AfterDawn: News

Sony to launch Blu-ray recorder at years' end

Sony Corp. announced on Tuesday that it will launch its Blu-ray high-definition optical disc recorder in Japan in December.

The cost of the device, which features a 500-gig hard disk drive, is expected to be in the region of around 300,000 yen, which translates to around £1,350 British, or $2,550 US.



All going well, the launch could really help reinforce Sony's reputation as one of the heavyweights in the world of consumer electronics - a reputation which has taken a bruising in recent weeks amid the recall of more than seven million Sony-made laptop batteries, along with the delay of the European lauch of its upcoming PlayStation 3 gaming console.

Sony, and amongst others, Panasonic-owned Matsushita, are promoting the Blu-ray format as the next-generation optical disc standard, while Toshiba Corp. is strongly in favour of the rival HD DVD format.

Sony's highly-anticipated Playstation 3 will feature BD playback, and sales of the console will likely play a key role in determining the outcome of the battle of the next-gen formats.

Source:
Reuters

Written by: Ben Reid @ 4 Oct 2006 14:22

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• 19 comments

• domie

  $ 2550 ooh let me put in an advance order for 10 of those babies, i heard that they take about 2 minutes to load up and display the home screen as they use PC technology and chips.

  4.10.2006 16:00 #1

• limelight

  And 3 months after owning it, you get the delightful message, "DISC READ ERROR".

  4.10.2006 16:03 #2

• handsom

  @limelight
  
  Now now, let's be fair to Sony. When they estimate the durable lifetime of their hardware, they estimate based on someone who only uses it about a month; so it's probably a lifetime of about a year. lol.
  
  In all seriousness though, something tells me this either isn't going to happen, or it's going to cause MAJOR problems for Sony and their new protection methods. It's too soon in the inception of a new format, and would not bode well for them.
  
  It is an interesting prospect though. Look at it this way, memory card loaders, emulators, and homebrew software are supposedly responsible for the almost dead status of the PSP market.... But I still love mine. :D

  4.10.2006 16:16 #3

• ZippyDSM

  handsom
  In order to run a emu off a PSP you have to buy a PSP as well as home brew,as for running backups...meh the PSP dosent have the games to make it worth the 500$ investment....

  4.10.2006 20:32 #4

• ZippyDSM

  DOH I forgot to mention...WTF this is a recording device to record from TV/sat/cable to the 500GB HD unless of corse you an copy a mega load of BR moives onto it and watch them like that 0-o
  
  on 2nd thoght soemoen tell me...what this device dose 0_o

  4.10.2006 20:38 #5

• handsom

  I'm not sure where the $500 number came in.... Truthfully, I've actually been spying a new 2gb memory card, they're likely to hit $40 by Christmas. I know one thing that's going to be on my Christmas list! lol.
  
  Oh thank you Sony, for finally releasing a piece of hardware worth my time to mess with. For giving me a product with which I can browse the web, play your games, watch movies, relive my old snes days, and annoy people around me as I control their tv, and reset PS2s with it. Thank you Sony, for making a wonderful product like this, that is already mostly dead.
  
  But again, I love the thing. But the market for it is just collapsing 'like a flan in a cupboard'. (Ten brownie points if anyone genuinely knows that quote without searching for it. Major game companies, including EA, have pulled out of the system almost entirely, stating no more plans to develop future titles for it. I would like to note, Godfather still sees a PSP release. Why? Because they'd been working on it for far too long not to. There will probably be a few more titles, but the company has opted not to start anymore PSP projects. Other developers are expressing similar paths; which is unfortunate... I love the little system. I just wish they could get more fun, quirky portable titles on it, like lemmings, worms, and loco roco... I love the little roco, the little roco is goood......
  

  -------------------------------------------------
  Will the PS3 dominate the console market?
  Maybe, if Sony lowers the price and stops lowering the hardware specs.
  For News on this: http://www.megagames.com

  4.10.2006 21:52 #6

• ZippyDSM

  handsom
  PSP 150-200 with shipping and all,and another 200 for gadgets to make the PSP into a PSP backup playing media PDA uber gadget,maybe I am using year old pricing *L*
  
  thats a shame the PSP is a neat system but the DS and killed it dead game wise.
  

