Cirrus Logic has developed an audio and video IC reference design designed to bring down the retail price of DVD recorders to under $100.

Cirrus said the $99 price point can be reached in the first half of 2005 with the San Jose-based company’s efforts to reduce bill of materials (BOM) along with the falling price of DVD recorder optical drives.

"Cirrus Logic's primary goal going into 2005 is enabling OEMs to provide consumers affordable DVD recorders that are easy to use," said Jack Guedj, VP of video products marketing, in a statement. “We believe that, at $99, many consumers will decide to upgrade to a DVD recorder purchase.”

Guedj said the Cirrus DVD recording reference platforms can operate using both DVD +R/+RW or DVD -R/-RW media, enabling consumers can record and playback to and from any other DVD player or recorder, which essentially removes possible compatibility problems.

In addition to the lower BOM, Cirrus is also providing a software upgrade that offers a graphical user interface to assist the user during set up and physical connections to their devices.

“The software upgrade provides a greatly streamlined control interface that reduces the number of complicated and confusing commands often found on many DVD recorder products today,” Cirrus said, in a statement.