Pioneer Corporation announced today the introduction in Japan of the DVR-530H and DVR-555H, the world's first DVD recorders with built-in HDD to incorporate the Dual Layer DVD-R (DVD-R DL) technology, which allows recording up to 24 hours of content on a single DVD-R DL disc. In accordance with a rapid expansion of the DVD recorder market in Japan, the DVD format has now practically become the standard for recording TV programs at home in Japan.
For the HDD, the DVR-530H (equipped with a 200 GB HDD) can record up to about 569 hours, and the DVR-555H (with a 250 GB HDD) up to about 711 hours. Also the new recorders are equipped with the "XP+ recording mode" (to HDD), which allows recording even better quality images at 15 Mbps, besides the previous highest picture-quality recording mode "XP" (10 Mbps). The industry's fastest high-speed copy capability of approximately 100x speed (HDD to DVD-R) makes it possible to copy a one-hour program in about 40 seconds.
The DVR-530H and DVR-555H will be available in early May and early June respectively in the Japanese market. No retail prices of these models are suggested. Check out the press release (Source) for more information on the new recorders.
Source:
Pioneer.co.jp (Press Release)












