Toshiba-Sony Unified DVD Talks Fail
August 23, 2005
Tokyo, JP - The Japanese newspaper, the Daily Yomiuri Online, reported that the end of August was Toshiba's deadline for agreeing on a unified Hi-Def DVD format. The paper said that talks have not resumed, and there is not enough time to agree on a unified format.
Toshiba is planning on releasing HD DVD players and recorders this Christmas, and Sony had previously announced that the Playstation 3, scheduled to ship in the spring, will be Blu-Ray equipped.
Both camps had engaged in talks since last February, hoping to avoid a format war like the VHS-Beta battle of the 80s. Earlier this month, Sony announced that several Hollywood studios would release films in Blu-ray. Toshiba has agreed to jointly develop their HD-DVD player with Microsoft.
Backers of HD DVD have announced plans to deliver a personal computer disc drive and household player perhaps as early as this fall. Sony says the recording capacity of a single-layer Blu-ray disc is 25 gigabytes; Toshiba's HD-DVD maximum is 20 gigabytes. Toshiba reports that it can mass-produce HD discs at lower costs than Blu-ray discs.
The paper said that backers of each format include more than 120 companies, from hardware and disc manufacturers to studios offering movies on the respective formats.
To read the entire story go to:
Daily Yomiuri Online
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