James Delahunty
6 Jan 2005 23:06
The next generation DVD formats that are battling to replace the current DVD technology, Blu-Ray and HD-DVD are rallying their support. At the Consumer Electronics Show both formats made announcements of new partners. Both formats can store much higher capacity than the current DVD technology, although Blu-Ray can hold about 20GB more than HD DVD which can hold a capacity of about 30GB. The Blu Ray disc association introduced major game companies Vivendi Universal and Electronics Arts and tech companies including Sun Microsystems and Texas Instruments as the newest group members. Executive from the gaming publishers noted that the high storage capacity of Blu-ray Disc was important for them as they look to high-definition game development.
"Gaming is a multibillion dollar business that is largely being ignored by HD DVD," said Richard Doherty, director of professional AV for Panasonic Hollywood Laboratory. Blu-ray Disc supporters plan to include interactive features and gaming capabilities to discs that hold high definition movies. Blu Ray recorders and discs are expected to appear in 2006. Companies in support of this format include Sony, Hewlett-Packard and Dell. On the HD-DVD side, there's Toshiba, NEC and Sanyo. HD-DVD entertainment partners stood up to support the HD DVD format Thursday and announced movie and TV series titles that would be available on HD DVD discs by the end of the year. Paramount Home Entertainment, Warner Home Video, Universal Studios Home Entertainment, HBO and New Line Cinema said that about 100 titles, including the Harry Potter movies, the Batman, Superman, E.R., West Wing and Sopranos franchises, would be available on HD DVD discs.
"The real world benefits (of HD DVD) are apparent and obvious," said Jim Cardwell, president of Warner Home Video. HD-DVD uses similar technology used in the current DVD which can reduce time and cost of manufacturing discs and recorders.
Source:
News.com