ABC News: "DVD War Looms As Advancements Draw Near"

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://abcnews.go.com/wire/US/ap20040419_2005.html' target='_blank'>http://abcnews.go.com/wire/US/ap20040419_2005.html</a><br /><br /></div>"The DVD stands out as one of the most rapidly adopted consumer technologies ever, but in the electronics industry it's akin to an aging king in Shakespearean drama rivals are lurking, knives drawn. Just as consumers are beginning to get comfortable with their DVD players, electronics manufacturers are set to introduce next-generation discs that store more and would be harder to copy.<br /><br />A dozen companies, headed by Sony Corp., are pushing a disc called the Blu-ray. The other main contender, the High Definition DVD, is promoted only by Toshiba Corp. and NEC Corp. But it has an important endorsement from an industry group and is also expected to get Microsoft Corp.'s support as the software giant seeks a toehold for its multimedia format in the consumer electronics arena."<br /><br />This is going to be a bloody mess, just like the battle between DVD-R and DVD+R. What boggles my mind is that these companies can't seem to grasp that by doing this, their holding back consumers from fully embracing the technology.

[Gary Sheynkman]

I hate it when they do this! :evil: Why cant companies agree on one format. The next generation will be blu-r blu-rw blu+r blu+rw blu*r blu*rw blu/r blu/rw blu^r blu^rw.....and log base r blu and log base rw blue

yeah I think thats all of them

[Suhit Gupta]

You missed blu-sharp :). But I don't mind the different technologies too much I guess, I mean, after all it is only 2-3 techs right now. It hasn't gotten as crazy as flash memory where you almost need an 8-in-1 reader to be compatible with everything.

Suhit

[ux4484]

I've been talking about this for over a year, I think this will make -R/+R look like a drop in the bucket. The real burn is that they (last I read) don't want to make any of the Blue light DVD players backward compatible to play the flotilla of DVD's we already own :evil: .

As a format, 27 gig a disk screams to the archivist in me, but as a new recording/playback format for a new broadcast standard (that is already years behind schedule) being forced on us as consumers...it really tic's me off.