During the Ceatec show in Japan, Toshiba plans to launch three HD DVD recorders. All three are able to transcode in real-time an off-the-air MPEG2 high-definition signal into the MPEG4 AVC compression system which is more efficient. That means the recorded content will be stored in less space than usual, so a single layer HD DVD-R disc will contain about 6 hours of content, Toshiba says. Thus, it seems it is possible to store about 2 hours of content on a DVD-R using the recently standardized HD REC format.

The three models are: the high-end RD-X7 recorder, the RD-A101 and RD-A201. The first features 1080p video output at 24 frames per second. About the other two, Toshiba didn’t make available specs information.

The HD DVD recorders will be released in the forthcoming weeks due to the serried competition with the Blu-ray recorders produced by Sony, Panasonic and Sharp.

It looks like today is Samsung announcement day. There are news about the long waited CES announced DLP models in the 76 , 87 and 89 series that are now live. The models we’re talking about are all 1080p with 3 HDMI plugs, are 3D-ready if you get the $100 kit that includes the LCD glasses and are getting refreshed with 10,000:1 contrast ratios. The 87 series also have CinemaSmooth LED Light Engine and the 89 series adds Bluetooth headphone capability. The prices are as follows:

Samsung DLP 76 Series

50-inch : $1,899
56-inch : $2,199
61-inch : $2,599

Samsung DLP 87 Series

50-inch : $2,299
56-inch : $2,599
61-inch : $2,999

Samsung DLP 89 Series

50-inch : $2,499
56-inch : $2,799
61-inch : $3,199

Another news from Samsung is that they are launching a 94 series 1080p plasma HDTV with WiFi. How sweet is this? It has a 15,000:1 contrast ratio, 3 CEC HDMI ports, 18-bit color processing, USB, ATSC / clear QAM tuners and Ultra FilterBright light diffusion. What adds up is the 802.11n WiFi to stream up to 1080i video.

The prices are :

94 series

50-inch : $3,600
58-inch : $5,300 - both to go out during the fourth quarter of 2007

84 series

58-inch : $4,700 - will go live in September.

Source : Engadget 1, 2

Today Samsung Electronics has introduced the largest (70″) commercially available full high-definition LCD TV in Korea. The new model employs a light-emitting diode (LED) backlight instead of the conventional cold cathode fluorescent lamp (CCFL). In addition, the local dimming technology delivers a dynamic contrast ratio of 500,000:1. Another advantage of this technology is the low power consumption (50% less than a normal TV).

“I am pleased to introduce the 70” Full-HD LCD TV with innovative Local Dimming Technology,” said JongWoo Park, President of the Digital Media Business, Samsung Electronics. “Samsung will continue to strengthen its LCD TV leadership, enhancing Full-HD and large screen LCD TV line-up.”

Samsung’s LED scanning eliminates ghosting problems appeared at moving images. The new 70” full-HD LCD TV inspires elegance and sophistication by incorporating high quality materials. It features dual hidden speakers and rear woofer that deliver rich sound quality.

Samsung announced to put the product on sale worldwide in the second half of this year. No price details were revealed.

It looks like someone is after Sony’s Bravia name, logo and color schemes. It’s Toshiba that has a new product, Vardia RD-A600 that is a HD DVD player with a HDD recorder of 600GB and RD-A300 with 300GB of space. The two models have a pair of digital hi-vision HD tuners, Firewire and HDMI.

The new Toshiba Vardia is pretty smart and can write on HD DVD-R and DVD-RAM/R/RW media but the price is high, ¥200,000 about $1,650 (for the 600GB model). Release date is later this year.

[Impress JP - translation]