Audio Video News

Pioneer will unveil its first BD recorders before March 2009.

Before you get excited, the introduction is currently for Japan only, and Sony has been selling BD recorders in Japan since 2006.

The product is a joint effort of Pioneer and Sharp and will satisfy what Pioneer says is a strong Japanese demand. The recorder will be sold under the Pioneer brand, presumably giving the company a leg up in the Japanese BD market, 98 percent of which is controlled by Sony and Sharp.

Whether Pioneer will be more willing than Sony to bring recordable Blu-ray Stateside remains to be seen, and the wishes of the motion picture studios may be a factor. But with HD DVD format dead and DVD sales starting to decline, Blu-ray may move in directions that were previously unexplored.

Let's hope recordable BD is one of them. It is a better recordable alternative than clunky D-VHS tapes and hard drives with nonremovable storage.

See Associated Press report.