Andre Yoskowitz
28 Aug 2008 14:43
In a move that can only be described as strange, Panasonic has launched a new personal video recorder in Japan that includes both a Blu-ray writing drive and more strangely, a VHS deck.
The recorder can be useful though, as I am sure there are many of us out there that have personal videos of family still on VHS however to see a VHS deck next to a Blu-ray recorder is something you don't see everyday.
In addition to the deck and the drive, there is a built-in 320GB HDD for storage and TV recording as well as a USB 2.0 port and an SD card slot. There are two HDMI connections, digital and analog TV tuners and second generation MPEG-4 AVC H.264 encoder chips. There is also an ethernet port and Panasonic says a video download service is coming soon.
The DMR-BR630V is set to hit the Japanese market soon with a price equivalent to $1,456 USD.