[rohrpost] Fwd: Wired News : First DVD Recorder Debuts

[Krystian Woznicki <krystian@snafu.de>]

>Envelope-to: krystian@snafu.de
>Date: Thu, 10 Aug 2000 08:51:31 -0700 (PDT)
>To: krystian@snafu.de (Krystian Woznicki)
>From: krystian@snafu.de (Krystian Woznicki)
>Subject: Wired News : First DVD Recorder Debuts
>CC: krystian@snafu.de
>
>  From Wired News, available online at:
>http://www.wired.com/news/print/0,1294,38145,00.html
>
>First DVD Recorder Debuts
>by Andy Patrizio
>
>3:55 p.m. Aug. 9, 2000 PDT
>
>Your VCR's life span may just have gotten a little shorter.
>
>Panasonic is the first of what likely will be many consumer
>electronics companies to release a DVD recorder, the Panasonic
>DMR-E10.
>
>Since the first Digital Versatile Disc products were released in late
>1997, the format hasn't been as versatile as its proponents would have
>liked. DVD recorders were first promised almost two years ago.
>
>On Monday, Panasonic announced that the DMR-E10 will arrive in stores
>by September. It comes with the early adopter list price of $3,999 and
>recordable discs will sell for $34.99.
>
>Panasonic representatives said it took this long to release a
>recordable player because recording requires an MPEG-2 encoder and
>decoder that can write to an optical disc in real-time, and that the
>technology has been too expensive to bring to market. But the booming
>sales of DVD video players helped bring recordable DVD to the market.
>
>"One of the advantages of DVD, because it has grown so rapidly and
>consumer reaction has been so great, (is that) the cost basis of the
>technology has been accelerated downward quite a bit faster than we'd
>expected," said Rusty Osterstock, general manager of Panasonic's DVD
>Division, in Secaucus, New Jersey.
>
>Panasonic thinks the potential buyer is more than just an early
>adopter. "It's a very discreet purchaser who is also looking for a
>piece to bridge the gap between audio/video and the PC," said
>Osterstock. "That customer has not existed before because no product
>has existed to cross those boundaries, and we feel DVD-RAM is a
>product to do that."
>
>The Panasonic player uses DVD-RAM recording technology, which is also
>available on PCs. Video recorded on the DMR-E10 can be transferred to
>a PC for editing. Likewise, video downloaded from the Internet could
>be saved on a DVD-RAM disc and played on the DMR-E10.
>
>The DMR-E10 can record from one to four hours of video at varying bit
>rates. The shorter the recording period, the higher the bit rate,
>therefore the higher the quality. Even at four hours, the video
>quality will still be better than a VCR, said Osterstock
>
>Recordable DVD has all of the advantages that DVD-ROM movies have over
>analog tape, such as instant access to any point in the video, no
>rewinding, and no degradation over time. Unlike analog tape, however,
>the blank media can be erased and written to hundreds of times with no
>loss of quality to the media itself.
>
>But today, only the DMR-E10 will be able to play back recordable discs
>since DVD-ROM players are not DVD-RAM compatible. DMR-E10 players only
>record in Dolby Digital 2.0, a two-speaker audio format that is no
>better than VHS. The DMR-E10 can play back standard DVD-ROM movies,
>supporting both Dolby Digital and DTS surround sound, Video CDs
>(VCDs), and music CDs.
>
>The DMR-E10 also includes a time-based correction feature that allows
>users to record video from analog tape, and the correction feature
>will remove jitter and other artifacts, thereby cleaning up the video
>during the transfer.
>The inputs are analog only, so the DMR-E10 cannot receive video from
>digital satellite players or a DVD player to copy movies. The player
>recognizes Macrovision copy protection and will not record any media,
>VHS, cable or DVD, with copy protection, said Osterstock.
>
>Osterstock said the DMR-E10 does not support DVD Audio discs because
>development on the recorder started first. Panasonic shipped its first
>DVD Audio players in July.
>
>"I think four grand is a lot to spend unless you're compelled to be
>the first guy in your gated community to own one," said Jeff McNeal,
>editor of The Big Picture DVD site. "With Tivo and ReplayTV around,
>there's no way to justify the cost for most folks to simply record
>off-air, cable, or satellite broadcasts."
>
>A spokesman for consumer electronics retailer Best Buy, a major
>supporter of DVD early on, said it's too early to comment, but that
>they are looking at recordable DVD technology and would like to have
>it in stores by the holiday.
>
>A spokeswoman for The Good Guys chain was more bullish on recordable
>DVD. "We will be one of the first to offer it and have it on our
>shelves as soon as it's available. We certainly see it as something
>our customers will be interested in," said Kristen M. Lark, a
>spokeswoman for The Good Guys, in Brisbane, California. The chain will
>discount the player by $1,000, to $2,999.
>
>She acknowledges the high price will only appeal to a select target
>audience at first. "It's not an impulse purchase at the price it's
>coming in at," said Lark. "As it comes into the mainstream and the
>price comes down, we expect to see more and more people gravitate
>toward it."
>
>DVD-RAM was created by the DVD Forum, the consortium that authored
>DVD. A splinter format, called DVD+RW and backed by Sony and Philips,
>is not compatible or approved by the DVD Forum.
>
>Related Wired Links:
>
>Court to Address DeCSS T-Shirt
>Aug. 2, 2000
>
>Movie Studios on the Warpath
>Jul. 18, 2000
>
>When DVD Is Too Good to Be Legal
>Jun. 19, 2000
>
>Making the Multi-Purpose DVD
>Dec. 1, 1999
>
>Copyright  1994-2000 Wired Digital Inc. All rights reserved.


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