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from dvdphile.com
Two shades of Blue - 1:44pm
After months of wrangling, the DVD Forum has given the "blue" light to the Toshiba and NEC blue laser-based high definition DVD specification. An international association of home electronics hardware and software companies (i.e, the big guys who have to approve everything), the Forum is expected to finalize the specs by May.
This new HD-DVD format will be capable of storing a maximum of 40 GB (compared to DVD's paltry 4.7 GB) of information and will also be backwards compatible with existing DVD discs. The passage of the spec now clears the way for true HD prerecorded content to be made available on a disc-based platform, although many hurdles still remain. Copy protection, always the thorn in any new format's side where Hollywood content is involved, is still a major hurdle to surmounted, as is the inevitable competing format. Despite the Forum's decision to back the Toshiba and NEC format, nine major hardware manufacturers (including Philips, Pioneer, Sony and Thomson) are still going ahead with their own "Blu-Ray Disc," an alternative HD format capable of 50 GB of storage capacity.
Likely a major selling point for the Forum is that the Toshiba spec is able to use existing DVD replication equipment, which should also help entice studios as it should (theoretically) keep costs lower. Of course, it is no surprise that the two blue laser formats are incompatible with each other, so expect a "format war," or at least until the studios throw their weight into the ring and decide which (or perhaps both?) of the formats they will support. However, in the Forum's favor is the DVD brand name, now a mainstream moniker recognized by billions of consumers worldwide. Without the support of the Forum, Blu-Ray products cannot use the DVD label, making the mass acceptance of any non-DVD sanctioned format a likely uphill battle.
While such predictions remain optimistic, both groups say they plan to begin producing prototype next-generation HD players in 2003.
* * I Am NOT buying another DVD player!!!
