Pioneer Corp and TDK Corp are developing DVD recorders that can copy recorded TV programs four times faster than normal speed, increasing competition against a DVD standard made by rival Japanese electronics makers.
The companies plan to propose the system this year to a DVD standards certification organization formed by electric equipment makers and movie distributors, said Pioneer company spokesman Makoto Kuzuhara.
The DVD recorder under development by Pioneer, a maker of audio-visual products, and TDK will be able to transfer a 2-hour television program from its built-in hard disk to a DVD in about 30 minutes, the Nihon Keizai newspaper reported earlier. Pioneer in late November introduced a DVD recorder in Japan that records at twice normal speed, grabbing two-fifths of the market share both by volume and value the following month.
"There's growing demand for DVD players and recorders," said Naohiko Sasaki, who helps manage Japanese yen 360 billion (US$2.9 billion) in Japanese equities at Kokusai Asset Management Co.
Electronics makers' groups are accelerating technology development to try to gain market share and get their standard accepted. Losers may be forced to switch in a manner similar to Sony Corp's experience in the 1980s video-cassette recorder market, when the VHS standard promoted by Matsushita Electric Industrial Co beat out Sony's Betamax products.
The release of faster DVD recorders will generate a new round of competition as Pioneer and TDK, Japan's biggest maker of magnetic parts for hard-disk drives, try to establish their rewritable DVD as the market standard, taking on a more popular format made by Matsushita, Toshiba Corp and Hitachi Ltd.
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