Toshiba's RD-A1 HD DVD recorder with 1TB disk

Hey, early adopters, we've got something big for ya! Measuring in at about half the size of your average consumer electronics she-waif (that'd be 33-pounds), we bring you the RD-A1 HD DVD recorder set to drop July 14 in Japan. Now, an HD DVD recorder alone is newsworthy being a first and all, but this monster screams for attention with a 1TB disk, TV tuners for Hi-Vision (Japanese hi-def) and terrestrial analog, and good ol' Ethernet for DLNA media streaming around the house. Oh, and for those of you unhappy with the, er, limited 1080i output of Tosh's HD-A1 player, this pup slaps in 1080p capable HDMI from ABT. And if you really need to record more high-def TV than the 92 hours (or 74 days in standard def!) allowed by that massive disk, well, first check your priorities TV-boy then kick back smugly 'cause the RD-A1 records to both HD DVD-R single-layer (15GB) and dual-layer (30GB) discs with support for DVD-RAM/R/RW/R-DL formats to boot. She also packs in all the video and audio jacks you'll likely need in addition to support for Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, and DTS-HD codecs. No word on a US release, but if the launch of the HD-A1 was any indicator, we could see this on US shelves just a few weeks after it drops in Japan for ¥398,000 or right around $3,464 in dead presidents. Oh, and if you thought the HD-A1's remote control was cluttered, just check the new remote and more after the break.

[Via Impress]

[shirizaki @ Jun 22nd 2006 7:50AM]

I think I counted them all, but 63 buttons is what I got for the remote. That's not too bad for all it does. Sounds awesome. Sounds real good.

[Marv @ Jun 22nd 2006 7:50AM]

Awesome !! Just what I have been waiting for !! Combines a HD media streamer, HDTV tuner, HD PVR, DVD...sorry, HD-DVD burner (does it do Blu-Ray?) all in one... Saves you buying 4 seperate machines...well...errrrr...does it ? Actually not, it saves you nothing, for it is currently about 2000 bucks more expensive than the four combined... Anyway, a beautiful compact machine, and I would still want one. A true early adopter should !!

[Rev @ Jun 22nd 2006 7:53AM]

For $3500 she better!

[Marv @ Jun 22nd 2006 7:55AM]

I'd love to have one, with or without the chick...

[Ben Hobbs @ Jun 22nd 2006 8:12AM]

Wow thats a nice piece of kit, I know of several 'normal' DVD players that cost more than that, in fact almost every high-end brand has a DVD player in that price region.

But they dont stream, do HD, record HD, burn HD or even have a hard disk.

[Rob @ Jun 22nd 2006 8:18AM]

Very impressive... And the knee-pads on the our dream girl suggest Toshiba is going the extra mile on this one!

[earthling @ Jun 22nd 2006 8:41AM]

Interesting. ABT doesn't have a 1080i to 1080p de-interlacing solution according to thier own engineers. Their latest offerings are 480/540p which is then scaled to 1080p. Not so impressive in a >$3000.00 device.

Of course if they are using this partnership with Toshiba on the semiconductor side to get their technology upgraded to handle the higher speed processing, that would be a welcome addition to the ABT product line but I fear that this is either a custom FPGA solution based on ABT IP (best case and not a bad solution) or it is the standard ABT solution which is limited to 540P (not good).

[Galley @ Jun 22nd 2006 9:20AM]

Swap out the HD DVD drive for a Blu-ray one, add support for U.S. HDTV, and drop the price to $999.99, and you'll have a winner.

[teo @ Jun 22nd 2006 9:32AM]

sweet, all i need to justify that big plasma hi-def screen I've been wanting. 'Cause you can't just watch this one on a 32" triniton. (on the tv front, i'm not such an early adopter)
Galley, Heck if they dropped it to 999.99, I'd be buying some for Xmas presents.

