 Toshiba RD-X1 Prototype |
Even more on-target was Toshiba's exciting combination of an 80-GB hard drive with a DVD recorder, which had the obviously prototype-only product number of RD-X1. If Toshiba handles the final feature set on this unit correctly, you might be able to edit material recorded on the drive before you record it to DVD. This could get around the distinctly limited and somewhat clumsy editing procedures possible with plain DVD recorders.
 Pioneer's High Definition DVD Recorder |
Feeling BlueTied with digital/satellite radio for most exciting technologies at this show were, for me, the various prototypes of high-definition DVD recorders, all using some form of blue laser. (The short wavelength of blue laser light allows it to be focused down to a much smaller spot than the red lasers used in DVD recorders and the infrared lasers used in CD recorders. And smaller spots mean high recording densities.) I saw units from Pioneer, Samsung, and Toshiba, with the latter company being brave enough to expose its blue-laser mechanism to public view. Panasonic, in a private session with the S&V staff, unveiled its version of a high-definition recorder capable of recording more than 4 hours of HD video on a double-layer disc using a new form of laser. I'm going to save my detailed coverage of this development for my column in the April issue, but I can say here that this is the first consumer product I've seen that uses nonlinear optical processes to generate blue laser light from a relatively inexpensive and long-lived infrared laser. I never thought I'd see this technology at the consumer level since the only other application I'd heard about were lasers designed to zap incoming missiles.
