This player may be enough to make me go Blu. I've been waiting for the next generation to gain a HDD, and this may be it!

http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/04/08...er-to-walkman/

link doesnt work for me

Do you even think this will come out in America? This should be moved to the Blu-ray Player thread that is stickied.

This kind of high end Sony stuff usually stays in Japan. Pretty cool though.

Unlikely. The DVD recorder market is huge business in Japan, but practically non-existent in this country.

And only $1,658 U.S. It's a bargain!

Sorry, my limit is $1,600 for a niche format player recorder thingie majig mahboob.

If it could play Beta I'd be down.

lol!!!

There is no way this will make it to the U.S. market anytime soon. I can just see all the movie studios going ape shit over this. I know Sony is a movie studio but come on! Remember the DAT issues from the 80s.

Is it less than $200?

Then I'm not interested.

i think it's really obvious that this is exactly what we don't need - another overpriced standalone player that only does a handful of things.

the recording capabilities are nice, but transfering video to only certain phones or psp's kind of defeats the purpose...

my ideal player:
-blu-ray player
-ethernet connection for streaming the latest releases in HD
-USB port for external hard drive with ability to play MKV/h264 files, as well as quicktime, avi, divx, etc.
-ability to read MKV/h264 and divx from data discs
-cost under $300

Additional options:
internal hard drive
bd-r and rw capabilities
recording from OTA and cable broadcasting to HDD or disc

are my hopes unrealistic?
please dont say "buy a PS3" as they dont decode MKV/h264 directly, plus it's a game console.

and decode HD DVD

Well, not yet anyway.


And I agree that the player the OP mentioned will not likely get a release here. As Josh says, the DVD recorder market in Japan is much bigger than here. Don't forget that the very first Blu-ray players were actually Blu-ray recorders released in Japan back around 2003 (those ones used caddies and are incompatible with current machines and software though)

do you know something i don't?

I doubt it actually copies commercial Blu-ray discs though. It could just be a combination of a DVR (with transfer of TV programs to BD-R), and BD player, also with the ability to transfer to portable devices in low quality.