Saw this at Doom9 news http://www.engadget.com/2007/10/02/toshibas-vardia-rd-rx7-hd-dvd-recorder-burns-hd-video-to-dvd-t/
Joe

thats fascinating! ill bet it wont be sold in this country for a long time, if ever. and u know it wont be cheap whereever its sold! 2hrs of hi def content on a regular dvd, WOW! if its true. just imagine the copywrite issues that machine will open up! LOL

thats fascinating! ill bet it wont be sold in this country for a long time, if ever. and u know it wont be cheap whereever its sold! 2hrs of hi def content on a regular dvd, WOW! if its true. just imagine the copywrite issues that machine will open up! LOL
when will this be available in usa??? any takers?

when will this be available in usa??? any takers?
most of us went to hddvd player forum(?)

Yet when you go to the Amazon Japan website, the Toshiba Vardia models on sale, for up to $1,400.00 for the 600 GB model, have worse ratings than the Pioneer HDD DVD recorder (about $350.00US) that resembles the Pioneer 640 model sold here until March 2007 for $340.00 at Amazon. A 1 TB hard drive is nice, recording HD DVDs is nice but being able to buy a 160 GB HDD DVD recorder in the US that doesn't have more bugs in it than an ant farm would be even nicer.

Yet when you go to the Amazon Japan website, the Toshiba Vardia models on sale, for up to $1,400.00 for the 600 GB model, have worse ratings than the Pioneer HDD DVD recorder (about $350.00US) that resembles the Pioneer 640 model sold here until March 2007 for $340.00 at Amazon. A 1 TB hard drive is nice, recording HD DVDs is nice but being able to buy a 160 GB HDD DVD recorder in the US that doesn't have more bugs in it than an ant farm would be even nicer.
u must be referring to the machines that we've been hearing about for the last couple of years that arent being sold in the usa but are being sold in japan. is that what 'vardia' is? ive been holding off on a hddvd/bd player, never mind a recorder, as if i could find one to buy, until the reliability factor is way improved. when i buy a car/ piece of pro audio gear (which i used to do, quite frequently) or a piece of video gear, i expect it to WORK! but i digress! im totally pro hddvd cuz of lower replication costs, etc. so i hope 'vardia' works! and maybe gets to the good 'ole usa.

Very few will buy it.

I am becoming more convinced everyday that the average consumer could care less about a $1.500 to $3,000 HD DVD recorder.

They love their DVRs sure but DVRs are low cost items for the 85% market penetration that are counted as either cableco or satellite subscribers. And these DVRs can be HD for essentially the same cost. No VISA required.

Now contrast this with a complicated (perceived) non integrated stand alone $3,000 HD DVD recorder. Visa required.

No contest.

And what chance does a SD HDD DVD recorder have to be successful in a market that is moving to HD. Worse odds in my opinion.

This is from a link that was posted in the Philips 3575 thread about SD HDD DVD recorders. I agree:

So while there are still some very dedicated enthusiasts who are willing to pay big bucks for old DVD-recorders with hard drives, it seems likely that we've seen the last of them as a product category

From here:

http://crave.cnet.com/8301-1_105-9787239-1.html?tag=cnetfd.mt

Very few will buy it.

I am becoming more convinced everyday that the average consumer could care less about a $1.500 to $3,000 HD DVD recorder.

They love their DVRs sure but DVRs are low cost items for the 85% market penetration that are counted as either cableco or satellite subscribers. And these DVRs can be HD for essentially the same cost. No VISA required.

Now contrast this with a complicated (perceived) non integrated stand alone $3,000 HD DVD recorder. Visa required.

No contest.

And what chance does a SD HDD DVD recorder have to be successful in a market that is moving to HD. Worse odds in my opinion.

This is from a link that was posted in the Philips 3575 thread about SD HDD DVD recorders. I agree:



From here:

http://crave.cnet.com/8301-1_105-9787239-1.html?tag=cnetfd.mt
its hard to argue w all this! those are wicked prices!

Interesting thread here on the new Panasonic HD recorders that were also just announced. Post #3 in the thread is from somebody that actually lives in Japan:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=11809090#post11809090