeff Gregory; I think it's just smart to wait to see which standard shakes out. Anyone can guess and argue the matter, but only time really knows and only time will tell.
Also, I wouldn't think of paying the kind of money they are asking right now, even if I had it (and I don't, LOL). There are enough people with more money than sense who just HAVE to be on the cutting edge, so I say let them cover the companies' R&D costs, and uncover all the bugs. By the time the price gets down to something reasonable (say around $300-$400) There will likely be a clear winner and more features, speed, etc.
Anyone dumb enough to buy a first generation hi-def product that is inherently far below the full specifications of either of these formats deserves what they get...yes, the prices will go down, but the quality of the later products will be improved...that's how it's always been...the prices now are sky-high to allow each side to recover as much R&D money as possible from the foolish videophiles...so let them buy the 1st generation junk devices...every dollar they spend is one dollar we won't have to...
I'd also say that we should remember that these devices are really just PCs in a CE box...at least one device is using a P4 processor...and those prices are slated to go down drastically this year with the introduction of the core 2 duo brand...so if the prices remain high past christmas, that should provide evidence of what's really going on where pricing of these devices are concerned...
I'd take $3600 and build a nicest, fastest, ultimate PC for $3600 with Windows Vista Ultimate! :)