Toshiba said it planned the launch of the first next-generation, high-definition optical disc recorder based on the HD DVD format on July 14 in Japan as it intensifies competition with rival Blu-ray products.
The World's First HD-DVD Recorder, Toshiba's RD-A1
Toshiba, which already debuted the world's first HD DVD player in March, expects the new recorder, equipped with a 1 terabyte hard disk, to sell for 398,000 yen (1,881 pounds).
Toshiba is a leading proponent of next-generation HD DVD optical disk technology, which competes with the Blu-ray standard promoted by Sony Corp. and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., a maker of Panasonic brand electronics.
Their failure to settle on a unified format has paved the way for a costly battle, similar to the VHS-Betamax war which caused widespread customer confusion in the late 1970s and mid-1980s.
"This is a new product packed with our engineers' and all our employees' dreams and passion," Toshiba Corporate Senior Vice President Yoshihide Fujii told a news conference on Thursday.
"The price might have surprised you. But this is the kind of product that I would want to buy even for 1 million yen."
At the core of both formats are blue lasers, which have a shorter wavelength than the red lasers used in current DVD equipment, enabling disks to store data at the higher densities needed for high-definition movies and TV.
Toshiba has no intention of shipping the new machine, RD-A1, outside Japan and aims to sell 10,000 units by December.
Toshiba, Japan's second-largest electronics conglomerate behind Hitachi Ltd., targets global sales of 600,000 to 700,000 units of its HD DVD players in the current business year ending March 2007.
The company aims to eventually offer HD DVD recorders with a hard disk drive in overseas markets but currently has no concrete plans.
Sony has been offering Blu-ray-based recorders since 2003, although its initial retail list price of 450,000 yen and a lack of software kept them from becoming widely adopted.
On the player side, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. said in April it had delayed the U.S. launch of its Blu-ray standard disk player to June 25 from May 23.
The new Toshiba machine is capable of storing up to 130 hours of high-definition terrestrial digital broadcasting programmes on its hard disk and up to 230 minutes of programmes with the same quality on a dual-layer 30-gigabyte HD DVD disc.
Specifications
| Model name | RD-A1 |
| Hard Disk | Built in Hard Disk
HD DVD-Video
Twin Format Discs (Dual-layer,single-sided, HD DVD-Video + DVD-Video),
HD DVD-R (HDVR mode),
HD DVD-R DL (HDVR mode),
DVD-R (Video mode; VR mode),
DVD-R DL (Video mode; VR mode),
DVD-RAM (VR mode),
DVD-RW (Video mode; VR mode),
DVD-Video
Music CD
CD-R, CD-RW (CD-DA),
| * | Some content and discs may not be compatible. Depending on recording mode and condition, some discs may not playback. DVD-RW Ver.1.0 is not supported. |
|
| Recordable media | Built in Hard Disk (TS mode; VR mode)
HD DVD-R (HDVR mode),
HD DVD-R DL (HDVR mode),
DVD-R (Video mode; VR mode), for General/1X-16X SPEED (recording speed 8X),
DVD-R DL (Video mode; VR mode), for General/4X SPEED (recording speed 4X),
DVD-RAM (VR mode), 2X-5X SPEED (Applied cartridges), (recording speed 2X),
DVD-RW (Video mode; VR mode), 1X-6X SPEED (recording speed 4X), *Some discs may not be compatible, or may not record. |
| Videorecording format | MPEG 2 |
| Audiorecording format | Dolby Digital (2ch), L-PCM (2ch), AAC(5.1ch), |
| Audio output | Dolby Digital (5.1ch)
Dolby Digital Plus (5.1ch), Dolby TrueHD (2ch), DTS-HD (5.1ch)
L-PCM (5.1ch)
*Output format depends on content. |
| Video DAC | 14bit, 297MHz |
| Audio DAC | 192kHz, 24bit |
| Channel | Digital terrestrial broadcast (000 - 999ch), CATV path through,
BS digital (000 - 999ch), 100 degree CS digital broadcast (000 - 999ch),
Analog terrestrial broadcast VHF (1 - 12ch), UHF (13 - 62ch), CATV (C13 - C63ch), |
| Input | S1 video input line 3 (rear 2, front 1), video inputline 3 (rear 2, front 1), 2ch analog audio input line 3 (rear 2, front 1), D1video input line 1, DV input line 1 (front) |
| Output | D1/D2/D3/D4 video output line 1, component video output line 1 (Y, CB,CR), S1 video output line 3, video output line 3, 5.1ch surround-sound analog audiooutput line 1, 2ch analog audio output line 3,
Coaxial digital audio output line 1, Optical digital audio output line 1, HDMI output line 1, i.LINK line 2 (D-VHS dubbing) |
| Antenna terminal | Digital terrestrial in-output, BS/100degree CS digital in-output, VHF/UHF in-output |
| Other terminals | LAN terminal, Sky Perfect continuous terminal, phone circuit terminal, Extension terminal line 3 (front, 5V 500mA) |
| Power consumption | 133W (BS antenna supply:144W),
Stand by mode 6.5W (power-save:4.0W), |
Dimensions | Width 457 mm × Height 159 mm × Depth 408 mm |
| Weight | 15.2 kg |
| Accessories | Remote control, battery for remote control (AAA cellbattery x 2),
power cable, coaxial cable, video/audio connectingcord,
user manual, B-CAS card, modular splitter, phone cable |