  
  
  FIGHT THE M.A.F.I.A.A.
  "Hollywood the 4kids of comic moives."
  Looking to swap analog sticks on a PS2 pad,need some help or info
  http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/398201#2403533

  4.10.2006 21:57 #7

• gogochar

  Why buy one of these peices of crap?

  5.10.2006 07:48 #8

• ZippyDSM

  gogochar
  point point...but right now...i want to know what it dose 0-o
  
  I clearly see BR drive and 500GB HD it dosent say what it records stuff at and such....or much of anyhtign else..its like PS3 2 HDMI with no other specs...

  5.10.2006 08:22 #9

• eatsushi

  Here's more info on the Sony recorder and what it does:
  
  http://www.digit-life.com/articles2/blu-ray/
  
  
  
  

  "The flimsier the product, the higher the price."
  -The 82nd Ferengi Rule of Acquisition-
  

  5.10.2006 09:46 #10

• ZippyDSM

  "In contrast to the conventional DVD-Video media (red laser), the new-generation discs work with a blue laser with the wavelength of 405 nm. It corresponds to blue color on the color spectrum. The maximum capacity of a one-side one-layer Blu-ray disc makes 27 GB against 4.7 GB of DVD-ROM. The lens aperture is 0.85. The bitrate including service data is 36 Mbit/s. The disc diameter remains equal to CD and DVD,"
  
  gags on the BS
  
  anyway it dosent do Cable,dose say what the hard drive is for,you ask me its rather handicaped for being 4G......
  
  
  WAIT!!!!!!!!!
  do I see a cartridge around the BR DVD!?!??!?!?!?!?!?!?!!??!
  

  
  
  FIGHT THE M.A.F.I.A.A.
  "Hollywood the 4kids of comic moives."
  Looking to swap analog sticks on a PS2 pad,need some help or info
  http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/398201#2403533

  5.10.2006 09:55 #11

• midnightm

  I'm not a fan of Sony. I have had several of their products in the past crap out on me.

  5.10.2006 11:27 #12

• neurokasm

  "And 3 months after owning it, you get the delightful message, "DISC READ ERROR"."
  
  HAHA, yep.

  5.10.2006 14:48 #13

• marsey99

  no you get "disk enclosure error" 2 weeks after your warrenty runs out.
  
  £1500 atleast it shows they have a sense of humour, it wont shift large volumes till it gets under £400.

  5.10.2006 19:35 #14

• handsom

  *Ponders getting a Blu-ray burner..... Coud finally get to use all those old cd caddies that are laying about.*

  6.10.2006 05:53 #15

• ZippyDSM

  handsom
  as long as they didnt change the design for the BR disks :P

  6.10.2006 06:12 #16

• hughjars

  What is the point of a stand-alone 'Blu-Ray' burner?
  
  Blu-Ray is so heavily loaded with all that DRM cr@p that it seems utterly pointless to me.
  
  What are you meant to be able to record onto it (or record elsewhere) and get it to play?
  
  Also (if it is like PS3......ie having questionable spec features for the sake of them) it's worth remembering that no-one is broadcasting in 1080p and nor is anyone about to start doing so soon, so if it has that level of 'tech' included it is just wasted cash anyway.

  6.10.2006 06:22 #17

• ZippyDSM

  hughjars
  HD DVD is jsut as screwed up with DRM but in diffrent ways,in all they dont see to know or care that the fight has yet to start and making something exstream only for uberly rich people is....pointless....
  
  if they really want to win the fight make a BR burner under with a 200GB HD for 1000-1500 have it with a multi TV/cable/sat/boardcast HD tuner on it hell even add a DVD brner for 200-300 more this is called maximizing its usage and keep the price realistic...

  6.10.2006 06:33 #18

• hughjars

  You're not wrong zippy.
  
  I saw this today - http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/10/06/..._region_coding/ .
  
  Those corporate b@st@rds are really having a go, huh?
  
  I'm sure their nightnmare world would have us all denied any real form of ownership; they'd love nothing less than us all confined to some form of 'rental', we never actually own anything and they impose as many restrictions on what we can do with the 'content' as they please.
  
  Orwell really got it all wrong.
  It's not oppressive states we need to worry about, it's oppressive corporate business hijacking our own states and using the law against us.

  6.10.2006 07:29 #19