Toshiba has put back the Japanese release of its RD-A1 HD DVD recorder by two weeks, the company said today, in a public apology for having to reschedule the shipment and customer "annoyance" arising from the delay.

However, Toshiba didn't say why it was delaying the RD-A1 HD DVD recorder's launch, but it looks like it's had production problems of some sort, the company's announcement hinted.

Toshiba unveiled the RD-A1 HD DVD recorder on 22 June. Then, it promised the product would ship on 14 July. Now, the machine will not appear in Japan's electronics shops until 27 July.

The RD-A1 HD DVD recorder not only incorporates an HD DVD drive capable of handling both single- and dual-layer recordable and rewriteable media, but also 1TB of hard disk storage and PVR functionality.

The RD-A1 HD DVD recorder doesn't come cheap - Toshiba expects it to retail for around ¥398,000 ($3,467/£1,880/€2,746). It's physically no lightweight either, registering 15.2kg on the scales and measuring 45.7 x 40.8 x 15.9cm.