Toshiba's Vardia RD-A301 writes HD DVD content to DVDs
By Thomas Ricker 
posted Oct 31st 2007 4:19AM
posted Oct 31st 2007 4:19AM
Is this what you've been waiting for? The ability to record high-definition, HD DVD content to DVDs? Well, have at it boy, Toshiba just announced their new Vardia RD-A301 recorder. It conforms to the HD Rec extension which allows HD DVD format content to be stored on red-laser DVD-R/RW/RAM disks like the RD-RX7 unveiled at CEATEC. That's about 2 hours on a 4.7GB disc. Like the RD-A300, the A301 also features a 300GB hard disk. December, that's when, for about ¥100,000 (about $870) in Japan.
[Via Impress]
Maybe I cannot express my sanity enough, but WTH is with Toshiba? They are acting like there is a mad market out there not satisfied with their current ability to record in some manner high definition content that comes to them (via OTA, DBS, or cable). If one is recording to a regular DVD and its HD DVD then isn't it nothing more than h.264 (MPEG4)? Can I not current author content of that nature to writable DVD and play it back in an HD DVD player? And with the exception of OTA ATSC signals, how is one getting HD content from satellite and cable providers into this thing?
Wow, I love it. Toshiba certainly knows how to build quality, and this is one beautiful piece of engineering that I want for my home theatre.
Bugger blu ray, too many problems with un finished specs, disc rot, no ethernet connection, and god, how expensive are BR!
I mean, does sony & co really expect us to shell out heaps of unnecessary hard earned cash on a one trick pony product , when HD DVD does everything at least as well for half the price.
Add all that DRM nonsense and sonys woeful track record with customer abuse, eg viruses on their CD's etc.
GO RED
lol Love the name, h4idol.
*insert 30gb HD DUD capacity joke here*
Thats 300, not 30 :)
Sorry h4ldol, I misunderstood your comment. I didn't realize you were referring to HD-DVD capacity.
ouc! Japanese market is 90% Blu Ray. They should release it in the states, it would be more popular there.
Don't worry A1, the HD market in Japan is almost non existent, so 90% of nothing is still nothing.
Team RED is hot at the moment, and I have no doubts HD DVD will reign supreme in the long run.
What you blu biased people must remember is, we are early days in this war, so early battles mean nothing.
GO RED
It is a very smart move to move people into HD market. Most don't care about the difference, as no one has seen a good comparison, can tell the difference, and or don't see the benefit like convience gained from going to VHS to DVD. Make a way for them to test drive, it could work out well, though I doubt you'd test drive with this device, or most DVD players that lack the bandwidth or codecs to play.
My only thought is, do you put an hd-dvd in and record it to DVD or is it some sort of DVR capture device. I'd think the studios may have major issues with this. Not sure if I'd call it a win for HD-DVD, but it is interesting none the less.
Also, as much as I enjoy BR slander, please drop the BR rot. It is no longer a problem, it affected few movies(if I remember right, only 1), CDs had a similar problem when they first came out, and I'm sure something similar will be discovered with some fly by night cheap method of manufacturing HD-DVD as happens with all formats, no matter how well defined, have issues when first deployed. I don't think I ever used rot when pointing out problems with BR, and there is a reason for it.
By good comparison, I mean the standard AV user who isn't a videophile walking into stores like Best Buy.
This is awesome. This is why HD DVD is going to break the market wide open. It's been proven time and time again, give your consumers options, and we'll buy your product in spades.
We want OUR content, HOW we want it. Toshiba, MS and HDDVD understand this, and that's why I give them my hard earned $$.
Hey I have an idea! Let's make the next HD DVD recorder record to HD DVD's !!
