DMR-BR30: Panasonic's Blu-Ray Recorder With Swappable HDD

Serkan Toto

Dr. Serkan Toto is an independent consultant and advisor focusing on Japan’s web, mobile and social gaming industries. Based in Tokyo, he works together with financial institutions and startups worldwide. Serkan has been the Japan contributor for TechCrunch.com since 2008. He is sept-lingual, holds an MBA and is a PhD in economics. → Learn More

Wednesday, January 12th, 2011

Blu-ray recorders with integrated HDDs aren’t really new, but what the DMR-BR30, announced [JP] today by Panasonic for the Japanese market, offers is: a slot for swappable HDDs. The company says the idea here is to transfer the functionality VHS cassettes used to offer to the present (well, OK).

Needless to say, you can’t take any HDD but have to get Panasonic’s DY-HDD500 ($240), which features 500GB, connects via USB and can only be used in this recorder. Users can copy video from Blu-ray discs or DVDs to the HDD and vice versa.

The device supports BDXL and comes with an HDMI interface, Ethernet, one digital TV tuner and an SD card slot. Panasonic will start selling the DMR-BR30 in Japan on February 25 for $600.

Via AV Watch [JP]

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