Recording, compression, and prerecorded media of HDTV

However, the massive amount of data storage required to archive uncompressed streams make it unlikely that an uncompressed storage option will appear in the consumer market soon. Realtime MPEG-2 compression of an uncompressed digital HDTV signal is also prohibitively expensive for the consumer market at this time, but should become inexpensive within several years (although this is more relevant for consumer HD camcorders than recording HDTV). Analog tape recorders with bandwidth capable of recording analog HD signals such as W-VHS recorders are no longer produced for the consumer market and are both expensive and scarce in the secondary market.

Future media

HD programming may be recorded on optical disc using Blu-ray Disc or HD DVD. Blu-ray technology is currently available only in Japan with a Japanese satellite/terrestrial tuner, but is expected to be released in other world markets on May 23, 2006. Blu-ray uses a blue-laser optical disc with an MPEG-2 or MPEG-4 codec. Sony will include a Blu-ray player in its forthcoming gaming console, the PlayStation 3, which was announced to be released during early November 2006. It is expected to have a big impact on the HDTV market. Similarly, Microsoft's Xbox 360 doesn't ship with an HD DVD-compatible player as standard at present (as opposed to Blu-Ray), but the company plans on releasing an external HD-DVD drive in the near future.