Having a recorder available so soon should push early adopters off the fence in their favor. Too bad they’re selling at a loss. (Not that they’re the only one.)

Toshiba has unveiled the first HD DVD recorder that lets users capture high-definition video broadcasts on disc, play next-generation DVDs, and store tons of data on the built-in 1-terabyte hard drive (equivalent to 1,024 gigabytes).

The RD-A1 will go on sale in Japan next month, with customers having to shell out 398,000 yen, or about $3,500, to get their hands on the much-hyped technology that promises the sharpest pictures and best sound yet in digital video.

With the announcement, Toshiba is stealing some thunder from rival Sony, which this week starts shipping the first movie titles designed for the competing Blu-ray high-definition format.

This makes me look at HD-DVD with a little more favor myself.



  1. Chris Swett says:

    Sure, it’s in Japan, but I’m not holding my breath for HD recording in the States. I get all my HD via DISH satellite, which has HD recording restrictions written into their distribution licensing. They never did activate the “DISHwire” firewire ports on their HD receivers for this reason, though they heavily advertised DVHS compatibility.

  2. James Hill says:

    Removeable media? How quaint!

    Even if BluRay and/or HD-DVD take off, I’m still more likley to rip the media to a storage server and access it that way as opposed to putting a disk in a drive at the location I’m viewing it.

    As an aside, I just moved… and had a choice between 1.5 mbps DSL, 6 mbps cable at a preferred rate of $20/mo, or 8 mbps at $60/mo. I went with the 6 mpbs deal, which would be more than enough to download HD movies via a sentinal program over the span of 12 to 18 hours.


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