Toshiba develops DVD player that plays both today's, next-generation formats
TOKYO (AP) - Toshiba Corp. has developed a next-generation digital video disc player that can play both current and new formats, the Japanese electronics maker said Wednesday.
Toshiba has said it may start selling such players in 2005. The standard was developed with Japanese electronics maker NEC Corp. A prototype will be shown at the International CES exhibition, which starts Thursday in Las Vegas, the Tokyo-based company said in a statement.
Next-generation DVDs will be able to record five times the amount of information of current DVDs. A DVD today can record about two hours of conventional analog TV programming while the next-generation digital video disc format can record more than two hours of digital TV programming.
Japanese rivals Sony Corp., Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., which makes the Panasonic brand, and Philips Electronics NV of the Netherlands are pushing another format in next-generation DVDs called Blu-ray.
Toshiba and NEC say their format called HD DVD, for ``high definition,'' can be priced cheaper than a comparable Blu-ray model because the assembly lines for current DVDs can be adapted to make the next-generation discs. That cannot be done for Blu-ray discs.
Toshiba said buyers will be able to enjoy the better image quality of HD DVDs while protecting their already made investment in a DVD software collection.
``We have achieved a major milestone,'' said Hisashi Yamada of Toshiba's Digital Media Network Co. ``We feel confident that development of HD DVD is steadily and rapidly in progress.''
Terrestrial digital broadcasting began in Japan's major cities last month, and hopes are growing among this nation's electronics giants that demand will pick up for digital TVs and next-generation DVD recorders.
