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Toshiba Corp. (6502.T) said on Tuesday it would still like to develop a unified format for advanced optical DVD discs, but two competing -- and incompatible -- products are likely to hit the market at first.This late in the game, we're not going to see a unified format. Both sides have already invested a lot of time and money developing and promoting Blu-ray and HD DVD. If you'd like to read more, the entire article can be found here. Add a comment
Toshiba is a leading proponent of next-generation HD DVD optical disc technology, which competes with the Blu-ray standard promoted by Sony Corp (NYSE:SNE - news). (6758.T) and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. (6752.T), a maker of Panasonic brand electronics.
"We have not given up on a unified format. We would like to seek ways for unifying the standards if opportunities arise," Toshiba President Atsutoshi Nishida told an annual shareholders' meeting.
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Behavior Tech Computer (BTC), a leading Taiwan-based maker of PC keyboards and mice, on June 26 announced it will discontinue marketing optical disc drives (ODDs) under the BTC brand name at a press conference following the company's 2006 shareholder meeting.If you'd like to read more, head on over to DigiTimes. Add a comment
BTC cited intense market competition as the reason for its move. BTC originally made own-brand ODDs itself but shifted production on an OEM basis to Foxconn Electronics (the registered trade name of Hon Hai Precision Industry) last year.
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Sony Corp. Chief Executive Officer Howard Stringer said movie studios are starting to favor the company's Blu-ray DVD, which can store high-definition films and other media, because its capacity is higher than rival formats...Greater capacity or not, the price of Blu-ray players isn't winning over consumers. Of course, this will probably change with the introduction of the PS3. If you'd like to read more, the entire article can be found here. Add a comment
..``This capacity, which seemed too luxurious a year ago, suddenly seems absolutely necessary,'' said Stringer, 64. ``Studios that went with HD DVD assumed they would have enough bandwidth,'' he said. ``Now more studios realize they will need two-language versions and multichannel audio,'' on movie discs, favoring Blu-ray's bigger capacity, Stringer said today in Tokyo at a meeting with reporters.
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CMC Magnetics and Ritek, the top two makers of optical discs, have recently started volume production of 15GB HD-DVD-R SL (high-definition DVD recordable single-sided single-layer) discs and are prepared to begin production of 30GB HD-DVD-R DL (single-sided double-layer) discs in the fourth quarter of this year at the earliest, according to industry sources.If you'd like to read more, head on over to DigiTimes. Add a comment
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Toshiba is subsidising its HD-A1 HD DVD player by at least $175 in a bid to buy the next-generation optical disc format success. So claims market watcher iSuppli, which took the machine to bits and totted up the cost of all the parts.So why is Toshiba willing to lose this much when Blu-ray players are going for $1000? Reg Hardware speculates that this is due to Sony's PS3, which will ship with a Blu-ray drive. If you'd like to read more, the entire article can be found here. Add a comment
Available in the US, the HD-A1 is priced at $499. iSuppli's assessment of the cost of the players' components puts the product's bill of materials at $674 - and that's before the cost of assembly, packaging, peripherals, distribution, advertising, software development and so on. Oh, and that $499 is the retail price - Toshiba will be charging resellers even less for the player.
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The Taiwan-based disc makers on June 5 filed a legal complaint with the FTC against Philips for its Veeza CD-R patent licensing scheme, claiming Philips has violated Taiwan's Fair Trade Law, according to the Taiwan Information Storage Association (TISA), which spoke on behalf of the four companies.If you'd like to read more, head on over to DigiTimes. Add a comment
Philips has been aggressive in asking individual disc maker to accept unreasonable conditions for patent licensing, the disc makers indicated. Therefore, they are now asking FTC for permission to negotiate together about patent licensing for the CD-R technologies, the companies said.
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CMC Magnetics, Ritek, Prodisc Technology and Daxon Technology, the top four makers of CD-R discs in Taiwan, jointly filed a legal complaint with Taiwan's Fair Trade Commission (FTC) on June 5 against Philips for its Veeza CD-R patent licensing scheme, claiming that it violates Taiwan's Fair Trade Law, according to the Taiwan Information Storage Association (TISA) on behalf of the four companies.Its going to be interesting to see what happens with this. Traditionally, Philips isn't one you want to mess with, especially when it comes to licensing. If you'd like to read more, head on over to DigiTimes. Add a comment
In response, Philips Taiwan indicated that it has not received notification from the FTC and therefore knows nothing about the complaint. This is the first time CMC and Ritek, the top two makers of optical discs in Taiwan, have taken action in protest against Philips' licensing program, industry sources pointed out. The joint complaint is aimed at forcing Philips to set reasonable CD-R patent licensing conditions, noted the sources.
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Panasonic, the brand for which Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. is known, announced today that it will commence Blu-ray Disc entertainment title (for Blu-ray Disc read-only media, or BD-ROM) authoring service for movie studios at Panasonic Hollywood Laboratory (PHL) in Universal City, California on July 1. Optical discs, like Blu-ray Disc, or conventional DVDs, need to have their content authored as a step toward physical replication of the disc as an entertainment title.If you'd like to read more, Panasonic's entire press release can be found here. Add a comment
As Panasonic and other electronics manufacturers plan to introduce Blu-ray Disc players this year, Blu-ray titles from the major movie studios are expected to become increasingly available for consumers. The BD-ROM authoring service launched by Panasonic will facilitate the production of Blu-ray Disc titles, so that consumers can experience High-Definition movie entertainment at home.
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The RD-A1 also comes with a hefty price tag of 398,000 Yen (~$3,436US). If you'd like to read more, Toshiba's entire press release can be found here. Add a comment
Toshiba Corporation today unveiled the future of home video entertainment in an age of digital, high definition content: the world's first digital hard disk video recorder integrating a recordable HD DVD in combination with a 1-terabyte (TB) hard disk. The new "RD-A1" can record and store up to 130 hours of high-definition (HD) broadcasts on its high capacity hard disk and record up to 230 minutes of HD content to a single HD DVD disc. In addition to superb image and sound recording and playback, the new recorder also offers an extensive range of advanced functions made possible by the versatility of HD DVD, including optimized navigation and menu displays. The RD-A1 is scheduled for roll out in the Japanese market from July 14.