[Sean @ Jun 22nd 2006 9:33AM]

I want one just for the novelty of having 1TB of storage for porn. That brings me to the next question. When is high-def porn coming out? :)

[Yaks @ Jun 22nd 2006 9:37AM]

Blu-ray is pure trash -- Been hearing some bad things about the quality of BR disks -- pretty bad -- worse than regular DVDs. Looks like Blu-Ray is another Sony "winner" out of the box.

[Chris @ Jun 22nd 2006 9:47AM]

No one realises how much the bluray is sucking right now.....

With reviews (i have one over at my site going head to head HDA1 vs BDP1000) all over the place it would appear that right now especially for movies the whole bluray fiasco is just another overpriced sony ploy... they are twice - 3x the price of the hd-dvd counterpart and they are missing alot of features .... from the ability to make hybrid discs, to lacking upscale support for dvd... to even the fact that BLURAY DOESN'T SUPPORT HD on DVD-R's ... so you know what give me a break for sony's craptastic nextgen format... it's just like BETAMAX UMD AND SACD ... all failures all from sony and BLURAY IS ANOTHER ONE!

[Chris @ Jun 22nd 2006 9:52AM]

And yes you are right... there is a crazy high failure rate on BD media... it was in a technical journal a few months back... it has something to do with the laser optics they use on bluray that has to bend the laser or re-focus it or something along those line it's quite and interesting read as i recall but really explains why it's alot they are trying to accomplish on something that's supposed to be so mass deployed.

[TonyD @ Jun 22nd 2006 10:07AM]

That's the biggest piece of electronics I've seen in a long time. It will be half the price and half the size in 6 months.

By the way, sweet knee-pads on the chick in the picture.

[Chris @ Jun 22nd 2006 10:40AM]

Why is she wearing kneepads?

[JD @ Jun 22nd 2006 10:47AM]

Hey TIVO, look what you can do. See? SEE?!

[Perrey Z. @ Jun 22nd 2006 11:58AM]

Stephen Remember when Engadget dissable the comments? did you also remember when a week later they where back with a few conditions? one of them was NO MORE OF THAT FIRST POST CRAP! you are looking for a permanent elimination of the comments.

[Jacob @ Jun 22nd 2006 12:09PM]

It's gigantic, it's expensive, and it's the format that I don't back...

But it's very impressive looking. Nice lines.

[John Sununu @ Jun 22nd 2006 12:17PM]

But why? "First post" comments are so funny, simply because they are so stupid.

Stupid is fun.

[Norm @ Jun 22nd 2006 12:40PM]

Kneepads are cyber & futuristic!

Plus, chicks in safety gear rules :)

[Guruboy @ Jun 22nd 2006 2:58PM]

It's staggering what some people feel they need to post just because they hate Sony for some reason. Especially since all the information is wrong and both formats have technology we have yet to see on the discs and their players. Some people are so fanboy it's astounding. This article is about some expensive HD DVD recorder! Not about how much you favor one format for absolutely no reason.

Chris you moron, DVD is not a high-definition format, what's this talk about Blu-Ray not supporting HD on DVD-Rs? Pure fanboy crap.

High failure rate my ass. We're not all stupid enough to believe that crap here. Both formats are fine, the players are fine, the technologies are emerging. Choose one or the other, because there's hardly a difference, but wait until the technology gets a real niche in the market before you drop thousands of dollars for a player or recorder you'll hardly use or need.

[hofomofo @ Jun 22nd 2006 3:15PM]

probably wearing knee pads because of ugly knees?


I think blueray will win...
it has to if every 3rd household has a ps3

[Matt E. @ Jun 22nd 2006 4:52PM]

Guruboy:
Nobody gonna buy either fomat en masse until there is one box that supports both formats AND its cheaper than what out now.

Why? Because both Blu ray and HD DVD are solutions looking for a problem.

[bigassbear @ Jun 22nd 2006 7:21PM]

That makes me happy in my pants

[Mark Vancil @ Jun 22nd 2006 10:37PM]

The chick with the kneepads really does make the product look better.

Now if only I can remember what product it was...

