Until recently in the United States, recordable DVD drives made by Pioneer were hidden inside personal computers. Now the company has released a stand-alone drive meant to accompany television sets and emblazoned with the Pioneer logo.
The Pioneer Elite DVR-7000 allows users to create conventional DVD's that can be read by any player. The player also accepts DVD-RW discs that can be repeatedly reused for recordings, much as a videotape is, but the reusable discs don't work in conventional DVD players.
Digital cameras can be connected to the player through an IEEE1394, or FireWire, port to record their contents directly onto DVD discs. The machine, which sells for $2,000, also includes a variety of features found on videocassette recorders.
Aaron Levine, a spokesman for Pioneer's United States operation, said that the new machine differed from old VCR's in one other significant respect.
"Our timer," he said, "is a lot easier to set than the ones on most VCR's."
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