Pioneer Plans to Launch Blu-ray Recorders

Pioneer says it plans to work with Sharp to offer Blu-ray recorders in Japan by the end of the year.

Japanese electronics giant Pioneer has said it plans to work with Sharp to offer Blu-ray recorders on the Japanese market by the end of 2008, hoping to latch onto a growing market as consumers move past the so-called “format war” between HD DVD and Blu-ray. Sharp already offers (pricey) Blu-ray recorders, and is a major investor in Pioneer.

According to estimates from the Fuji Chimera Research Institute, the market for Blu-ray recorders in Japan is expected to explode between now and 2012, growing to some 3.6 million units a year.

Pioneer hasn’t announced any price ranges, feature sets, or target sales figures for its Blu-ray recorders, nor has it made any indication whether it plans to offer the recorders in overseas markets. In North America, Blu-ray has been slow to take hold outside of the PlayStation 3 video game console, as consumers looking for high-definition content seem relatively happy with upscaling standard DVDs and recording other high-definition content sources to hard drive-based DVRs, game consoles, appliances, or computers.