Toshiba to set record with HD DVD

Stan Beer
Thursday, 22 June 2006 20:55

Your IT - Home IT

Japanese electronics giant Toshiba Corp, which is locked in a battle with rival Sony to define the future high definition video standard, plans to launch an HD DVD recorder next month in Japan. However, it won't be cheap.

Toshiba was already first out of the blocks with an HD DVD player, leaving the more expensive rival Blu-ray players, which have just appeared on the market, three months behind. Now Toshiba has once again pulled ahead of Sony with a HD DVD recorder, complete with a 1000 GB hard disk.

The new recorder will not be for those short of a buck, with an expected retail price of close to the $3500 mark. However, Toshiba knows that its new hardware will not be saleable at that price outside Japan, so it is not going to even try to release it in the price conscious US market.

Both Sony and Toshiba are playing for high stakes in the high definition video market. Both companies have sunk mega bucks into the respective technologies and their can only be one winner. For Sony, the competition takes on a greater sense of urgency because it has already committed to using Blu-ray technology in its new PlayStation 3 games consoles, due for release in November. Sony also does not want a repeat performance of its costly and embarassing Beta Max debacle in the early days of VCR.