Even sooner than that, apparently:

Sony unveils Blu-ray Disc optical disk recorder-player

Tuesday, March 4, 2003 at 09:20 JST
TOKYO — Sony Corp said Monday it will start marketing on April 10 an ultra-large-memory Blu-ray Disc video recorder-player combining optical disk and blue laser technologies.

The Blu-ray Disc, an optical disk-based video recording technology, provides 23 gigabyte storage memory capacity — five times that of DVD.

The Sony recorder-player, codenamed "BDZ-S77," will sell for 450,000 yen. It comes with a BS digital decoder for receiving digital video signals beamed from broadcasting satellites.

In the event that the technology is used to record conventional TV programs beamed from terrestrial TV broadcasting stations, each disk can hold up to 12 hours of such content. The Sony recorder-player also can play back DVD and CD.

In tandem with the April release of the recorder-player, Sony will put on the market Blu-ray recording disks that will carry a retail price of 3,500 yen per disk.


Regards

Mark