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Toshiba showcases trio of HDD / HD DVD recorders
Considering that Panasonic was showing off its newest Blu-ray recorders at CEATEC, we're not too shocked to hear that Toshiba was touting a trio of its own for the HD DVD camp. All three units sport the ability to "transcode in real-time an off-the-air MPEG2 high-definition signal into the more efficient MPEG4 AVC compression system," and while we're not sure how capacious they'll be, it was noted that these devices would include an internal hard drive to compliment the HD DVD writer. The flagship RD-X7 features 1080p24 output, while the RD-A101 / RD-A201 "didn't appear to offer this output based on available information from Toshiba." Per usual, we're still playing the wait-and-see game when it comes to pricing and release dates.
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]
