Pioneer to launch Blu-ray recorders

Promises arrival by the end of the year

9 July 2008 9:23 GMT / By Katie Scott

Pioneer has promised that it will launch Blu-ray Disc recorders by the end of the year.

The company, which announced a whole new line-up of home cinema and televisions products in the last couple of weeks, says that it is developing Blu-ray recorders.

The recent launches have included the Kuro home cinema range, four Blu-ray players, and two new Kuro televisions.

However, for the recorders, Pioneer is mooted to have teamed-up with Sharp.

Sharp is Pioneer's top shareholder with a 14% and already offers its own range of Blu-ray recorders.

Pioneer plans to start selling Blu-ray recorders in Japan before the year-end shopping season, followed by overseas launches, says Reuters.

There are no prices as yet though says Pioneer.

Following on from the end of the format war between Blu-ray and HD DVD, Blu-ray recorder demand in Japan is predicted to jump 18 fold to 3.6 million units by 2012, according to Fuji Chimera Research Institute.