The battle of the formats is heating up as Toshiba has announced the world’s first HD-DVD video recorder, named RD-A1, to be available in Japan on July 14th with a price tag of ¥ 398,000 or less than € 2,750.
With the whopping 1-terabyte (TB) hard disk (yes, 1,000GB), this baby will give you lots of recording time, with up to 130 hours of high-definition (HD) broadcasts. To put this into perspective, if you’re happy with standard definition then this hard disk will give you the equivalent of about 2 1/2 months of 24 hour constant viewing pleasure ! Ease of use is also enhanced by the ability to record two TV programs, one digital HD and one analog, to the hard disk, simultaneously. You can also record in two HD DVD-R capacities, either the single-layer 15GB disc or get up to 230 minutes of HD content on a 30GB dual-layer HD DVD-R disc.
Its a beautiful monster weighing in at 15 kilos !
For those of you with big DVDtheques, in addition to HD DVD, the RD-A1 supports playback from and recording to conventional DVD-RAM/-RW/-R discs, giving users complete access to content recorded and saved in standard DVD formats. It also offers simplified transfer of DVD disc content to higher capacity HD DVD discs.
All the Input and Output connections you need
The RD-A1 supports 1080p output via HDMI, allowing viewing of “full HD” progressive scan video signals, and boasts all the other input and output connections you could require (see technical specs below). In addition, to enhance the enjoyment of current DVD software and recorded programs, support for the up-conversion to 1080p output is achieved through implementation of the newest high performance scaler from Anchor Bay Technologies Inc. This converts and plays back 1080i HD content as 1080p full HD output. This means it is also possible to playback past recorded DVD by up-converting them to 1080p output.
The RD-A1 offers all the “Next Generation” surround sound formats, such as Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD, L-PCM 5.1ch, the same formats as Toshiba’s first HD DVD players (see our previous news and features table here). Analog 5.1ch output integrated into the RD-A1 allows consumers to enjoy surround sound simply by connecting the player to an AV amplifier with analog input.
Menu to facilitate recording, well, when not in Japanese !
In addition to the optimized navigation and menu displays above, there are lots more features you can see in the table below, like a special dual-layer body featuring a 1-millimeter main case and a metal sub frame as well as recorder stands on special aluminum pillars designed to damp vibration and enhance high sound quality.
| Model name | RD-A1 | ||||||
| Hard Disk | Built in Hard Disk, HD DVD-Video, Twin Format Discs (Dual-layer, single-sided, HD DVD-Video + DVD-Video), HD DVD-R (HDVR mode), HD DVD-R DL (HDVR mode), DVD-R (Video mode; VR mode), DVD-R DL (Video mode; VR mode), DVD-RAM (VR mode), DVD-RW (Video mode; VR mode), DVD-Video, Music CD, CD-R, CD-RW (CD-DA), * Some content and discs may not be compatible. Depending on recording mode and condition, some discs may not playback. DVD-RW Ver.1.0 is not supported. |
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| Recordable media | Built in Hard Disk (TS mode; VR mode), HD DVD-R (HDVR mode), HD DVD-R DL (HDVR mode), DVD-R (Video mode; VR mode), for General/1X-16X SPEED (recording speed 8X), DVD-R DL (Video mode; VR mode), for General/4X SPEED (recording speed 4X), DVD-RAM (VR mode), 2X-5X SPEED (Applied cartridges), (recording speed 2X), DVD-RW (Video mode; VR mode), 1X-6X SPEED (recording speed 4X), *Some discs may not be compatible, or may not record. |
|^. Video recording format |
MPEG 2 | ||||
| Audio recording format | Dolby Digital (2ch), L-PCM (2ch), AAC (5.1ch) |
|^. Audio output |
Dolby Digital (5.1ch), Dolby Digital Plus (5.1ch), Dolby TrueHD (2ch), DTS-HD (5.1ch) L-PCM (5.1ch), *Output format depends on content. |
|^. Video DAC |
14bit, 297MHz | ||
| Audio DAC | 192kHz, 24bit | ||||||
| Channel | Digital terrestrial broadcast (000 – 999ch), CATV path through, BS digital (000 – 999ch), 100 degree CS digital broadcast (000 – 999ch), Analog terrestrial broadcast VHF (1 – 12ch), UHF (13 – 62ch), CATV (C13 – C63ch) |
|^. Input |
S1 video input line 3 (rear 2, front 1), video input line 3 (rear 2, front 1), 2ch analog audio input line 3 (rear 2, front 1), D1 video input line 1, DV input line 1 (front) |
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| Output | D1/D2/D3/D4 video output line 1, component video output line 1 (Y, CB, CR), S1 video output line 3, video output line 3, 5.1ch surround-sound analog audio output line 1, 2ch analog audio output line 3, Coaxial digital audio output line 1, Optical digital audio output line 1, HDMI output line 1, i.LINK line 2 (D-VHS dubbing) |
|^. Antenna terminal |
Digital terrestrial in-output, BS/100degree CS digital in-output, VHF/UHF in-output | ||||
| Other terminals | LAN terminal, Sky Perfect continuous terminal, phone circuit terminal, Extension terminal line 3 (front, 5V 500mA) | |^. Power consumption |
133W (BS antenna supply:144W), Stand by mode 6.5W (power-save:4.0W), |
|^. Dimensions |
Width 457 mm × Height 159 mm × Depth 408 mm | |^. Weight |
15.2 kg |
Source : Toshiba-Website
To read the complete press release click here