Mitsubishi's AVCREC Blu-ray recorders stuff HD content onto standard DVDs

by Thomas Ricker, posted Mar 18th 2008 at 4:52AM

Toshiba was first to score a high def recorder capable of stuffing HD content onto your choice of hard disk, blue-laser disc, or standard DVD. However, its HD Rec solution suffers from one little problem: the recently deceased HD DVD format. Now Mitsubishi steps into the void with a pair of 500GB DVR-BZ200 and 250GB DVR-BZ200 Blu-ray recorders. Both feature support for Blu-ray's AVCREC specification allowing them to record about 2 hours of Full HD (1,920 x 1,080) content in MPEG4 AVC/H.264 format direct to standard 4.7GB DVDs. That's about 8 hours to a single-sided Blu-ray disc. Now the catch, the standard is limited to ISDB broadcasts making this a Japan-only solution for the time being. Nevertheless, we expect to see more AVCREC capable devices including camcorders and PC optical drives as the standard prepares for take off. Damn you ATSC!

[Via Akihabara News and Impress]

Filed under: Industry, Blu-ray, Recorders, Mitsubishi

Tags: avcrec, blu-ray, breaking news, BreakingNews, dvd, dvr-bz100, dvr-bz200, hd rec, HdRec, isdb, japan, mitsubishi

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Neutral

Xyzzy @ Mar 18th 2008 9:06AM

Just remember that you probably won't be able to take those DVDs and play them on older BD players.

http://www.blu-raydisc.info/format_spec/avcrec_specs.php

Neutral

Harry D @ Mar 18th 2008 10:26AM

Recorders of this type get my vote. I'm quite disinterested in Blu-Ray and won't buy one, but am very interested in HD on DVD. Personally, I think BR is DOA. Downloadable content is where it's all going, so money spent on a BR player is wasted, IMO.

However, home theater PCs notwithstanding, I still would like a way to record HDTV. Right now I do it using Windows Media Center, but the dvr-ms format's DRM is so locked down there's not much that can be done with it once it's recorded, except view it on the same machine.

Here's to hoping for another format war (that Sony can't buy their way out of, this time).

Highly Ranked

mntwister @ Mar 18th 2008 10:29AM

Sorry that hd-dvd lost, but resentments will tax your immune system and shorten your life. Downloads in the mainstream takning over are years away. Sorry you will be missing out on uncompressed pictures and uncompressed sound, it's your loss. Enjoy the huge compression!

Neutral

Harry D @ Mar 18th 2008 10:48AM

@ mntwister:

When compression is done properly it is a space saver while preserving the beauty of the image. DVDs are compressed within an inch of their lives using the old MPEG2, and they still look great. The main problem is that they're standard def (720X480).

Nothing is infinite (except for human stupidity, to paraphrase Einstein), and even BR disks have finite space. Which means compression. I work in this industry, and believe me, there's nothing on the consumer front that has both capacity and, especially, bandwidth, to play full HD uncompressed. And wait for 4K to come.

All the modern codecs, including AVCHD, are really brilliant pieces of engineering. And remember - the point of engineering is not to use as much horsepower as possible (anyone can do that), but to make something that's robust, yet with as little resources as possible.

The point is, if it looks good, who cares how much it's compressed?

Neutral

ProfWho @ Mar 18th 2008 11:08AM

Another day and another bitter HD-DVD supporter.

Compression done right is fine and all, but I do not know of too many people with the bandwidth to get downloadable content with image quality as good as that you can get with BD. Not to mention even if it you have to download it first it still will take awhile. I don't think people will be downloading 20 gigs in 20 to 30 minutes. If it is streaming well most people do not have connections that are fast enough to stream BD quality video nor do they probably want to pay for that as well (judging from how many people have DSL).

But I am sure that if HD-DVD won you would be singing a different tune.

Neutral

Harry D @ Mar 18th 2008 1:10PM

@ ProfWho

Where did the words "HD-DVD" appear in any of my posts? And especially, note my last sentence in the last post. However, regardless of how good BR is, I do think Sony has maneuvered a de-facto monopoly on consumers, for primo dollars; they are doing it through licensing their patents. This isn't good for any of us. If you want to be a fan-boy and pay the extra dollars, fine.

I'm very glad to see Mitsubishi make something that might compete well with Sony's licensing for BR, which is jacking up the prices worldwide.

