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
