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.





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.
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.
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.
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.
http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/PUSA/Shop/DVD-Burners/Blu-ray+Drives/ci.BDR-202.Shop.
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June 2, 2009 11:08 AM PDT
- 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.
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(12 Comments)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.