Three seems to be considered a lucky number in both the HD DVD and the Blu-ray Disc camps. As the high def discs format war has not ended, this year’s Ceatec show from Japan represents also an occasion for the rival companies to present their brand new devices and their smart features.

So, with the occasion of this year Ceatec show, two important rival companies have announced brand new high def DVD players and recorders. Each of the two companies (that is Toshiba Corp. and Matsushita Electric Industrial Ltd., parent of Panasonic Electronics) presented three devices, so three really seems to be a fatidic digit after all for both the high def DVD rival camps.

Matsushita has announced that starting with the next month it will begin selling brand new Blu-ray Disc recorders that will be capable of storing more than 380 hours of high def programming, which is about four times the capacity of the previous HD recorders.

The prices of the three recorders range from $1,100 to $2,600, but their features are quite powerful. The BW800 and the BW700 devices, for example, feature 500 GB and 250 GB drives, respectively.

“We are happy to bring you new high-definition recorders that maximize the full quality potential of Blu-ray video and HD broadcasts.” – Shiro Nishiguchi, the director of corporate marketing division, has said when announcing the new recorders.