Blu-ray recorders coming to U.S. in 2009?

Will Blu-ray recorders finally reach the U.S.?

One of the more frequent e-mails we receive is, when are Blu-ray recorders coming out? Blu-ray recorders have been available in Japan for quite some time now, but we haven't seen any manufacturer planning to offer a recorder in the U.S. However, HD Guru recently blogged about the CEATEC trade show in Japan, and we noticed this little nugget buried in the middle:

"Panasonic will be introducing a freestanding Blu-ray recorder/player in the US during the first half of 2009. (BTW, Blu-ray recorder prices have really dropped in Japan. I spotted a Sharp Blu-ray recorder at Yodobashi camera for around $800 US)."

That's news to us. In fact, we met with Panasonic engineers recently, and when we brought up Blu-ray recorders they had no news for the U.S. market.

Although we do get plenty of reader e-mail concerning Blu-ray recorders, there's plenty of reasons to believe they won't be popular in the U.S. First up is the high price. An $800 recorder might be a big price drop, but it's still much more than standalone Blu-ray players, which most consumers already consider too expensive. Secondly, HD DVRs are relatively cheap and convenient, especially when you consider that a blank 25GB BD-R Disc costs about $8-$10. Lastly, we'll be interested to see exactly what you'll be able to record with a Blu-ray recorder. We're assuming people would be most interested in recording premium content from networks such as HBO, but we'd be surprised if content providers didn't start using copyright protection to make that impossible. Meanwhile, remember that anything you record off of most network and cable channels will be chock full of onscreen ads and snipes--hardly the sort of version we'd want to archive to our permanent collection.

So while there's certainly a limited market for Blu-ray recorders, it will be interesting to see if they're able to expand beyond that niche audience.

[tc2008]

To bad they don't have Blu-Ray RAM media disks. A chasing play version of their DVD recorders with 40 hrs of LP recording per disk would be awesome. There would be no need for an internal hard disk.
Also we need a way to back up these new AVCHD format SD digital camcorder files that's also viewable in all Blu-Ray players.

[Lerianis]

Too expensive, both for the discs and for the recorder. They need to get the disks down into the 1 dollar range, to compete with 50 cent DVD+-R's.
They need to get the burners down to about 100 dollars, for people like me who have disposable income but wait until there are good deals on things to buy them.

[Bobzilla033]

If DVD recorders are any indication, the prices that you are looking for won't happen for several years to come, if at all. As long as DVD recorders and DVD+-R is still on the market you will be looking at a Blu-ray disk priced at least $3-4 each. The demand isn't there yet to need 25Gb of recordable space, especially given the restrictions on what can now, and what will be available to record. HD tv and video is a luxury service now, much like dvd was with the death of vhs. The cash cows controlling the market now will not let that slip away so easily by allowing for $100 recorders.

[zgreenwell]

They're going to have to convince people to buy stand alone Blue Ray players in the US first. Once they do that then they might see a need for a recorder.

[rkinne01]

Why bother? Sounds like Blu-Ray recording will be so limited that even at $1 a disk it won't be of much value.

[ev61]

There really isn't a practical reason for a BD recorder. On a DL DVD, you can get over an hour of AVCHD footage, which covers about 99% of home video use. Comparing the quality of TV versus BD releases of the shows totally justifies purchasing the content. DVRs have replaced the VCR and DVD recorder for TV shows, and with the ability to transfer shows from premium boxes like the Tivo to the PC, you really have unlimited storage.

The optical disc may continue to evolve as BD becomes a more popular purchase option for high quality content, but as a way to store memories and watch TV, DVD will remain king. Networked homes will jump right over this step for non-studio produced content.

[markkp]

We have Blu-Ray recorders and recordable media here in New Zealand, have done for several months now.

[BluFan1]

The price needs to drop considerably before you'll see any widescale adoption, but once it becomes a more standard format, having the ability to drop content onto 50gb discs would be a huge benefit.

[ribar1]

It seems like many people here, fail to consider the obvious,...archieving Edited HD Home Videos to Blu-ray DVD. I already have an HD Home Video Camera, HD Editing Software on my Computer, and a Blu-ray DVD Player as a part of my Home Entertainment Center, so all I need is a standalone Blu-ray HD DVD Recorder, to complete the process. As it stands now, I download an Edited HD Home Video back to my HD Video Camera, and then use it to view my Video, which is a real hassle. Not to mention wear-and-tear on the Camera's Video Heads. It would be so much easier if I could just transfer my Edited Videos from the Video Camera to a BD DVD Recorder, and play them back on my Blu-ray HD DVD Player. The reason I haven't bought a Blu-ray Burner for my PC, is because they don't allow for multi-session recording. A standalone DVD Recorder, allows you to build a disc Chapter by Chapter, playing back previously recorded content, while permitting continued recording of additional content, until the disc is full. With a PC BD Burner, it's just too time-consuming to keep recording over a rewriteable Blu-ray disc, everytime you want to add another video Chapter to a Chaptered DVD. And using a new Blu-ray disc for each individual HD Home Video, would be cost prohibitive.

