Toshiba Unveils High-Tech TV Recorder

Away from home for a few weeks and missing your favorite television programs? Toshiba will release a new DVD video recorder in Japan in January with a hard drive capable of recording up to 208 hours of programs.

The recorder also allows users to remotely manage program recording using e-mail, from a computer or from a mobile phone, the company announced Wednesday.

The RD-X3, Toshiba's latest DVD-RAM/DVD-R video recorder, has a 160GB hard drive. The Tokyo company claims it offers the largest hard drive capacity in the market. In addition, the DVD-RAM/-R drive can record 12 hours of video on a 9.4GB double-sided DVD-RAM disc, the company said in a statement.

The product can be set to record 32 different programs up to two months in advance, it said.

Remote Control

The recorder includes an Ethernet terminal. By connecting with an in-house LAN and the Internet, it can receive data and commands by e-mail messages from other devices, including mobile phones.

Using the same function, the DVD recorder can be remotely controlled by a home PC, and titles and images created on, or downloaded to, a home PC can be sent to the video recorder and added to the DVD-R disc menu during recording.

The RD-X3 is expected to be priced around $1,600, according to Midori Suzuki, a Toshiba spokesperson.

The company unveiled entry-level and high-end models of the RD series in October in Japan. The RD-XS30 comes with a 60GB hard drive for up to 78 hours of video and is priced at around $800, while the RD-XS40 has a 120GB hard drive with a 156-hour capacity and sells at around $1200, Suzuki said.

The company has no overseas launch plan for these three models yet, she said.