What??? So because this is using red laser and DVD medium, the maximum data transfer is 11 Mbit/s (or 9.8 Mbit/s for video only) and therefore, the HD recorded material will have a PQ that looks like crap? Just as a reference, HD-DVD max video data transfer is 29.4 Mbit/s. Also, what resolution will this record at - 720p? If this is the case, this recorder may be suitable for only flat panels smaller than 50" and considering the $$$$ price, what's the point? PVR is obviously the better choice and for viewing films on HDM, BD-R for maximum quality transfers. HD-DVD recording is dead (and old spec) imho.
hd-purist-
I agree that there has to be something up. If regular dvd media could hold a full resolution HD movie we would have seen them ship. DVD's have production costs in the pennies per disk.
I'm guessing like all things computer they compressed the quality right out of the content but kept the resolution, like xbox360 downloads. It will look better than a dvd in most cases but this still won't hold a candle to D-VHS or a 'real' hd recorder.
If I could set the compression rate and get less time per disk I'd like that.
BTW this is only for the Asian /European markets. US is way behind the curve in broadcast standards at this point.
There is no way a single layer DVD can hold 2 hours of HD content. Maybe they meant a dual layer DVD?
I like this alot. But no USA model, and two hours max recording time is a bad limitation. Having a hard drive does help with limitation. Does anyone know if content on hard drive can be transfered to computer for archival purposes?
I don't know, I've seen some pretty nice 1080p and 720p HD video in the pre-VC1 WMV-HD and H.264 codecs, encoded at about 8Mbps. That really limits it to about an hour per layer though, and I think that used a multi-pass encoder with some tweaking. Real time encoding usually means single pass, no manual setting tweaks and that's not going to get as good of a result.
hmmm Team red is hot at the moment? the biggest selling title didn't out sell Blu which will now leave Blu winning every week this year. Have you not heard the Warner comments this week? Team Blu is the whose hot my friend.
Your kidding A1 aren't you??
$98 Toshiba HD DVD players, the 2 top retail chains in the land exclusive to HD DVD and HD DVD is not hot?
What has BR done in the last 6 months ?
Nothing, that's what, and I'd happily have a wager that if Warner goes exclusive, it wont be to support a unspecified, more expensive format whose only supply of players is via the PS3 to post pubescent teenage boys.
Paramount said when they went exclusive that HD DVD had big things planned for Q4, they were right, Warner will follow.
I think your the one kidding:
http://www.homemediamagazine.com/news/html/breaking_article.cfm?article_id=11449
Warner are happy with Blu, all year they've given HD-DVD the pick of the pile and HD-DVD still cannot outsell Blu. Now Warner will don it the other way around and we'll see how that works.
Wow Toshiba drops the price yet again, how many times have they tried this and how many times has it not worked. If cheap players are the biggest factor in this format war why aren't Toshiba winning? They are miles cheaper than than any Blu players, but Blu still continues to out sell them.
Oh and Paramounts big plans, wasn't that what happened with the Jack Ryan box set? :)
Never mind the standard BR rhetoric, how about answering the question.
You say HD DVD is NOT hot at the moment,even though they are delivering players from $98 to the mass market via the worlds largest shopping chains, paramount exclusivity, WMart, KMart,Sears, largest selling HD disc in history, WM prime time TV ads, etc, how can you possibly say HD DVD is not hot at the moment, that's just typical negative blu sony spin.
What has BR done in the last 6 months that could be remotely classed as HOT?.... NOTHING.
And don't say you have won disc sales, 60% of 1% of the market means nothing for either format,as well as that, sales numbers are history.
What has BR done to ensure victory going forward in the last 6 months...ZIP, they don't even have specified playing equipment, disgraceful, and if you are hanging your hat on a games console you are deluded.
BR is to busy having spin parties and telling themselves how good they are with typical sony arrogance, while Toshiba has got on with the business of mass production and distribution.
Do you want to take the bet over Warner?
Hmmm, strange i said it all in a previous post...anyway of course i will include the figures, what you don't think there important? To out sell your opponent isn't relevant? nice one.
Blu ray outselling HD all year, including Transformers week.(BOGOF smart planning)
PS3 price drop (if it plays Blu Rays its a Blu ray player)
If Toshibas market planning is "hot" ie free discs blah blah Blu have done the same, the funny thing is the $98 player is wallmart's choice not Toshiba, clearance?
