Zuh? Sanyo, o­ne of primary names behind HD-DVD, has announced they're joining the Blu-Ray Disc Associaton.

They said that it "has nothing to do with the question of unifying the HD DVD and Blu-Ray standards," but it sounds to me like they don't want all their eggs in o­ne basket. For a comparatively small company like Sanyo, I think it's the right decision.

Sanyo Electronics Corporation revealed that they joined the "Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA)," the group promoting Blu-Ray Disc, sometime before end of April. Sanyo is o­ne of four companies that are the primary backers behind the promotion of HD DVD, making this the first time a primary backer of HD DVD has joined the BDA.

The Blu-ray Disc Association membership is split into three levels: the "Board of Directors" that do undertake strategies and decision making for the organization, "Contributors" that do standard development, and the "General Members" that are...general members. Sanyo is participating as a General Member.

Regarding the reason for joining, the company said: "We are participating in the HD DVD Promotion Group, and plan to release an HD DVD player; but we will offer key components industries such as optical pickups and semiconductors to both Blu-Ray and HD DVD camps. This is in accordance with objectives we had decided upon earlier. To supply products smoothly, we joined the BDA."

The company also explained, "we had applied for participation earlier, and our participation was actually confirmed before the end of April. This has no relation to the question of integration of the HD DVD and Blu-Ray standards."

Inspired by:
http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/av/docs/20050615/bda.htm

Blu-Ray Disc Association:
http://www.blu-raydisc.com/