As for me, I've gotten away from disc as much as possible, so HD-DVD ain't my thing, either. But I *would* like a way to archive HD content. I don't give a hoot what it's on. That's why HD on DVD looks good to me.

As for you, learn how to read. See my comment about Einstein.

Neutral

EatingPie @ Mar 18th 2008 1:16PM

If you work in the industry, why don't you know that Blu-Ray recorders were first to market in Japan by about 2-3 years? How is this DOA?

"Compression done right" is indeed the key. And given the noticeable digital artifacts on so many HD-DVD and lowest-common-denominator Blu-Rays (compressed to fit on HD-DVD and put on Blu-Ray too) I have seen, obviously the "done right" is sorely lacking in the industry. We still get DVDs that have noticeable artifacts even after so long in the industry.

The basic fact of the matter is that more space gives you a better chance at a "compression done right." And I don't think there's been a single "compression done wrong" on any of the 35-45 GB Blu-Ray encodes, based on my own viewing and reviews on the net.

If HD-DVD couldn't get rid of noticeable/distracting artifacts, there's very little hope for 1080p digital downloads (note that XBL and iTunes don't even try 1080p, they're both 720p).

-Pie

Neutral

Harry D @ Mar 18th 2008 3:17PM

@EatingPie:

Yes. More is always better, but there's a price that goes along with that. Yet, it's a formula: simply put, one needs enough space given the program details (resolution, bit rate, length etc) and quality desired. Were 4.7GB DVDs adequate? Not for full-length films encoded to MPEG, which is an inefficient format.

So 9GB DVD-9s were being pressed for commercial products to achieve the quality desired. (They always do cheaper if they can, and DVD-5s are cheaper than DVD-9s). Sometimes they'd squeeze a 2+ hour movie onto a DVD-5, using a high compression rates, and there're the artifacts. Particularly in dark scenes. But throw it on a 30GB disk, and whammo, if there's an artifact there'd better be a really good reason. And that's fine.

But my question is this: can a DVD-5 be adequate for HD using another codec? Maybe. There are quite a few out there that look really nice, all better than MPEG2. I'd like to see how they do.

But people keep taking this discussion back to the HD-DVD vs BR debate, which it is not. I'm a "download" kind of guy, so I'm not a fan of either. I would, though, like to see how far regular old 4.7GB DVD5 can be pushed. But people are just so foolish; so damned eager to jump on one side or the other and say, "I am right!!" even when there's no side to jump to.

And we haven't even discussed monitoring and the quality thereof.

Anyway, the Russians have an interesting phrase: they say, "The Best" is the enemy of "Good Enough." And to tell the truth, "good enough" is good enough, for me anyway.

Neutral

ProfWho @ Mar 18th 2008 3:54PM

@Harry D

Just because you prefer Blu-ray over shitty VoD services does not automatically make you a Sony fanboy. Sorry you fail. When you start whining about Sony monopoly and how Blu-ray is evil, you sound like one of the many HD-DVD fans who are still licking their wounds.

You can whine about Sony as much as you like, but the fact remains that Blu-ray is now the best home HD experience and will continue to be for a few years now.

Sorry, but I will not pay for crappy compressed 5.1 sound downloadable movies. They are not as good as blu-ray anyway you cut it and the only reason to hate on blu-ray is because you hate Sony. I could give a damn who makes blu-ray. Hell, it is not like Microsoft, Apple, Vuduu, or anyone else are this benevolent companies trying to do us all a favor. They are all as greedy as the next. It is called capitalism.

Neutral

jason w @ Mar 18th 2008 11:46AM

So is thing using DVD2.0 or something? Will the HD content it records play on a upconverter player?

Neutral

mitchelljd @ Mar 18th 2008 1:27PM

I think a device like this is a terrific idea.

I would love nothing more than a BD recorder to be able to save programming recorded on my DVR for future enjoyment.

Also... to be able to watch something recorded where and when i like instead of being tied down to a home media server.

The option to record on DVD seems to be at best a temporary solution to the high costs of Recordable BD. which i hope will change over time and as it becomes wider adopted.

this is exciting, but i hope that soon recorders come to other countries than Japan.

Having BD recorders will help speed adoption, they ought to get them rolling out. Also compatibility with existing players and PS3 would be terrific!

Neutral

Iridium @ Mar 19th 2008 4:47PM

What is the point of recording a movie to a DVD-9 if it can't be played in a DVD player. I don't know of any DVD players that can play that MP4 format.

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