Its funny you mention spin parties cause Warner (HD-DVD lovers?) were the ones doing all the talking.
America is not the world my friend, Wallmart counts for nothing in Europe and Asia, where Blu is also dominating.
Yep i'll take the warner bet anytime.
Is that the best you can come up with, really?
BOGOF & World domination, you sound like Dr.Evil, appropriate for a sony fanboy.
BOGOF-Yet another opportunity for BR to loose bucket loads of money by artificially fudging the figures, and world BR domination?
Yip, you convinced me, BR is way hotter than HD DVD at the moment, the things HD DVD are doing at the moment pale into insignificance compared to those mighty feats. How can i argue with that!
As I said, 60% of 1% of total DVD sales worldwide is a disgrace for either side, but hey, you hang your hat on that 1 buddy, because that is all you have got.
Is it your turn to troll this site at the moment, when are you due back at BR central?
If Warner goes blu, I will purchase a BR player, even if they are ridiculously over priced and under specified, will you buy a HD DVD player?
I love the fact that you think Blu-ray is 'dominating' in Europe, when really it's made little or no impact. Sony barely bothers releasing any players here, and when it does, they are so expensive that no one bothers buying them. The PS3 is selling modestly, but that's really it.
What's more, many of the EU movie studios are backing HD DVD becuase of its simplicity and low cost.
When did i say BOGOF free was world domination? Just a good idea that counter struck your biggest release and it worked well. Don't make things up now.
Dr. Evil? Nice to see you started name calling (i like it though:))
I seem to forget what HD-DVD is doing to be so "hot", giving away free movies with players (both sides do so) giving players away with movies (both sides have done so) dropping prices? Like i said which you nicely avoided was that Wallmart are dropping prices not Toshiba.
Yes your comment about % is true, embarrassing for both formats but do you think the figures would be so poor without a war? i think not. But the fact is Blu has consistently outsold HD-DVD all year, not a few times, all year so how can you say they are "hot"?
The only thing Tosh is doing is running out of ideas.
I wasn't trolling actually the opposite giving my 2 cents (as what these comment pages are meant for) that if they wanted to do better sales they should release this this in America.
If Warner go HD-DVD i will buy a player (just for you my friend, thats a promise) but not in a million years will it be a Toshiba model, can you recommend any others? :)
Hello, thanks for joining the conversation, now, i live in the UK and i was a manager (in the despatch dept) for Europe's second biggest online store for three years. I receive every week updated figures for the amount of Blu-Ray and HD-DVD's sold and pre-ordered and all i can say to you is that you don't know, you just don't know.
Just because YOU don't see a dent doesn't mean there isn't one. Hows the HD-DVD section in woolworths? (there isn't one) hows it in HMV (2 rows compared to 8 in store) blockbuster? Where are you from? tell me and i'll tell how your country's doing. Germany? Poland? i have the figures do you?
And before you say blah blah don't believe you give me your address and i'll prove it.
You got a split personality A1?????.. I mean,WTF?
Hi! Sorry i don't understand, did i sound rude? My apologies if i did!
I am so annoyed with waiting for HD recorders I could scream! In fact I could put a flower pot on my head, run around the house and scream some more! I remember in 2001 when I got my 65 inch HD set. I figured I might have a long wait. Like until 2003 or 2004. I never imagined I would be shopping in 2006 only to be disappointed and end up now in 2007 STILL searching for a HD recorder. I have seen articles as far back as 2001 that seemed to promise this on ugly vhs tapes etc. Last year I thought I saw some HD recorders, but it was all too new. Now at Xmas 2007 and going into 2008, Toshiba proudly announces an HD HD recorder that also records to DVD in...
IN Japan! What in the heck is wrong. Are they sleeping or what? I am getting old waiting for a good HDTV recorder that can also print to high def DVD's. I did find another option. Maybe I can record HDTV to my computer and haul the computer into the TV room. Maybe that's what I will do..
Sorry for the rant, but the flower pot on my head is heavy! ;-)