TOKYO (Bloomberg) - Mitsubishi Electric Corp., a Japanese maker of plant machinery and mobile phones, plans to start selling high-definition DVD recorders based on Sony Corp.'s Blu-ray standard from May 24 in Japan.

The recorders will feature a hard disk drive and will cost 200,000 yen ($2,045) for a 500 gigabyte model and 160,000 yen for the 250 gigabyte version, the company said in a press statement yesterday.

Sony's Blu-ray become the default standard for high- definition DVDs after Toshiba Corp., the leading promoter of the rival HD DVD format, on February 19 said it will shut the business. Mitsubishi Electric's recorders will compete with products by larger rivals such as Samsung Electronics Co. and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. for a share of the $22 billion global market for DVD machines.

Worldwide sales of DVD players and recorders, including high-definition machines, rose 4.9 percent to 2.4 trillion yen in 2007 and will probably climb 4.5 percent this year, Daiwa Institute of Research Ltd. estimated last month. Shipments of high-definition machines may triple to 7.1 million in 2008, according to research firm iSuppli Corp.

"Blu-ray's win played some role in the release, but the chief reason is the coming Beijing Olympics," Kazuyuki Nakamura, an executive officer in charge of the living and digital media business, said at a news briefing in Tokyo. "We see the recorders as part of a set to go with our TVs."

Mitsubishi Electric, which also makes power-generation equipment, semi-conductors and factory-automation gear, will initially lose money on the recorders, Mr. Nakamura said. The company said it will make 7,000 machines a month.

Net income will probably rise 20 percent to 148 billion yen in the year ending March 31, as sales gain three percent to 3.97 trillion yen, Mitsubishi Electric said in February, reiterating its earlier forecast. Operating profit, or sales minus the cost of goods sold and administrative expenses, will remain unchanged at 233 billion yen.

Profit from household appliances, such as air conditioners, refrigerators and washing machines, will probably gain 50 percent to 55 billion yen this fiscal year, Mitsubishi Electric said in October. Sales may rise five percent to 970 billion yen, or 24 percent of total revenue.