subject: The Rising Number Of Blu Ray Recorders Demand These Days [print this page] Today, more and more people are upgrading to HDTV to enjoy modern digital television. Along with this, the need for recording HD content is increasing as well. Anyway, HD video takes up a considerable amount of hard drive space. Blu ray technology has been devised for this purpose.
This technology uses equivalent MPEG-2 compression standard as DTV, thus rendering it hugely compatible with the global standard for digital broadcasting. One dual-layer blu ray disc of fifty GB can store up to 6 hours of HD content. Though blu ray players are now available in the US and are more than capable of playing such high definition content, these lack the facility for recording high-definition content.
For this end, blu ray recorders have been created. These recorders use a 36Mbps data transfer rate which is adequate to record and playback digital high-definition transmissions while still preserving the original picture quality. A blu ray disc recorder if fully utilized, can playback pre-recorded video on a disc and simultaneously record high-definition video broadcasted on TV.
Blu ray recorders are currently available only in Japan and started off as almost a revolution to digital broadcasting. Some of the many manufacturers of blu ray recorders include Amex, Hitachi, JVC, Mitsubishi, Panasonic, Philips, Pioneer, Samsung, Sharp, Sony, Yamaha and Zenith. Consumers in the US have been waiting the longest time for blu ray manufacturers to introduce blu ray recorders in the US.
Though it is always speculated, it has not materialized. In the first 6 months of 2009, Panasonic, nevertheless, is slated to introduce the first freestanding blu ray recorder in the United States of America. Expectations for blu ray recorders make the market prospective, but blu ray recorders will encounter tough contests from the rest of the available HD recording tools such as the HD-TIVO and Cable/Satellite HD-DVRs.
Cinema studios and other entertainers are insisting on certain copy-protection obligations to be fulfilled by blu ray recorders. Additionally, as experienced by Japan, the price of blu ray recorders is very much on the higher side than the price of a standalone blu ray player (by now available in the US) which the US market deems to be quite pricey.
One more thing to be contemplated here is the price of High Definition DVRs. A blank 25GB BD-R Disc cost about $8-$10 which is relatively cheap as well as convenient. Despite all the negatives, the introduction of blu ray recorders to the US is a much awaited phenomena.
