Philips Electronics Singapore announced last Friday the availability of its first DVD player/recorder that uses DVD+RW discs for Asia and Australia.
The DVDR 1000 can record and play TV programs and home movies. It records video in high-quality MPEG2 DVD format and writes in real time onto DVD+RW discs.
At a press conference, the company said it is targeting home users and creative institutions like media and publishing houses, but will focus on camcorder users who are keen to transfer their recordings from tape to DVD for easy archiving and distribution.
Didier Juin, vice president and general manager for Philips' DVD+RW business, said in a press statement that "our product combines best picture and sound recording quality with the appreciated benefits of the DVD video format."
Philips claims there are many advantages to using the DVD+RW format, which was developed jointly with major manufacturers like Hewlett-Packard, Sony, Thomson and Yamaha.
Besides being rewritable up to 1,000 times, DVD+RW's biggest plus is its compatibility with existing home DVD players and PC-based DVD-ROM drives. Philip's offering is expected to be incompatible with only a small number of first-generation DVD devices.
The player/recorder also features a built-in PAL TV tuner that can record TV programs onto high-quality DVD+RW discs, just like a videocassette recorder (VCR). The DVDR 1000 even has a programming mode that allows preset timed recordings.
To accommodate most video connections, the 8.8kg device will come with iLink (IEEE 1394 FireWire), RF tuner, composite video, SCART, and S-video input.
There are four recording modes. The High Quality mode gives about 1 hour of recording on a single side of 4.7GB DVD+RW disc, and is supposed to be comparable to studio master recordings. The Standard Play mode records at DVD quality of up to 2 hours. The Long Play (3 hours) mode is meant for recordings that are better than S-VHS, while the Extended Play (4 hours) mode is intended for better-than-S-VHS recordings.
The device supports Dolby Digital 2.0 recording as well as Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS playback.
To activate, users need only press a record button. Simple video-editing functions are bundled to provide features such as markers to split a video clip.
The DVDR 1000 is expected to ship to Australia and other parts of Asia (outside Japan) from the first week of November.
Philips said the DVDR 1000 will retail for AU$4,699, together with a universal remote control and one piece of DVD+RW media. Additional recording media can be purchased separately at AU$39.95 apiece.
Philips also revealed that it will be launching a record-once DVD+R disc early next year.
He confirmed that DVD+RW recording media from other manufacturers can be used with the DVDR 1000, but could not comment on whether the recorder is compatible for use with double-density or double-sided DVD+RW discs.
Philips Electronics is one of the biggest electronics manufacturers in the world. Known for being one of the pioneer companies which developed the CD-audio format in 1980, the firm was also involved in the creation of the DVD video format in 1997.
DVDR 1000
Company:Philips Australia
Ph: 1300 363 391
Price: Au$4,699
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