Toshiba sent out a press release this morning, announcing the launch of two
new digital video recorders (DVR). The RD-A600 and RD-A300 support Toshiba's new "VARDIA engine" and can record two digital HD
television programs at once. The two DVR's also feature an integrated HD DVD writer, giving users the ability to record programs
directly to disc or transfer HD video from the hard drive.
Toshiba Corporation today announced two high-end additions to its VARDIA digital
video recorders (DVR) that add the capabilities of HD DVD recordable drives to a wide range of advanced functions. The new DVR introduce
the ability to record two digital HD television programs simultaneously, and also integrate Toshiba's new "VARDIA engine", which
supports significant enhancements to ease of use and performance, including faster drawing of the graphic user interface (GUI) and
improved HD DVD disc operation. The HD DVD VARDIA RD-A600 and HD DVD VARDIA RD-A300 will be rolled out in the Japanese market from the
end of June.
The new models offer consumers a choice of hard disk drive capacities. The 600-gigabyte (GB) RD-A600 can record about
78 hours*1 of digital HD broadcasts to its hard drive in HD picture quality, while 300GB RD-A300 can record about 39 hours*1. Both
integrate an HD DVD recordable drive that can directly record HD television programs to an HD DVD-R disc or transfer HD images stored in
HDD to an HD DVD-R disc. Like standard DVR, the new recorders allow users to build libraries of their favorite content, whether dramas,
movies or sport, but add the ability to do so in vibrant, high definition detail, by storing HD content to HD DVD-R
discs.
While Toshiba has not announced a price, AV Watch expects the RD-A600 and RD-A300 to cost about 200,000 Yen ($1644US) and 150,000 Yen ($1233US) respectively.
More information, including a full list of specs, can be found here.
