I did a quick search and couldn't find anything...

I was wondering if someone could tell me what companies are backing the different Next Generation DVDs. I know that Warner is with HD-DVD and Sony (which means MGM) is with Blu-Ray. But I'm interested in 20th Century Fox and Buena Vista... Thanks!

There will be no format war. The two formats will merge into a single unified one.
There is WAY too much money on the line for a competition.

-T

Sony always tries for a proprietary format

I can't remember one time in the last 30 years when they succeeded

Was anyone else expecting this to be a Star Trek question?

I was totally expecting a "Is the image look over-sharp to anyone else?".

Er..."Does the image..."

Heh, was thinking the same.

Blu-ray Disc Association

Board of Directors
Apple
Dell
HP
Hitachi
LG Electronics
Mitsubishi Electric
Panasonic (Matsushita Electronics)
Pioneer
Philips
Samsung Electronics
Sharp
Sony
TDK
Thomson
20th Century Fox
Walt Disney

Contributors
AudioDev AB
Broadcom Corporation
Canon Inc.
CMC Magnetics Corporation
Coding Technologies GmbH
Cryptography Research Inc.
CyberLink Corp.
DATARIUS Technologies GmbH
Deluxe Media Services Inc.
Digital Theater Systems Inc.
Dolby Laboratories Inc.
Eclipse Data Technologies
Electronic Arts Inc.
Fuji Photo Film Co. Ltd.
Horizon Semiconductor
InterVideo Inc.
Kenwood Corporation
LITE-ON IT Corporation
LSI Logic
MediaTek Inc.
Meridian Audio Ltd.
Mitsubishi Kagaku Media Co.Ltd.
Mitsui Chemicals Inc.
Moser Baer India Limited
MX Entertainment
Nero
Optodisc Technology Corporation
Pixela Corporation
Pulstec Industrial Co., Ltd.
Ricoh Co., Ltd.
ShibaSoku Co. Ltd.
Sigma Designs Inc.
Sonic Solutions
Sonopress
Sony BMG Music Entertainment
ST Microelectronics
Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Ulead Systems Inc.
Victor Company of Japan, Ltd.
Visionare Corporation
ZOOtech Ltd.
Zoran Corporation

Members
Almedio Inc.
Alpine Electronics Inc.
AMC Co. Ltd.
ArcSoft Inc.
Asahi Kasei Microsystems Co., Ltd.
ATI Technologies Inc.
Bandai Visual Co. Ltd.
BenQ Corporation
B.H.A. Corporation
Ciba Specialty Chemicals Inc.
D&M holdings, Inc.
Daewoo Electronics Corporation
Elpida Memory, Inc.
ESS Technology Inc.
Expert Magnetics Corp.
Funai Electric Co., Ltd.
Horizon Semiconductors Ltd.
IMAGICA Corp.
Imation Corp.
Infomedia Inc.
Intersil Corporation
Kadokawa Holdings Inc.
Konica Minolta Opto Inc.
Laser Pacific Media Corp.
Lead Data Inc.
LEADER ELECTRONICS CORP
Linn Products Ltd.
LINTEC Corporation
M2 Engineering AB
Memorex Products Inc.
Mitsumi Electric Co., Ltd.
Nan Ya Plastics Corporation
NEXAPM Systems Technology Inc.
Nightjar LLC
nVidia Corporation
Onkyo Corporation
OPT Corporation
Ritek Corporation
SDI Media America
Shinano Kenshi Co. Ltd.
Singulus Technologies
STEAG ETA-OPTIK GmbH
Taiyo Yuden Co., Ltd.,
Targray Technology International Inc.
TEAC Corporation
Teijin Chemicals Ltd.
Toei Video Company Ltd.
Toho Company, Ltd.
Toppan Printing Co., Ltd.
TOPTICA Photonics AG
UmeDisc Ltd.
Unaxis Balzer AG
Yamaha Corporation
Yokogawa Electric Corporation

Thanks for the Information... This is really going to suck if i have to buy two different players... I think instead of buying one this fall, i'm going to wait awhile

In my opinion Blu-ray is clearly the superior format, but there is still time for the two formats to compromise down to one. It's interesting to see that 11 of the 20 steering committee companies on the DVD Forum are Blu-ray supporters/backers.

DVD Forum Steering Committee Companies
(Tenure: Feb. 2004 to Feb. 2006)

1. Hitachi, Ltd.
2. IBM Corporation
3. Industrial and Technology Research Institute
4. Intel Corporation
5. LG Electronics Inc.
6. Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd.
7. Microsoft Corporation
8. Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
9. NEC Corporation
10. PIONEER CORPORATION
11. Royal Philips Electronics
12. SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.
13. SANYO Electric Co., Ltd.
14. SHARP CORPORATION
15. Sony Corporation
16. THOMSON
17. Time Warner Inc.
18. Toshiba Corporation
19. Victor Company of Japan, Limited
20. Walt Disney Pictures and Television

* Blu-ray / HD-DVD

I was suckered in.

Me too...

Picard rules! Picard rules!

To the OP... you may want to read this: http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/new...php?story=5342

This is apparently far from a done deal. I suspect we'll see a unification later this summer and a delay in launch until late '06/early '07. Which is fine by me -- I'd rather see them pull together a decent format that has a chance of actual success, than rush 2 formats to market that will crash and burn with consumers.