Toshiba's Vardia RD-A301 writes HD DVD content to DVDs

Is this what you've been waiting for? The ability to record high-definition, HD DVD content to DVDs? Well, have at it boy, Toshiba just announced their new Vardia RD-A301 recorder. It conforms to the HD Rec extension which allows HD DVD format content to be stored on red-laser DVD-R/RW/RAM disks like the RD-RX7 unveiled at CEATEC. That's about 2 hours on a 4.7GB disc. Like the RD-A300, the A301 also features a 300GB hard disk. December, that's when, for about ¥100,000 (about $870) in Japan.

[Via Impress]

[Aaron @ Oct 31st 2007 5:00AM]

About £430 in real money :)

[Andrew @ Oct 31st 2007 6:38AM]

Yeah, but more like £600 by the time/if it ever reaches this country!

[cmc @ Oct 31st 2007 6:44AM]

+ about £200 for taxes, transportation costs and the 'UK markup' that always seems to be added =[

[cmc @ Oct 31st 2007 6:47AM]

Heh, great minds Andrew ;]

[tekdroid @ Oct 31st 2007 7:07AM]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HD_DVD#HD_REC
Nice.

See this sorta makes me interested. DRM features, anyone? Or is it pretty much DRM-less? The price for this unit is ridiculous tho, so perhaps when it gets sliced by two-thirds it might be worth considering.

[DickHardknocks @ Oct 31st 2007 8:19AM]

This will never catch on.
The reason is obvious - HDDVD is doomed to fail aginst Blu ray and even if that were not an issue, who'd want to be limited to just 2 hours of HDDVD content writing on a player which costs almost $900?

Its a nice try though Toshiba.

[Dave @ Oct 31st 2007 9:18AM]

It's certainly not obvious to me that HD DVD is doomed to fail--particularly when you consider lower hardware prices, PiP, and Internet-connected extras. When it's time for you to upgrade to Blu-Ray 1.1...and then Blu-Ray 2.0, maybe you'll consider spending significantly less and buying into a format with a completed specification.

Nice try, though, Dick.

[Rick @ Nov 1st 2007 1:21PM]

BRD storage maybe, but BRD for movies ain't doing so well and I'd real in that free swinging polo stick.

[Luigi193 @ Oct 31st 2007 10:39AM]

You should know NEVER to comment on the internet with your username being Dick...

[Ryan P @ Oct 31st 2007 12:51PM]

These are for the Japanese market. Americans move along.

[Borat Sagdiyev @ Nov 2nd 2007 1:52PM]

Oomph weighty price tag. It does however remind me of that old VCR that I loved so much. Worth a look at.

[barrington.thompson @ Nov 7th 2007 4:43AM]

Dickhardknocks,

Based on a previous article that I read the Toshiba's Vardia RD-A301 can record onto HD DVD disc, hard disk drive and onto an ordinary DVD disk.

I cannot remember what is the storage size of HD DVD's disc, but if you half it that would roughly give you the number of hours it can record.

[barrington.thompson @ Nov 7th 2007 7:43AM]

I read the following article before I read this one:
http://www.hdtvuk.tv/2007/11/toshiba_launchi.html

To quote: It's able to record to HD DVD, the internal 300GB hard drive, as well as standard DVDs thanks to the new HD Rec standardised format ratified by the DVD Forum.

After I read the previous article I wrote the information below.

What we require in the UK is an excellent HD recordable dual Blu-ray and HD DVD PVR (pause live programmes) 1080p HD Freeview Playback recorder.

It should contain at least the ability to; record a serial of episodes touching one button, record two channels whilst watching a third, record for example a film separated by a news programme without recording the news, sound synchronization, HDMI 1.3 with all features properly implemented (Deep Colour, x.v.Colour, xvYCC, Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Digital Plus (DD+), DTS-HD, all resolutions up to and including 1920x1080p, picture; no blurring, juddering or blanding, excellent contrasts and blacks and at a reasonable price, with HDMI 1.3+ input and HDMI 1.3+ output connections etcetera.

Being able to record onto an HD player in HDMI 1.3 1080p and play back to a HD TV in HDMI 1.3 1080p is better than what we have at the moment, where we cannot watch recorded HD recordings using HDMI, preferably HDMI 1.3+.

If, 'The Establishment' is actually worried about piracy then create players that can only play high definition disks on the same players that created them!

It should actually be that simple.

The next step, is that for each household that can verify that they have purchased an HD product to allow them to register them and be able to play any of their HD recordings on any of their HD products that they legally own.

The companies can use the same system that they use to verify that people's products are still under guarantee.

I would convert long serial numbers to single digits for example 1 to 99. Since, most people would not buy at least 100 HD products for their households. If there are than increase the limit to 999, programmers would understand why.

Before I forget again, HD products should have wireless and networking capability built in to them and the 24fps (p)'s juddering problem for people without 24p products should be solved.

Everything should not only be backward and forward compatible, work properly with other manufacturers' products but between Blu-ray and HD DVD organizations.

After I read the article and postings on this website, I was confused. This is because The Toshiba Vardia RD-A301 based on the previous article I read should be able to record on; 1) HD DVD discs, 2) Internal hard disk drives and on 3) ordinary DVD recordable discs. Recording on ordinary discs appears to be 2hrs and 15mins on the longest playing mode, and only 30 mins on the shortest playing mode - useless. The cost £800 pounds appears to be too high compared to about U$800 and the exchange rate of about £1=U$2.

The discussion about Blu-ray selling 2:1 compared to HD DVD if it was true does it mean that they are losing 2:1, because based on information it appears that Sony and Toshiba are losing vast amounts of money.
Has the Blu-ray and HD DVD manufacturers actually stated how many high definition products they have sold backed up with the relevant documentations? They could tell consumers that they are just paying the price of for example the player, but on their documentation, they could place two prices down one for the player and one for DVDs. How much profit or loss is being made on each player and DVD? What are the profits and losses being made by all companies for each high definition products? Toshiba has virtually nobody to compete against for making HD DVDs players, but there are numerous manufacturers competing to make Blu-ray players. When it is claimed that high definition DVDs are given away free, how much profits are the movie studios making for each high definition discs? Who are actually buying the high definition discs from the film studios – if something is too good to be true, it probably is a con.

I also don’t see why people are arguing about buying Blu-ray or HD DVD. I want an excellent recordable player that can play all discs including Blu-ray and HD DVD – due to lack of space.

HD DVD appears to be the best format. For example HD DVD films especially had superior picture quality, sound quality, features, than Blu-ray in general until maybe recently. Is Blu-ray going to upgrade original Blu-ray players’ owners who don’t have the latest features? When Blu-ray film studios create the same DVD qualities as HD DVD’s disc, do you think that they will exchange the old inferior discs free of charge. If HD DVD didn’t exist then players would still cost about one thousand pound for an inferior product.

[Barrington @ Nov 25th 2007 8:11AM]

I shall include below what I think are some useful websites about the next generation of HD DVD recorders.

http://www.hdtvorigin.com/hdtv/toshiba-vardia-rd-a600-and-rd-a300-hd-dvd-recorders-introduction/

Website below obtained by placing, 'Toshiba Vardia' into Google search box:

http://www.google.com/search?q=Toshiba+Vardia&rls=com.microsoft:en-gb:IE-Address&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sourceid=ie7&rlz=1I7GGLJ