Toshiba pushes the DVR/DVD-R storage capacity further

What we who live in Western countries consider to be the top-of-the-range in personal digital video, is getting pretty antique in Japan. Here in the UK Philips and others are pushing strongly stand-alone DVD-/+R/W recorders to the markets, but the devices are priced so that only early-adopters can afford them. Meanwhile in Japan, combined DVR (think of TiVo) and DVD-R devices are getting rapidly more popular.

Now, Toshiba has set a new storage capacity record for these type of devices, by releasing a 160GB DVR device that's combined with DVD-R/W recorder. Short blurp from their press release:

The RD-X3 offers home users a 160GB HDD, the largest drive of any HDD & DVD video recorder*1, capable of recording a maximum of 208 hours*2 *3 of programming. The recorder also supports a DVD-RAM/-R drive that can record up to 12 hours of video on a 9.4GB double-sided DVD-RAM disc.

A wide range of enhancement technologies supports superb image quality. A progressive scan video circuit delivers the impressive 540 horizontal line resolution that brings out the best of DVD images, while a Ghost Reduction Tuner (GRT) assures clearer, sharper picture reproduction. Other imaging technologies include Digital Noise Reduction (DNR), a 12bit 108MHz Video Digital to Analog Converter (DAC), and D1 terminal input that enables reception of high-quality images from other tuners.

Internet connectivity is provided by a LAN (Ethernet) terminal with broadband capacity. It allows the RD-X3 to connect with an in-house LAN and the Internet, and to access the value-added functions offered by Toshiba's original "Net de Nav" software. These include selections of programs to record through the Internet Electronic Program Guide (iEPG), including e-mail selection by a mobile phone. "Net de Nav" also supports PC-based remote control of the RD-X3 and download of titles and images that can be used to add a creative personal touch to the menu of DVD-R discs during recording. These appear on the replay display during playback of the DVD-R.

Device will be available in Japan in January, 2003. Pricing has not been announced yet.

More info: Japancorp

Written by: Petteri Pyyny @ 4 Dec 2002 13:36

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7 comments

A_Klingon

All very nice, but for now, for most (computer) people, the bottom line is, they/we need a single-sided, single-or-double layer 9 gig recordable dvd that is compatible with most legacy dvd-video players. It isn't likely ever going to happen; the specs don't currently allow it. Forget the 9-gig 'flippers'; they don't mean squat.

I bet we go blue-laser before the above ever takes place.

-- Mike --

4.12.2002 18:27 #1

bang

160Gb HDD???? Then fuck DVD all together, and just leave the harddisk recorder. 208 hours, that's some 130 movies. I agree with Mike (A-Klingon), we need dual layer disks, but even with dual layer disks if you filled 208 hours, would you bother to copy all of it to disk? Or even to sift through it to copy part of it? It would take you a while.

5.12.2002 19:31 #2

A_Klingon

For my part, I would want to get the movies *off* the HDD and onto dvd blanks so that I could play back the movies anywhere - my place, your place, my friends' places..... without having to drag the expensive toy mentioned above, all over the place.

Sure, it'd be nice to have the HDD full of neat dvds for when I get lazy and don't want to burn a disc right away, but if/whenever DVD+RWs (the only type of dvd my current 1st-generation burner will accept) become reasonably priced, I'd want the dvd-disc version. But only if I could get *one full* movie per dvd blank. (No disc swapping).

This 160-gig HDD recorder is too damned expensive anyway. I work for a living. <gg>

-- Mike --

5.12.2002 22:32 #3

bang

You will always be better of ripping a DVD movie from from a hired DVD then recording from TV unless you have HDTV cable and they don't put a stupid logo on the picture. Anyway ( I don't know the price) but assume the player costs $2000, you can buy 60+ DVDs or hire 2000+ (of course not all at once) rip them, re-encode if needed and burn them. Anyway its your call, the last one seems the best option.

7.12.2002 18:44 #4

knlnbob

Folks.. Just because it says 208 hours does not mean you get 208 hours of good quality video. I don't know anyone who uses the basic recording quality. It horrible. If you were to record video and push it to a DVD, you would get less than 1/6 of that. That's about 35 hours of great quality video. That's a lot of movies, but you'd be surpised how fast it will fill up. There are going to be things that you'd want to offload to DVD. I can't wait until Pioneer releases their Tivo/DVD-R combo unit. It should tie in nicely to the other TiVo's at my house and I can transfer video to this unit and burn. There are always movies on or shows that I'd like to see. I live with a few roommates and we all watch different shows. So, we never actually get unlimited programs that we like. Now, I can archive those shows or movies that I just haven't had time to watch. The Pioneer unit will be between $500 and $1500 depending on how much storage is you'd want.

And, I'm 100% behind A_Klingon. Blue laser will be around before we get any more capacity out of the existing discs. Flipping discs is pathetic.

29.7.2003 21:39 #5

A_Klingon

Hi kninbob. Now, I can archive those shows or movies that I just haven't had time to watch.

Funny thing, that's just what I said some years ago too, after I poured through the owner's manual of my new Sony VHS vcr, and learned the intricate details of setting up the timer for recording shows. (5 shows-per-week (Mon-Fri) for tv-sitcoms and game shows; 1 show-per-week (every Saturday) - new episiode of Star Trek; misc movies; the odd PBS show.....)

I wound up with an unexpectedly LARGE collection of unwatched video tapes that I never really did find the time to actually go through, and the more I left my VHS machine's timer active, the more shows accumulated making the problem even worse. <gg> I can just imagine piling up 35-50 hour blu-laser discs in the same fashion! (More convenient than vhs, for sure, but the same problem would remain).

Blu-laser, nonetheless, I predict is going to turn all our heads around when the drives and discs become reasonable in price, the key word here being "reasonable". Neither is going to happen any time soon, so ENJOY those new low-priced blank DVDs you see on the market now.

-- Mike --

1.8.2003 01:29 #6

Oriphus

HD DVD will not be 160GB for some time. current estimations are around the 100GB by sony in 5 years or so.

For DVD Back up info: http://www.chrismccann.co.uk
For User Guides/Downloads: http://www.chrismccann.co.uk/user_guides.htm

1.8.2003 18:14 #7

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