AfterDawn: News

Pioneer to cease DVD recorder production

Pioneer Corp. is to discontinue the production of DVD recorders on its own, as fierce price competition is causing losses to the firm in this segment, and it is now looking to link up with Matsushita Electric Industrial Co to reduce costs, company sources said Saturday.

Pioneer plans to continue developing next-generation Blu-ray format, promoted by Sony Corp. and Matsushita, by purchasing key microchips and software from Matsushita.



Back in 1999, Pioneer became the world's first company to commercialize DVD recorders, and is, to this day, its' fourth-largest supplier. Pioneer aim to eliminate unprofitable businesses and focus on its lucrative car-navigation equipment and other vehicle-electronics operations.

Source:
Forbes.com

Written by: Ben Reid @ 6 Jun 2006 10:22

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• 15 comments

• plutonash

  Adios, Pioneer DVD players kinda sucked though.

  6.6.2006 11:24 #1

• sammorris

  Meh, they were alright. I love my LG DVD DVDRW Drive and people say theyre rubbish, so what do people know? Lol

  6.6.2006 11:36 #2

• borhan9

  Im a bit confused.... Are they getting rid of the Drives for computers or are they getting rid of the ones that join to your TV???

  6.6.2006 12:56 #3

• M1ckran

  Pioneer make good kit. Could it simply be that they see little profit in a DRM'd future?

  6.6.2006 13:29 #4

• sammorris

  Not entirely certain but I think they mean the TV recorders.

  6.6.2006 13:34 #5

• borhan9

  Well if its only the TV recorders im not concerned. But if its the computer drives i will be highly disapointed cause i love those drives they are the best out there, in ny book :)

  6.6.2006 13:54 #6

• sammorris

  I heard of some annoyances with the quiet mode, however.
  

  6.6.2006 13:56 #7

• gogochar

  I don't like this. Pioneer was always faithful when it came to DVD recorders. Two of my three recorders is from Pioneer. Oh well, just going to wait 'til Blu-ray comes out. :(

  6.6.2006 14:29 #8

• sammorris

  One wonders exactly how bad things are to do this, but then with the advent of tivo, I guess DVRs arent used all that much any more.

  6.6.2006 14:50 #9

• jutsu

  OMG!! pioneer cease dvd recorder production!!! their DVD Writers are really good (althought, its still cant beat ASUS DVD writer), My Pioneer DVR-110D reading ability, the write quality, the error correction, is really good!
  its even can still read my DVD+R that have many many scratches. althought pioneer DVD writers cant read disc that break, my ASUS still can read cd that break.

  6.6.2006 18:39 #10

• borhan9

  @jutsu
  
  Mate stated above by sammorris its only the DVD Recorders that connect to the TV's and not the ones in your PC. So chill
  Quote:Not entirely certain but I think they mean the TV recorders.

  6.6.2006 19:16 #11

• sammorris

  Presumably not a disc that's in more than one piece. My mate has a DVR-109 and loves it, but me the same about my GSA-4163, I've put some pretty haggard discs in there, no trouble at all. Written successfully to 4x and 8x DVD-Rs and 16x DVD+Rs as well as 48x and 52x CD-Rs, yet to make a Coaster. However, as mentioned this is likely just the TV sort.

  7.6.2006 05:57 #12

• stevo900

  Pioneer Corp. is to discontinue the production of DVD recorders on its own,
  
  Thats fair enough. as long as they continue to make the hard drive with the dvd recorder. obviously thats what people are buying now.
  
  There are a lot of cheapo players that have clinched this market leaving pioneers dvd recorders (without hdd) over priced.
  
  My HS-5100 was the first pioneer hdd - dvd recorder priced at £800. I never paid that for it. One day i might upgrade the hd, if it can be done.

  8.6.2006 14:39 #13

• voyager

  Pioneer was good in the 80's with car equipments.

  10.6.2006 02:59 #14

• searchers

  A sad day. I have 2 Pioneer dvd recorders with hard drives, and they work perfectly, far better than a dvd hard drive recorder I have by Panasonic.
  
  I also have 2 Pioneer laser players - and they have been phenominal. I got my first laser player 16 years ago, used it often also as a cd player - and it has never given me a problem. I have been so impressed with Pioneer laser/dvd players/recorders that I had been planning to buy only Pioneer laser-type equipment in the future. To me, Pioneer was like a Lexus car - classy and ultra reliable.
  
  A real pity!!

  11.6.2006 21:06 #15