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Video review of Toshiba's HD DVD recorder - RD A1
We know you are curious to know how Toshiba's HD DVD recorder operates, but the unit isn't available for the US market just yet, but luckily for us, this whole Internet thing is a global venture and Digital World Tokyo has a video review of the recorder. Just like we made out in the pictures, it is a beast. Other then the whole 1 terabyte recorder thing, it seems to be about the same unit as the normal HD DVD player -- including, the very slow start-up time. It takes almost a minute and a half till it is all the way up. But it does what it says it can which is record TV and put it on an HD DVD disc. The only small issue is some of those programs will not allow you to record directly on the HD DVD but once it is on the hard drive, it can then be moved to the disc. Apparently, it works rather nicely though and if you are lucky enough to get your hands on one, and you can read Japanese, you should be happy with it.
Toshiba RD-A1 HD DVD recorder launches in Japan
After a slight delay, the Toshiba RD-A1 HD DVD burner is finally available in Japan. This is the first recorder for the format, which besides being the approximate size of an aircraft carrier also has a 1TB hard drive to save broadcast TV via either of its tuners. Once you've got it on the 1000GB HDD, you can burn it in MPEG-2 format to 15GB or 30GB HD DVD-Rs, which your good friends at Mitsubishi and Hitachi/Maxell will be more than happy to provide. If that sounds like too much work you could always stream the content to DLNA compatible equipment like your Qosmio laptop. Finally, this is the first standalone HD DVD player that plays back at full 1080p resolution. At 398,000 yen ($3,407 US, down from $3,466 due to the exchange rate), we'll have to wait and see if this fares well in burner-crazy Japan against Blu-ray recorders that have been on shelves there for several years now but slow to take off so far.
Toshiba delays RD-A1 HD DVD recorder launch
Lately it's been the Blu-ray camp cruelly torturing us with product delays, but in a refreshing change of pace, today it's rival format HD DVD's main proponent Toshiba announcing that a next-gen optical disc device won't be shipping as scheduled. Unlike Sony's procrastination in releasing the PS3 and BDP-S1, though, Toshiba claims that it only needs two more weeks to get its RD-A1 HD DVD recorder out the door, citing inadequate inventory stemming from component shortages as the reason for putting off tomorrow's scheduled launch. Since this model, with its 1TB storage capacity and OTA digital tuner, is only headed for Japan anyway, the delay probably doesn't concern the vast majority of our American readers -- nor most Japanese, for that matter, as the $3,500 pricetag will likely dissuade all but the most fervent early-adopters. [Via HDBeat]
Toshiba delays their HD DVD recorder - RD-A1
If you were saving your pennies for Toshiba's new RD-A1 HD DVD player/recorder, you have a couple more weeks. Toshiba is having problems getting parts for their unit and the unit is now officially delayed till the end of the month. We doubt any of our readers were going to get one anyways. Toshiba has no plans on shipping the $3,453 priced unit over seas to America; Japan and the US are different types of market. Their country is saturated with terrestrial digital signals where they can utilizes the 1-terabyte capacity a bit more then we can. Sure, some markets have a dozen OTA signals, but most do not have anywhere near that. We are curious though. Is there anyone out there planning on purchasing one of these units?
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]
