At its September 12 Steering Committe Meeting, the DVD Forum approved an extension of the HD DVD format to be implemented on red lasers instead of blue (HD DVD and Blu-ray utilize blue laser diodes). Earlier, we heard that HD VMD used traditional red laser technology to make multi-layer DVDs with upwards of 40GB of storage, but that’s not what this is about. Named HD REC, this format is more about using conventional DVD-R media to store HD content, and Toshiba demonstrated some recorders at CEATEC that implement this technology (and display the new logo).
DVD recorders (not the burners on your PC) allowing you to record TV broadcasts to DVD are a big deal in Japan, and Toshiba’s newly announced RD-X7, RD-A101 and RD-201 recorders bring the ability to record TV broadcasts in real-time. Toshiba says that a single-layer HD DVD-R disc can store about 6 hours of content, while a DVD-R disc can hold about 2. Recordings are stored in the MPEG4 format, which is pretty standard for HD DVD and Blu-ray discs.
Since it uses standard and freely available DVD-R discs, HD REC is an inexpensive way to make high-def recordings for home use. It’s not a replacement for blue laser discs for movie releases because DVD-Rs can only store about 9 gigabytes whereas HD DVD and Blu-ray movies are usually encoded in full 1080p glory, and include audio tracks and bonus materials that fill up the rest of their 25, 30 or 50 gigabyte discs. However, it’s more than enough for personal use.
