Panasonic unveiled three new hard drive equipped Blu-ray Disc recorders at
CEATEC JAPAN 2007. The DMR-BW900, DMR-BW800 and DMR-BW700 offer support for 50GB BD-R/RE DL media and, by using an MPEG-4 AVC/H.264
encoder, can store up to 18 hours of full HD video onto a single disc.
The new recorders can store up to 18 hours of full HD video onto a 50 gigabyte
(GB) double-layer Blu-ray Disc or up to 381 hours of full HD videos onto a 1 terabyte (TB) built-in hard disk drive (HDD). In terms of BS
digital HD broadcasts, the new recorders can record four times more than previous MPEG-2 TS recorders (DR mode). In addition to video,
the new DIGAs can record 5.1 channel surround sound broadcasts without deterioration in sound quality or surround
effects.
Panasonic accomplished these achievements through innovative technologies including the new generation UniPhier system
LSI based on the 45-nm process technology. A single chip supports real-time encoding of full HD videos. Additionally, MPEG-4 AVC/H.264
High Profile HD video compression technology contributed to the significant increase in HD video recording hours. Panasonic also drew
from the advanced technology cultivated by its Panasonic Hollywood Laboratory (PHL) that offers BD-ROM authoring service to major
Hollywood movie studios.
While Panasonic has not announced how much their Blu-ray Disc recorders will be, AV Watch expects them to cost anywhere from 180,000
Yen ($1,554US) to 300,000 Yen ($2,590US), depending on the model. If you'd like to read more, Panasonic's entire press release can be
found here.
