Panasonic first with Blu-ray recorder that plays Blu-ray videos

Stuart Corner
Wednesday, 20 September 2006 12:14

Business IT - Technology

Panasonic has unveiled what it claims is the world's first Blu-ray Disc recorders that can play back BD-Video discs (ie movies sold on Blu-Ray discs, which is not as easy as might be expected.

This may seem like a given, but when Sony launched, in Sydney in August, its first Blu-ray PC drive it did no offer this functionality and according to a posting on the geek.com website, http://www.geek.com/news/geeknews/2006Aug/gee20060814037985.htm Sony said there were two major stumbling blocks preventing it from doing so: copy protection and software support.

"In order for a commercial Blu-ray disc to play, you need to be able to decrypt the High-Bandwidth Content Protection (HDCP) copy protection it uses. This can only be done via a DVI or an HDMI connection to a graphics card that supports HDCP decryption. Currently, Sony says there are no cards that support this."

According to the posting, "The other problem Sony points out is a lack of software support for playback; Intervideo's WinDVD BD is the only available playback software. That software is currently only bundled as an OEM product with Sony's own VAIO VGN-AR18GP."

The Panasonic Blu-ray DIGA DMR-BW200 and DMR-BR100 can record high-definition imagery on BD-RE rewritable discs and dub from the built-in hard-disk drive (HDD) to BD discs at 4x speed without compromising video or audio quality, according to Panasonic.

The new models support single-layer 25 GB and dual-layer 50 GB BD discs (BD-RE and BD-R). Users can record up to six hours of high-definition programs on a 50 GB BD disc. In addition, the DMR-BW200 and DMR-BR100 come with a built-in HDD of 500 GB and 200 GB, respectively.

The DMR-BW200 is equipped with a total of seven TV tuners including two tuners each for terrestrial, BS and 110-degree CS digital broadcasts and one analogue TV tuner. That enables users to record two digital TV programs simultaneously on the HDD. Users can also record one program on the HDD while recording one on a BD-RE disc.

The DMR-BW200 and DMR-BR100 support a variety of media including HDD, BD-RE, BD-R, DVD-RAM, DVD-R, DVD-R DL and DVD-RW for recording, and HDD, BD-RE, BD-R, DVD-RAM, DVD-R, +R, DVD-R DL, +R DL, DVD-RW, +RW, DVD-Video, BD-Video, music CD, CD-R and CD-RW for playback. They will be available in Japan from November 15. Availability in other countries ahs not been announced.


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