Talk about trouble. High-definition DVDs seem endlessly mired in
squabbles and trouble. There's not even a break for the holidays.
While Japan's Toshiba Corp. has decided to delay the year-end Japan
launch of its HD DVD players, one of its consultants suggested that
competitor Blu-ray may have already won the next home video format war.
Toshiba's delay could undermine the format's advantage as the first to
market. The company said it will not launch the products until the last
details on HD DVD's copy-protection system, called AACS, or advanced
access content system, is finalized.
The Blu-ray DVD group has said it will roll out its first players next
spring, but more exact plans are expected to come at the Consumer
Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January.
In the meantime, Warren Lieberfarb, who is frequently called the
"Father of the DVD," said-barring a surprise-that Blu-ray looks to be
the winner. Now a consultant for Microsoft and Toshiba, Lieberfarb,
once head of Warner Home Entertainment, told reporters at a recent
video conference in Europe, "It looks like we lost, because there are
six studios supporting Blu-Ray and only three supporting HD-DVD. But
you know, there's always surprises."
In another development, TDK has begun producing samples of recordable
and rewritable Blu-ray Disc bare media for use with personal computers.
Until now, commercial Blu-ray Disc media has come in a protective
cartridge, but the Blu-ray Disc Association is finalizing a
specification for bare discs.
In anticipation of this, TDK has begun test manufacturing such discs on
a line at its plant in Chikumagawa in Japan's Nagano prefecture. The
discs make use of a TDK-developed hard protective coating that
minimizes scratches to their surface and allows the use of discs
without cartridges.