AfterDawn: News

Toshiba launches its HD-DVD recorder July 14th

Blazing it's own trail in the war of the next generation standards, Toshiba has announced that it's RD-A1 HD DVD recorder will go on sale in Japan on July 14th.

Boasting more specs than the average high-def geek can shake a stick at, this recorder seems to have everything one might want out of a digital media recorder. A few of these specs include TV Tuner for high definition and analog signals, Ethernet port for network streaming, HDMI support for 1080p resolution, support for all the latest audio codecs including Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, and DTS-HD. Probably the most appealing feature is the built in 1Tb hard disk drive for saving up to 92 hours of high definition recordings or an astounding 74 days of standard definition.



There is a downside to all things new, bright and shiny. The launch in Japan is set to set people back some ¥398,000 which is right around $3,464 (2,757€ or 1,893£).

Source:
Reuters

Written by: Dave Horvath @ 22 Jun 2006 6:50

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• 35 comments

• 72morgan

  All it needs is a Cablecard slot and TIVO for the US market and it would be Perfect !!!!

  22.6.2006 06:58 #1

• anubis66

  talk about a non consumer friendly price. HD-DVD will never cut it.

  22.6.2006 07:14 #2

• gogochar

  Preorder me for 2. LOL! I've seen the HD-DVD screen in comparison with DVD... and I must say that I am impressed. But for price like that for recorder! Hell, no! I'll just stick to my VHS recorder! Its quality may not be the best but it's good enough for me!

  22.6.2006 08:19 #3

• anubis66

  yeah, even a bluray burner is only 1k, and a player another 1k, so for less than 2/3's the price you can go bluray.

  22.6.2006 08:21 #4

• tucker001

  I'm counting down the days till Slysoft cracks hddvds and blurays with AnyHD-DVD, or AnyBlu-Ray lol!!

  22.6.2006 09:43 #5

• Billyfett

  I thougth this was way too much ,but here's why. It is a set top bos not a PC drive.
  
  "The RD-A1 is much like existing digital video recorders but with high-definition support. There's 1TB of hard disk storage space for day-to-day recording and the HD DVD drive allows consumers to store TV shows they wish to keep."
  http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,126205,00.asp
  
  1TB is crazy!! Still 3000 clams is alot of money but set top boxes are always pricey.

  22.6.2006 09:45 #6

• hot_ice

  Ouf, 3464$ for a piece of technology, I don't get it, what's going on here, inflation? lol

  22.6.2006 10:39 #7

• JaguarGod

  $3464 is still cheaper than the Blue Ray Recorder... This is different than a PC Burner. The Blue Ray Recorder is $3800 and there is no mention of a Hard Drive.
  
  The $3464 is not bad for an introductory price. I remember when DVD Recorders were over $1000 and now they are found for under $100. I bet these things will drop to under $1000 next year and eventually there will be an ApeTech or something for $199, that is if the format makes it though...

  22.6.2006 13:17 #8

• UHALL

  Blue ray will cost alot more than the HD-DVD. Anubis the only reason you like blueray is because of P3, agin you are on the sony soap box...give it a break.

  22.6.2006 14:24 #9

• anubis66

  havnt seen you in so long. im accually atuned to the features bluray allows, with java suppost for anything imaginable, 1080p display capabilities, and the overwhelming movie studio and corperate support, aswell as the ps3 since the ps name is so popular and it will get into so many homes.

  22.6.2006 22:05 #10

• ZippyDSM

  Uhall
  hes not the only one that likes blue ray,altho I curently hate the PS3 *L*
  
  however it dosent realy matter with format we like or dont like the industy will pick one in time..

  23.6.2006 04:07 #11

• Mr-Movies

  The consumers are a part of the equation as well as the manufacture in determining what format wins, it's not a one way street else the format would already be determined. Lets face it the more competition the better even with the different format issues. For the $400~ difference I'd still go with BluRay, it's a better format (larger capacity) and that to me is the most important aspect. Unfortunately performance doesn't always win out look at the old Beta/VHS fight the weaker format won. I'm not impressed with Sony's antics right now and steer away from them in most cases however that doesn't mean I won't buy Sony stuff it just means I'm cautious to their products. Besides Sony isn't the only player there is a pretty even split between manufactures and most of them have issues as well.
  

  23.6.2006 08:12 #12

• ZippyDSM

  its going to take at least 1-3 years for the frist new format game to come out and add another 1-3 to have a final victory in the new format war.
  SO whineing aside its just a game of wait and see...like the PS3's real specs...LOL

  23.6.2006 08:38 #13

• djgizmo

  Price is steep, but with a 1TB drive, its not a bad deal. All the inputs, plus ethernet connectivity makes it a fair price. 92 Hours of hi def is 45+ 2 hour shows. How many people keep that many hours? lol
  
  Give it a year or so. When prices drop to sub $500 for players, its on. Let the best format win.

  23.6.2006 09:49 #14

• hot_ice

  At prices like these, I am not sure who they are hoping will purchase this format.
  
  That's a down payment on a car, mortgage, ouff.
  
  No way would I ever consider buying.

  23.6.2006 10:11 #15

• ZippyDSM

  hot_ice
  I could build me a nice PC for half that ;_;
  

  I have a brain...I think......
  
  Windows Vister
  I dub thee vister untill thee can prove thyself.
  
  I aint the brightest bulb around but I can feel my way in the dark...
  
  I fuzzy braind mew =0_o=
  
  FIGHT THE M.A.F.I.A.A.
  "Music And Film Industry Association of America.."

  23.6.2006 10:22 #16

• UHALL

  It doesn't matter which format wins, the average joe will be the one who gets screwed agin. I won't be buying either one any time soon,maybe in a couple of years when the prices come down.

