Blu-ray takes another step forward with the release of the first Blu-ray disc recorder according to PCWorld. But what about devices supporting the competing format, HD-DVD?

Nothing till next year it looks like. OUCH! That is going to hurt them in the long run. Unless there is a provable superior reason why HD-DVD is actually better in some way. HD-DVD could be in trouble.

The BD-HD100 will be the third recorder on the market to support the Blu-ray Disc format, which is one of two blue-laser based formats fighting to become the de-facto optical disc standard for high-definition video content. The first recorder was put on sale in April 2003 by Sony, while Matsushita Electric Industrial (Panasonic) began selling a model in July.

Machines supporting the other format, HD-DVD, are not due on sale until next year.