Sharp has introduced the BD-HP1, a new Blu-ray recorder which has been able to cut some costs due to some ingenuity along with the small requirement of a compatable Sharp television.

The new Blu-ray recorder from Sharp can connect to its Aquos LCD line of televisions through the iLink connector (iLink on other TV’s may not necessarily work) and utilizes the televisions tuner instead of its own built inside the Blu-ray recorder. What the BD-HP1 turns out to be is basically a Blu-ray player with recording capabilities, which requires an external input.

Since the DVD recorder is using the tuner from the television and doesn’t have its own, its not possible to watch a different channel that the one that is being recorded. Dual tuners is common with many DVR’s or TiVo type systems. However, the AQUOS televisions do not need to be completely powered on for the tuner to have power and be operational. This means that the BD-HP1 recorder can function without having the television turned on.

The BD-HP1 AQUOS hi-vision can record only to single-layer discs (BD-R/RE) in MPEG-2 format to create a little over 2 hours of 1080p video at 24Mbps. Also, a Firewire connection allows the BD-HP1 to connect to your computer for recording data to or from a hard disk. The Blu-ray record will be available in Japan towards the end of March for ¥150,000 (around $1,240).

Source [PC World]