  23.6.2006 19:43 #17

• ZippyDSM

  UHALL
  Well is nt a fact that any time new formats come out the avragejoe gets screwed anyway? LOL
  this is why we joes wait for a winner :P

  23.6.2006 21:17 #18

• voyager

  I hope for another format cd's are always a problem.Blue ray will suffer from minor scratches and will be a pain for us.
  Hope for the development of the Holographic card.

  24.6.2006 02:15 #19

• ZippyDSM

  voyager
  ya tell me about it the cart case design is fing great but the bastards wony use it.....fining mororns dont they get it sicne the data on the disc is so easily to screw up I'll have to make more copies of my movies and games *L*
  or is that what they want for us to buy the blnaks? 0-o

  24.6.2006 12:41 #20

• voyager

  The card is in pampers right now a single card can hold up to 30 gigs and is 3 times faster than a blue ray dvd.
  http://mobilemag.com/content/100/102/C4102/
  wow!30 gigs in a pocket.

  25.6.2006 06:16 #21

• ZippyDSM

  voyager
  Ya to me its jsut assine not to use the cart I mean a DVD can get by with a smudge but these new formats use more room for less space makeing any damage to it critical.
  I sone how dout they have made scratch proof plastic yet....this is why a cart design is perfect,hell with miniturization you can have a slim cart design for the new formats but will they do it hell no..

  25.6.2006 06:29 #22

• voyager

  The card is umbreakable

  25.6.2006 08:18 #23

• silex

  There is no point at all that somebody needs all this in one set-top box. It's obviously marketed to the non-pc conscious. Just get a basic HD-DVD player/recorder andbe done with it if that's what you want. And a 1TB drive...please, it's probably just 5x200GB raided together. I can build my own Toshiba RD-A1 HD DVD recorder for half that like someone above said. You know what it's called? A computer.

  26.6.2006 10:12 #24

• Cinnjerm

  "yeah, even a bluray burner is only 1k"-
  
  Since when did this happen?

  26.6.2006 12:05 #25

• Cinnjerm

  "The consumers are a part of the equation as well as the manufacture in determining what format wins, it's not a one way street else the format would already be determined."-
  
  Yes, which is exactly why bluray will fail like every format Sony makes, because the neglect the fact that the one thing the consumers and manufactures have in common is an interest in the cheapest price.
  
  PS. - in advance- farewell BLURAY

  26.6.2006 12:08 #26

• ZippyDSM

  Cinnjerm
  the funy thing is tho the diffrenace in price in 2-4 yars will be nothign compared to the 20-80% it is now...this format war is ot quite like the rest and will take time to sort out.

  26.6.2006 16:17 #27

• UHALL

  The consumer will Always pay for and get screwed by Big business. We are the guinea pigs , all consumers are . It has always been that way and it always will be. It doesn't matter if its microsoft or sony or any big company , they all want your money at all cost as long as it lines there share holders pockets with DEAD Presidents. Look what MS did with the Xbox360 , and I am one of the stupid ones who dropped 700$ the day it came out. I have learned my lesson and will wait until I can buy a P3 or Blueray or HD-DVD at a normal price.

  26.6.2006 18:27 #28

• ZippyDSM

  UHALL
  ouchie,how may tiems have you had to return the 360?

  26.6.2006 18:44 #29

• UHALL

  Only once the same amount of times I had to send back my P1 and P2 and my Xbox. It doesn't matter which company makes the systems they all have bugs. I play my modded xbox more than any of these other systems.

  1.7.2006 05:28 #30

• ZippyDSM

  UHALL
  YA you have a point but it jsut seems the 360 is haveing a longer return mode,the Xbox is a great lil emluation machine plus it can do Xbox games *L*
  I want to get one sometiem soon,if they didnt rush the 360 so badly and made full backwards complity out of the box or at least 90ish% BWC I would have a 360 by now....hardware issues aside....but currently the 360 is a half assed next gen machine whitch has yet to out do my comp graphics wise...altho it should only take them a year to get a 20-40% boost in preformance.
  BTW I have a 360 on my to get list but I lost my notes about the prodution date for the newer release that has the newer chipsets and all that in it,would knowwhat date the 2nd revistion is?
  when I get one I do not want to get a lemon frist gen *L*
  also know any games tht have a auto runing demo of some sort I wouldnt mind leave the system on over night in my AC cooled trailer and give it a good brun in test...altho if I could find a game to kill 4 or 5 hours with that would be as good *L*

  1.7.2006 06:23 #31

• UHALL

  I have been thinking, after the P3 is out for a little bit it would pay to buy one strickly for the B-ray DVD.You could also play games, but from a B-Ray DVD point of view it is cheaper than buying the stand alone DVD player. You also need to wait and see which format becomes dominant.

  3.7.2006 14:12 #32

• ZippyDSM

  UHALL
  there is no dout a PS3 low or high end is the cheapest BR player going,altho we wil find out within the frist year if SOny has the steel balls to hold the PS3s price.
  
  I see it going down at least 100 in the frist year,if you can ait wait till at least the next Xmas cycle befor tagging one ^^
  
  Speaking of tagging one when the hell is it going to be released?

  3.7.2006 15:04 #33

• hot_ice

  The only thing thats really interesting about HD-DVD is that its not Blu-ray if you aren't into that format.

  3.7.2006 18:37 #34

• UHALL

  I am not a B-Ray fan or a HD-DVD Fan I am tired of hearing about it. It will be interesting to see which one will sink the other. If B-ray sinks so goes sony and the P3.Maybe 360 was smart leaving the option open for which ever format wins, then it will be as simple as buying an add on.

  3.7.2006 20:30 #35