[Guruboy @ Jun 22nd 2006 10:47PM]

Matt that is a good point, when I said choose one or the other I was just making the point that neither is really better. If there is ever a BD/HDDVD drive - even burner - on the market, it would solve all the problems. Let's just wait and hope...

[Greg Wishart @ Jun 23rd 2006 1:16AM]

It would be cool if you could make HD DVD-ROMs with it! You know, computer files via the network port (not just movies).

[Ben Hobbs @ Jun 23rd 2006 2:37AM]

Guruboy, of course you can put High Definition on standard DVD's - The DVD is just storage format and a way to load the software, it doesn't have the pictures engraved on it like a Video cassette.

You can't talk about technology we have yet to see, Blu-Ray players and HD DVD players are out NOW. They aren't perfect but they offer a very visible glimpse of what the formats offer.

[david @ Jun 23rd 2006 11:53AM]

I paid $2000 for a Toshiba plasma screen with digital cable card technology last September...still have not been able to get it to work even with Toshiba software upgrades...be very careful buying their products. I don't think they do enough product testing...just in a hurry to get it to market first...so I end up with something that does not work and no recourse...

[Echilon @ Jun 23rd 2006 4:22PM]

Holy momma. That's one beast of a machine. Are they using Quantum Bigfoot drives in there or what?

[Marcilio @ Jun 30th 2006 12:32PM]

When this technology going to Brazil Natal RN? Will be expensive there, to Brazilian standard of population about finances?

[Sternhammer @ Jul 12th 2006 5:10AM]

I guess the kneepads are so she doesn't get bruised kneeling down all the time… plugging in all those cables of course.

[Eric @ Jul 13th 2006 11:04AM]

HD-DVD standard specifically supports 3x DVD, in other words you can create a standard DVD with an HD-DVD file structure. It's good for about 1/2 to 1 hour of video. People are using the new HD cameras, ULEAD software and standard DVD-R blanks to create HD versions of their own material. Pretty cool that it's supported, I think.

[daniel @ Jul 20th 2006 8:14PM]

looks cool, and the chicks hot, but the main thing you have to remember in the comparison of blu-ray and hd dvd is blu-ray discs hold 25gb and hd dvd discs only hold 15gb.

[Tamjeed @ Oct 22nd 2006 6:06AM]

i wonder how much a 1TB disk would cost.

[Dan @ Nov 8th 2006 1:29AM]

Nice box!
The RD-A1 is not bad ether!

[Tim @ Dec 14th 2006 8:33AM]

Why are there no consumer based HD-DVD Recorders on the US market?

[ss @ Feb 16th 2007 7:08PM]

Unfortunately, you'll probably never see this product on the self of a local Best Buy. They don't even display Sound & Vision's product of the year(HD-XA1). They're to busy bombing folks with BD crap. I suppose that's good business........for someone.

[Kentster @ Mar 1st 2007 8:31AM]

How much for the chick?

[baalpeteor @ Aug 11th 2007 12:20PM]

lol my laptop has builtin hd dvd and connections to watch it ona big screen altho it has 17.1" wide.
oh It burns it 2 along with everything even dual layer

[gangstified @ Aug 11th 2007 12:51PM]

lol my laptop has builtin hd dvd and connections to watch it ona big screen altho it has 17.1" wide.
oh It burns it 2 along with everything even dual layer

[Robert W. Garven Jr. @ Dec 2nd 2007 12:11AM]

im afraid well need the knee pads at $3500. I am hoping that these will come down just like everything else in a few years.

Rob

[KB @ Dec 21st 2007 1:58PM]

Really? Blu Ray has the upper hand...I think it does you know.

What I have read on engadget is that the laser is the same... just that blu ray has more pits (0 & 1) so more data.

Also with the sales of ps3, the Blu Ray has more user base... and just like how DVD would never have got to where it is now withouth the help of PS2, BLU RAY will do the same with ps3 so i say....

BLU RAY ALL THE WAY

[andre @ Mar 27th 2008 1:36AM]

looks fantastic, when will it be in the uk