[djoh12]

I can think of another reason. I currently have dozens of home movies backed up to DVDs. I already have software that will convert 10 DVD's to 1 Blu-Ray disc. We could all argue until we are "blu" in the face about this - but I know I can't be the only one already waiting for hardware to complete my software.

[WirelessguyNY]

I agree with the other posts here. Blu-ray MAIN recording market in the US is for archiving of all that footage (both HD and NON) that we've been doing on our camcorders for some time now.

Most people in the US do not archive their videos to PCs and even the newer HDD and SD based cameras which record video pose a major issue to the average user PC. Unless you've got a Mac or some beefy Windows PC chances are there's little you can do with the footage other than store it. Storage will also become a growing issue b/c those who like to use their cameras can't afford to line their offices with terabyte drives (not to mention that drives still FAIL).

I'm in desperate need of a SIMPLE way to hook my camera to a Blu-ray recorder and start offloading years of Mini-DV footage.

What bothers me about the whole pricing market here is that not only is a $1,000 standalone burner unreasonable I can get an Internal Burner for $250 and then buy a whole Shuttle XPC to put it into for less money. What this means to me is that the industry is just raping us for cash because the level of effort to make this technology today is WAY lower than it's ever been. They're minting devices in droves overseas and US branded units simple have a modified firmware pack.

So come on manufacturers, just close the gap and let us rid ourselves of 480i like we did the 8 Track cassette player.

[terrelljacobs]

I'll use my PS3 for playback and if I ever need to burn my own BDs I think me and my wallet will go with this. For under $400 I think the cost of blank BDs will outprice the recorder.
http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/PUSA/Shop/DVD-Burners/Blu-ray+Drives/ci.BDR-202.Shop.

I think there are other things to record on Blue Ray DVDs, than just content off premium channels. How 'bout anything in HD? HD DVRs are great, but when you want to keep something FOREVER, especially a lot of somethings, like SPORTING EVENTS IN HD, that can fill up and HD DVR, even one with a hard drive expander, very quickly.

I would love to burn DVDs of HD recordings of sporting events so I can keep them forever, and I think a lot of people who have ESPN HD, ESPN2 HD, ESPNU HD, VERSUS HD, GOLF HD, TENNIS HD, etc, all the broadcast channels in HD would agree. What's the point in having all these HD channels if you can't make recordings you can keep FOREVER in HD?

Plus, HD TVs make your SD recordings just look worse.

C'mon Panasonic, Sony, etc...Bring the Blue-Ray DVD Recorder to the USA! If you doubt how much of a market there will be, I',m sure you will be pleasantly surprised.

[BayAreaBiker]

There are many HDTV camcorders available now, which would create a demand for Blu-ray recorders to transfer home movies. I think 100 GB discs are possible, double layers on each side, which could hold a vacation, wedding, sporting event, or other special occasion.

[LRESA500]

My more immediate concern is my VHS camcorder tapes of the last 30 years. I've dubbbed them all to DVD and as we have seen the DVD is not the archival medium we all hoped it would be.
No question at all that the picture & sound quality far surpasses VHS but I'm stunned at how even commercial dvds are so sensitive to little scratches and fingerprints that they become unplayable.
I was hoping that Blu-Ray disc would be much more durable.

[dcornibe]

You all are forgetting something. What about for professional/broadcast use? The current HDCAM and XDCAM, etc., recorders are too expensive, and so is their media. Even at $8-$10 a disc for Blu-Ray, that's a wonderful bargain for archiving. In my case, I work for a local government access TV station, and soon we're looking to upgrade our cameras used for county meetings to HD (really because the pan & tilt mounts are getting old and failing, and HD conference-style cameras are about all they're making these days for that application). So, looking ahead, we'd like to replace our DVCAM's with a professional video recorder that takes in HD-SDI from the switcher and records to a Blu-Ray disc. Still a lot cheaper than going to professional HD tape. And there's also, believe it or not, no solid state HD video recorder yet. At least not a rack-mountable, studio version (only portables, like Panasonic's P2 recorder, but in any case to archive each meeting to one or more P2 memory cards would cost $1000-$2000 a piece!). Being able to directly record and archive our broadcasts to Blu-Ray, given today's technology, would be ideal for us.