By Matthew Henry
JAPAN: Sony will drop standard DVD recorders and go Blu-ray-only in the recorder market, according to reports today, which suggest the company will concentrate more on pushing for adoption of Blu-ray Disc technology.
IDG’s PC World today reported that Sony made the announcement on Wednesday in Japan when the company unveiled four new Blu-ray recorders, which are scheduled to be available in Japan before the end of the year.
According to the article, Sony Corp would cease producing standard DVD recorders and would shift its focus to the high-end HD recorder market with Blu-ray recorders, which would also be backwards compatible with DVD.
The move would see Sony push for faster adoption of the Blu-ray format as it battles with HDDVD to be the preferred high definition optical disc format for consumers.
No time frame for the changeover to Blu-ray-only has been announced except that all future models would be Blu-ray rather than DVD.
Current.com.au contacted Sony Australia for comment, but the company could not confirm the veracity of the report.
“Locally we don’t have any further information for you at this point,” said a Sony spokesperson.
“The transition from DVD to Blu-ray is a natural progression but we must stress that DVD remains a great format and we don’t foresee the demise of DVD any time soon in Australia.”