14 DAY TRIAL // Although the 128GB storage space touted by the new BDXL standard sounds pretty sweet, nobody can deny the fact that Blu-ray XL recorders are still way to expensive for most of us, but Panasonic is set to change that with its new DMR-BR585 unit that is bound to hit Japan this month.
Featuring pretty much all the bells and whistles that one would expect from a present day Blu-ray recorder, Panasonic's offering can store your favorite TV shows either on the included 320GB internal hard disk or on a 100GB multi-layered recordable BDXL disc as it seems that 128GB discs are not supported.
Furthermore, content can also be recorded from the hard to a BDXL disc or vice versa, this unit managing to offer an impressive functionality in this regard.
Captured video in encoded using either the MPEG-2 or MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 standard, Panasonic stating that one BDXL drive can store up to 86 hours and 40 minutes of Full HD Blu-ray content, enough, I would say, even for the most die hard TV freaks out there.
Connectivity wise, the DMR-BR585 features a HDMI input, a SD card slot as well as Ethernet networking, although Panasonic does not state if this device features any kind of Internet streaming (or what streaming services are supported).
But the most interesting part of the DMR-BR585 is its pricing, since this will become available at $780, a pretty low price tag for a BDXL recorder, making this technology available to a wider audience than before, although I still think it will take some time for this to become mainstream.
However good this may sound to you, the sad part is this Blu-ray XL recorder will be available only in Japan for now, starting November 25, Panasonic keeping pretty quiet when it comes down to details about international sales plans. (via CrunchGear)