Sony to release Blu-ray recorders in Japan in December

A model equipped with a 500 gigabyte hard drive will hit stores Dec. 8 with a retail price of Y300,000, followed by a recorder with a 250 gigabyte hard drive on Dec. 16 for about Y250,000. Sony plans to produce 10,000 of the devices a month.

Blu-ray discs use formats based on blue lasers, which have shorter wavelengths than the red lasers used in existing DVDs. This allows discs to store the large amounts of data required for high-definition images and video.

Electronics manufacturers hope the new technology will help lure buyers as television stations begin to broadcast programs via high-definition standards.

"Blu-ray will be the core of our products to (play and store) high-definition broadcasting, contents recorded by camcorders and (Blu-ray format) movies," said Sony Senior Vice President Kiyoshi Nishitani.