News Release：Pioneer Introduces New DVD Recorders with Built-in HDD

DVR-710H-S	DVR-610H-S

DVR-515H-S	DVR-510H-S

September 3, 2003, Tokyo, Japan - Pioneer Corporation announced today that it will launch new DVD recorders with a built-in HDD to the world market. In Japan, Pioneer will introduce four new models in October and November, 2003.

In the light of the expanding DVD recorder market, Pioneer expects that this fiscal year's Japanese market will top the 2-million-unit mark. Of the various types available, DVD recorders with a built-in HDD are attracting the most attention, and now account for about 60% on a unit basis in Japan. This clearly demonstrates that this type of DVD recorder is the leading product in this rapidly growing market.

Pioneer plans to introduce the DVR-510H-S in early October, and the DVR-515H-S in late-October, and the DVR-710H-S and DVR-610H-S in mid-November, targeting the monthly sales of 40,000 units, 30,000 units, 20,000 units, and 10,000 units, respectively, with no suggested retail prices in Japan.

Pioneer's new DVD recorders are capable of high-speed dubbing at the recording speed of up to 24X^*1. They also have the ability to record programs onto the HDD or play back the programs stored on the HDD even while high-speed dubbing is in progress. Thus, the users will enjoy easier and quicker dubbing at any time during recording. Plus, to meet various needs from the customers, these new products incorporate many original features, like "Disc Backup," utilizing the high-speed dubbing technology.

Of course, programs recorded or dubbed on the discs by these DVD recorders can be reproduced by many existing DVD players. It's because Pioneer's DVD recorders conform to the DVD-R and DVD-RW formats.

With the lineup of five models - four new models plus the DVR-310-S recently launched on the market - Pioneer intends to further expand its market share and become the market leader in Japan.

Main features - common for all models

1 ) Large-volume recording realized by built-in HDD of a large storage capacity

The DVR-710H-S and DVR-610H-S have a 160GB HDD, which enables to record and store programs of a maximum of 204 hours^*2. The DVR-515H-S has a 120GB one, which can store programs of a maximum of 153 hours^*2, and the DVR-510H-S has an 80GB one, which can store programs of a maximum of 102 hours^*2.

2 ) A variety of convenient high-speed dubbing functions

1. High-speed dubbing from the HDD onto a DVD-R disc (at about 4X to 24X speeds^*3) or a DVD-RW disc (at about 2X to 12X speeds^*3) is possible.
2. High-speed dubbing from a DVD-RW disc to the HDD is possible^*4 when the titles have been recorded in the VR mode on the disc.
3. "Disc Backup" is one of the convenient functions utilizing the high-speed dubbing technology. For a DVD-R or DVD-RW disc where the contents have been recorded in the Video mode and finalized, it can transfer the recorded contents from the disc to the HDD, and then copy onto another disc as it is.

3 ) "Full Time-shift", a Pioneer original function

This function allows recording onto or playback from the HDD even while the "High-speed Dubbing" or "Disc Backup" to a DVD disc is in progress.

4 ) The "Chase Play" and "Simultaneous Recording and Playback" are possible both on the HDD and a DVD disc^*5

Using the "Chase Play" function, the user can start watching a recording from the beginning even before the recording has finished. The "Simultaneous Recording and Playback" function allows the user to play back the titles previously recorded while new recording is in progress.

5 ) Other advantageous features

1. Many other new functions are available to provide the user with easy and comfortable operations in a series of actions - "record," "view," and "save".
   
   1. The "Disc History" screen shows disc information^*6, including free space available for recording, for the last 30 discs that have been used previously, without loading the discs.
   2. "Easy Timer Recording" makes setting up a timer recording as simple as possible. By positioning the cursor on the screen using the cursor buttons on the remote control, the user can set the starting and finishing times of the recording easily.
   3. On the "Advanced Disc Navigation", the beginning portion of the selected title is displayed as moving pictures with sound.
   4. The "Chapter Edit" function displays the chapters^*7 that have been input automatically by synchronizing with the broadcasting sound mode (stereo, monaural, and bilingual). In addition, the selected chapter is displayed as moving pictures as thumbnails. This is convenient when the user wants to erase the TV commercial from the recording.
2. Other advanced dubbing modes are available as follows:
   
   1. "One-touch Copy" starts dubbing the title stored on the HDD onto a disc from the beginning while the user is in the middle of the play back of the title.
   2. "Copy list" makes it easy to dub several titles simultaneously or make edit dubbing.
   3. "Optimized Copy" automatically adjusts the recording settings to make the program to be dubbed fit into the remaining space of a disc.
3. "Undo Finalize" enables the user to make additional recording onto the remaining space of the DVD-RW disc recorded in the Video mode, without initialization.
4. When finalizing a disc recorded in the Video mode, the user can select the design of the "title menu with a list of still pictures" from nine selections.
5. The DV I/O terminal is provided for the i. LINK^*8 connection with a digital video camera. (Only for the DVR-710H-S and DVD-610H-S)
6. "Picture Creation" (picture quality adjustment function in recording) makes the picture quality optimum when dubbing pictures.
7. "Digital Video Noise Reduction" is provided.
8. TBC (Time Base Corrector) and three-dimensional Y/C separation circuits are provided to make the high quality recording possible.
9. BS analog tuner is incorporated.
10. Remote controller supporting the G-CODE system^*9 is supplied.

Features only for the DVR-710H-S

1. Equipped with the ghost reduction tuner that lets the user enjoy clear terrestrial broadcasts.
2. Mounted the VQE8 for the "2-3 pull-down Pure-cinema progressive scanning circuit" to better deal with film materials, and the "complementary processing circuit" to better cope with movement of video materials. Also, by employing the 12 bit/216MHz Video DAC, the DVR-710H-S plays back not only DVD titles available on the market but also privately recorded DVD-R or DVD-RWs in high picture quality.

Environment-Friendly consideration: common for all models

The consumption power at standby mode (FL OFF) is 0.38W.

Notes: