Forgive my colour ignorance... but... isn't black just black, no matter how many colours you have. I also suspect it's the TVs job to display black properly (which is the quality mark I use for choosing a TV).

I wonder if anyone at MPAA will let them record HD (HDMI) input?

Without that, these are expensive doorjams.

"It's also been rumoured that the top models have gold-plated HDMI connectors."

I laugh heartily at this, absolute nonsense of a feature. Audiophiles are into gold plated connectors everywhere, the point being that gold is a superior conductor and therefore the signal purity is unhindered by cheap wires.

When its digital, and nothing more than a stream of 1s and 0s, does it matter? The signal quality is irrelevant, all it needs is more than or less than the switching voltage.

Sure gold has its place in computer components, its very malleable so using it inside of ICs is a preference because its easier to wire up, and there's usually some other odds and sods here and there in order to ensure that the elements which need precise resistivity etc... aren't tainted by bad conductors.

However, the issues which create a good case for using gold inside of a computer or microprocessor should never apply to signal transmission, and if it did make a difference I'm sure HDMI took a wrong turn during development.

So, what a waste of gold eh!

... just when Sony is trying to take Blu-ray to the world. The extreme xenophobia of the Japanese is, sadly, both denying us the goods, and giving the competition a leg up. It's historically typical of the Japanese to only sell their "best" technology in Japan so the filthy gaijin won't be able to compete.

By the time these recorders are marketed abroad, the competition will be already be selling HD-DVD recorders. And Sony will be wondering, "How did we screw up again?"