When will I be able to buy a Blu-ray Disc recorder?
You’ll probably have to wait until 2005-2006 for Blu-ray recorders to become commonly available. The driving force behind the development of Blu-ray Disc recorders is the need to record HDTV programming and currently the only country where HDTV is well established is Japan. There’s still only two different Blu-ray Disc recorders available to consumers in Japan (the Sony BDZ-S77 and Panasonic DMR-E700BD), but as you can see in our Blu-ray Recorders section, most well-known consumer electronics companies have their own prototype Blu-ray Disc recorder in development, so we expect to see more Blu-ray recorders on the Japanese market during 2004. According to Sony of America’s senior vice president Mike Fidler, products based on the Blu-ray Disc format are not likely to be available in the United States until late 2005 or early 2006. However, LG Electronics has stated that they have plans to introduce a Blu-ray Disc recorder in the United States in the third quarter of 2004.
