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Pioneer Introduces 1st DVD Recorder (In Japan)

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the steam-rising-from-the-riaas-forehead dept.

sanemind noted that Pioneer has announced the world's first consumer level DVD Recorder. Although they are only available in Japan, and the blanks will cost 30-plus bucks, it's still pretty sweet.

2 of 82 comments (clear)

  1. Um...yea by pirodude · · Score: 4

    Though is is quite good news I must say u probably should visit the link before posting. If you did you would see:

    Tokyo, Japan, November 25, 1999

  2. Read The Small Print by DeepPurple · · Score: 5

    It looks like disks recorded on this will not be playable on legacy DVD players. The article says:

    Pioneer, as well as other major hardware manufacturers, will introduce Video Recording Format-ready DVD-Video players, and it will be possible to replay DVD-RW recorded discs on those players too

    It also mentions that the Video Recording Format could be made compliant with DVD video but hasn't, you can probably guess the reason why.

    As for copy protection macrovision is added on output and is not encoded onto the disk. Thus using the analogue input (scrubbed of macrovision) it should be possible to copy disks. As far as I know no one has incorporated an analogue Copy Generation Management System into DVD. I assume that the digital system will let you make one digital copy of a disk then stop any further copies. The disks that have CSS would probably have the appropriate flags to stop digital output working on a player with this facility (non exist yet).

    The article goes further:

    Furthermore, the DVR-1000 implements secure media ID detection functions, which form a key element in disabling playback of discs containing unauthorized copies.
    I assume that this means that each DVD-RW contains a ID so that only their disks can be used. However I don't see how this could be used to prevent unorthorized copies (you just need to use their recorders and media).

    It is not at all clear if you could record digital TV (cable or satallite) in a digital manor onto these devices. Would the cable company for you to pay for the privilege of recording their programs or would they prevent it and force you to buy a device such as a ReplayTV ?

    In short this is a technology that has been hamstrung by the movie studios.

    -dp