Clare re Pana Blu-ray HD DVD Recorder

[RodhasGibson]

Hi Clare I noticed with interest that you mentioned Panasonic had a Blu-ray HD DVD Recorder on EU release [ French market was"nt it] Hope it arrives here soon. Have any of the other majors got similar projects in the pipeline? [ie Pioneer, Sony, Denon et al] Just what I am looking for, can you hazard a guess as to the likely cost and launch dates. thanks Rod.

 

[Clare Newsome]

Yes, the Panasonic Blu-ray HDD recorder is available in France - the DMR-BW500EFK. There are also several models from a range of manufacturers already available in Japan and beyond - one of our Forum posters from Australia, Damien Buckley, has the Panasonic BW500 Blu-ray recorder for that market, if I remember rightly.

One problem with UK move to Blu-ray recorders has been the patchy, varied approach to HD broadcasts - Sky, Virgin, Freesat etc, none of which uses the same reception system, plus copyright hurdles/subscription systems.

However, with Panasonic supporting Freesat in its TVs, it's not a huge leap to see it producing a matching Blu-ray HDD/Freesat recorder in 2009. Possibly LG will follow, though it's just announced TVs with Freeview PVRs built in, so maybe not.

Apologies for being so vague, but we're still too early in the year to get firm UK plans re pricing and availability. Give it six weeks and we should know a lot more!

 

[RodhasGibson]

Clare, Thats Cool. Wait with interest. Good Mag this month btw.

 

[Big Aura]

Clare

I've had a look at that, and it's a whopping £1,500! Surely it incorporates the same mechanics as a DVD HDD / Sky+HD or Foxsat PVR? How can they charge so much for it (other than on the basis that it's the only show in town?!).

 

[Clare Newsome]

I wouldn't bet on such a direct currency conversion, but aside from that you've hit the nail on the head - first/only can command a high premium. Don't forget it's only been @2 years since the first HD players arrived costing@£1000 - now you can buy a superb Blu-ray player for under £200.

It's also worth remembering that recorders always command their own premium- even existing DVD recorders cost many times the cost of an equal-performing playback unit.

Having said all that, I can't see them getting away with much more than, say, £799 at launch, assuming corking Blu-ray playback, 500GB+ hard drive and a superb Freesat HD tuner.

 

[Anonymous]

Big Aura:

Clare

I've had a look at that, and it's a whopping £1,500! Surely it incorporates the same mechanics as a DVD HDD / Sky+HD or Foxsat PVR? How can they charge so much for it (other than on the basis that it's the only show in town?!).

Your response is exactly why Panasonic are very reluctant to develop a similar recorder for the UK specific Freesat market. Even after they have sorted all the potential copyright issues, the market for a machine at that price would be tiny when you consider that for most people, it won't give them anything more than a Humax Freesat PVR plus DVD/Blu-ray player which even now would cost less than a third of the Panasonic recorder.

 

[Clare Newsome]

Especially as

a) the whole Freesat market in UK has been built on cost-saving emphasis (rather than quality-related)

b) that market (not helped by hardware shortages and IMO insufficient marketing by Freesat) is still tiny

c) there's hardly any HD content on Freesat yet

d) we're in the middle of a worsening recession!