Why the U.S. Lags Behind Japan in HD TV Recorder Adoption

In a CNET News report, "Japan says no to Blu-ray, HD DVD recorders for U.S.," reporter Michael Kanellos paints an alarming picture of how slowly the U.S. is embracing the switch to HD television in contrast to Japan's own efforts to adopt the technology early in the game. Unfortunately, it's not a matter of convincing the Japanese CEs to ship us the technology, but rather convincing the U.S. consumer to want it. The fact is, there's too small of a market in the States for Blu-ray and HD DVD recorders at this date. For us content producers and video enthusiast that means we'll have to continue to sit on our HD/HDV camcorders some more until our clients finally adobt the means to play it back. Furthermore, we'll have to patiently wait for a system to record our deliverables. Standalone DVD recorders are a common tool for videographers to quickly and easily transfer video from tape or hard drive to an optical media, consumable by our audience. It's not uncommon to hear discussions on our Forum's HD section about the frustrations involved with having the means to produce HD content, but not having an audience to share it with (let alone charge them appropriately for it). We feel your pain, Wedding Videographers, Indepent Producers and you rare Early Adopters. We feel it. Well… not I. At least, not in the wallet, as I'm mostly shooting in SD and I've got a 1993 hand-me-down 19" RCA tube. But I know it hurts.