Did not see this posted.

Sony, Toshiba to agree on new DVD format

SEATTLE (Reuters) - Japan's Sony Corp (SNE.N). (6758.T) and Toshiba Corp. (6502.T) are close to finalizing a plan to develop a common standard for next-generation DVDs to resolve a three-year-long battle over formats that threatened the industry's growth, a Japanese newspaper reported on Monday.

A detailed plan could be unveiled ahead of a key meeting of manufacturers involved in the manufacture of next-generation DVDs scheduled for May 16, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun said.

Sony, along with Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd. (6752.T), maker of Panasonic brand products, had been pushing for the standard it calls Blu-ray, while Toshiba, with NEC Corp. (6701.T) and Sanyo Electric Co. Ltd. (6764.T), has been promoting a technology called HD DVD.

Both sides have indicated that a new, unified format will use Sony's technology for recording information onto an optical disk while Toshiba will supply software that will handle efficient data transfer and copyright protection.

Can't wait to see what happens. Found this fresh post on the AVSforum.

Blu-ray, HD DVD Compromise Possible Within Week, Report Claims

Talks on a unified standard for the next-generation blue laser disc continue, with proposals for a compromise between the Blu-ray and HD DVD formats possible within the week, press reports from Japan said Mon. The reports, which couldn’t be confirmed, came on the eve of today's Media-Tech conference in Las Vegas, where the rival camps were expected to outline their latest technology claims and possibly address the unification issue.

Under a scenario reported Mon., discussions among HD DVD developer Toshiba and Blu-ray backers Sony and Panasonic envision mutual concessions. HD-DVD would abandon its 0.6-mm disc structure in favor of Bluray's 0.1 mm data substrate. The Blu-ray camp would adopt HD DVD's modulation technology in place of its own. The Nikkei report cited no sources from either camp, and couldn’t be confirmed Mon. owing to time differences with Japan and the unavailability of key contacts en route to Las Vegas for Media-Tech. Similar format-unification reports lacking identified sources have emerged from Japan in recent weeks, with one camp or the other disputing the information or questioning the motivation for the “leaks.”

Disc structure or “form factor” has been the main point of contention between Blu-ray and HD DVD. Toshiba and its allies, which include studios HBO, New Line, Paramount, Universal and Warner, argue that the 0.6mm technology leverages DVD's current infrastructure, and is easier and cheaper to produce than Blu-ray's 0.1 mm technology. The latter system, though, offers promise of greater disc capacity -- desirable to studios such as Disney as well as Blu-ray’s PC backers Dell and Hewlett-Packard. During 1995 unification talks that forged today's DVD, the rival camps agreed on form-factors and modulation systems, with the final product merging the Toshiba/Warner 0.6-mm SD format and the modulation system Philips and Sony created for their MultiMedia CD.

That compromise sacrificed capacity on the final DVD but proved workable. Sources told Consumer Electronics Daily a similar compromise would work for a next-generation blue laser HD format. Most intriguing about the Japan report is the hoped-for compromise proposal by next Mon., May 16. According to Nikkei, “Sony and Toshiba could secure the backing of participating members as early as May 16, when both are scheduled to hold meetings.” More important, perhaps, May 16 is the day Sony has scheduled a news conference on the eve of E3 Expo in L.A. to announce the details of its forthcoming “PS3" videogame console platform. Sony initially announced that its next console will include Blu-ray compatibility, but the company late last month dodged questions on whether it was still committed to Blu-ray for the new platform (CED April 28 p2). Microsoft is expected to take the wraps off its next-gen “Xbox-360" platform late this week on MTV, but any evolution of blue-laser technologies or compromise among formats won't affect the console's planned 4th quarter launch, Microsoft executives said recently (CED April 29 p2). That's because the new Xbox won't use blue-laser technology at all for its HD games and other entertainment programming, but will combine red-laser technology with Microsoft's MPEG 4-based VC-1 compression for HD resolution from conventional DVDs.

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Great news.....

Wow...

So Sony might finally break the Betamax/Minidisc/SACD streak...

Excellent news.

Will it be compatible with current DVD's?if so im all with it.

This is the best news in the DVD/Home video industry this year. No format war!

This is a win-win situation for both of them.

It was interesting to see this game of brinksmanship play itself out. It'll be even more interesting to see if Sony's PS3 ships with this new converged standard or (if due to time constraints) it ships with Blu-Ray drives.

And us.

I wonder if there will be a new name or if they'll just go with HD-DVD.

but SACD was/is always vastly superior to DVD-Audio...

Apparently these reports are overblown. I'm wondering what the real story is.

Hold the phone! Toshiba is not too happy about this premature info and sent out their own press release: http://www.toshiba.co.jp/about/press/2005_05/pr1001.htm

Here is another story!
Wednesday, May 11, 2005 at 07:28 JST
TOKYO — Toshiba Corp said Tuesday it has developed a next-generation DVD capable of storing 12 hours of high-definition video on a single disk. Toshiba will take the wraps off the DVD at the Media-Tech Expo 2005 in Las Vegas, which will get under way later in the day, the company said.

The new DVD can store 45 gigabytes of data, up from the 30 gigabytes of the best among Toshiba's current DVD lineup, the company said. The huge capacity means that a single disk can store a Hollywood movie trilogy.

http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content...at=4&id=336835

The 45GB figure Toshiba has been throwing out is arrived at by using a third layer on the disc. Considering the threads I have read about 2 layer quality over time and cheap glue this is a potential nightmare if done incorrectly.

50GB Blue Ray with 2 layers sound better?

Not sure if this needed a new thread, so more news related to Kumar's post:

http://www.videobusiness.com/article...6&catType=NEWS

So we are now possibly talking about a 50% increase in capacity for HD-DVD plus an option to include a standard DVD side. All announced just in time for the Media Tech Expo. Looks like things might get ugly again, competion-wise.

blu-ray is so superior it's not even funny. they have had 8 layer 200gb br discs for over 8 months already, i don't know why sony doesn't talk this up more. plus blu-ray has no layer change delays and faster data transfer rates.

It's impossible to say which is superior since they are both theoretical at this point. The proof will be in the software, not in the hardware capabilities.

Either format will be backward-compatible.

Don't mind waiting a bit longer for a unified format.

If only that were true...*sigh*.

I don't think the BR group has shown the 8 Layer disc yet. They just said it may be possible in the future.