The time has come for Toshiba and Nec,
the main backers of HD-DVD format to announce
they're ready for write-once HD-DVD-R
disc mass production.
Their discs can store 15 GB of data,
and should be available for the consumers
in the first half of the next year, by
the same time that HD-DVD recorders and
PC drives will be also on the market.
As we all know, HD-DVD fights in a tight
competition with Blu-ray for the "format
of the future" title, that also means
a multibillion dollar market as a price
for the winner.
Similar blue laser technology stays at
the core of both formats, as the blue
laser has a shorter wavelength than the
red lasers used in current DVD equipment,
allowing discs to store data at higher
densities needed for high-definition TV
and movies.
The advantage that HD-DVD-R disc has
over its main competitor, the Blu-ray
disc is it has the same disc structure
as the classic DVD and thus can be manufactured
by using the same production lines. This,
for the DVD manufacturers, means they
can start HD-DVD-R mass production at
full speed, right away, with not much
additional cost. A replacement stamper
is needed of course and the old dye must
be replaced with blue-light sensitive,
resin dye. The new dye was developed in
a joint project of Hayashibara Biochemical
Laboratories, Mitsubishi Kagaku Media/Verbatim
and Toshiba Corporation.
But at the same time, Blu-ray competitor
has its own advantages, like superior
storing capacity. Toshiba claims it works
at this aspect also, but moving from single-layer
discs that are written at 1x speed, to
dual-layer 30GB discs could take several
years, its spokespersons said. Toshiba
promised to introduce 20GB HD-DVD-RW discs
by this time next year.
So far, the Blu-ray Disc Association
and the HD DVD Promotion Group have refused
to compromise to a unified hybrid format
for the future DVD.
This article was posted on September
24, 2005
