HD-DVD announcements Storage / Other Posted by zmcnulty on Jul 26, 2004 - 07:51 PM |
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Some sort of joint announcement event was held today, where a bunch more details about HD-DVD were publicized. Nippon Electric Corporation (NEC), Memory-Tech Corporation, and Toshiba Corporation held a "HD DVD" exposition on the 26th. Both Toshiba and NEC announced their companies' HD DVD strategies and roadmaps, and Pony Canyon announced that they will be the first to enter the HD DVD market as a contents provider. -Toshiba will release HD DVD players/recorders in 2005 Mr. Yoshihide Fujii, President of Toshiba's Media Networks, explained HD DVD's present state and Toshiba's offerings. He announced that Pony Canyon will begin the sale of HD DVD contents in 2005, and that HD DVD is gaining support from the contents market in general. Mr. Fujii said that "with the expansion of domestic digital broadcasts and HDD/DVD recorders, the video lifestyle is changing. The style is generally becoming so that it's 'record to hard drive, and keep only those shows you want to save on a DVD.'" He explained that what is wanted from the next generation DVD format is "package distribution of high quality contents such as movies and the ability to archive things from the hard drive, by title." Also, since the contents market has shown that it would like to move slowly from DVD to next generation DVD, he said that "we haven't though about moving to HD DVD so quickly. 10 years from now, we are predicting the coexistence of DVDs and HD DVDs." Because of this, "it is important to keep the cost from creeping to high by using the current DVD business as a foundation. In the long run, we will be able to keep the products at a reasonable cost like current devices while still coexisting with contents providers." Main selling points of HD DVD include a large capacity intended for HD contents, and compatibility to coexist with the current DVD market. Also, Toshiba will release a HD DVD player/record in 2005. "We would like to offer dreams and emotions with the scheduled release in 2005 with SED TVs," he said. The recorder is planned to be a hard drive and HD DVD hybrid, though play-only devices will also be made available. The price, he said, he would "like to have left as an industry secret." -Pony Canyon is the industry's first contents provider to announce support for HD DVD Mr. Hideki Ohyanagi of Pony Canyon Corporation's video production facility declared the company's investment in HD DVD by saying that "we will prepare HD DVD original contents to go on sale with the release of HD DVD hardware in 2005." He announced that "Moonlight Jellyfish," to be released in August, will be offered as HD DVD contents including "virtual trip" environment footage. "Moonlight Jellyfish" is a movie by Tatsuya Fujiwara. It is an HD digital movie shot entirely in Hi-Vision. Also, the "Virtual Trip" is an "environment level" film created by taking 35mm film and converting it to HD telecine using HD-D5 mastering process. The company also plans for the release of "virtual trip HD series." virtual trip HD features beautiful shots of nature and unique images shot throughout the world, such as "virtual trip MALDIVES," "THE BEACH MALDIVES," "MALDIVES diving view," "Great Barrier Reef diving view," "FULL MOON on TOKYO," and "TOKYO by helicopter." The price "will be around the same as current DVDs. But perhaps it may be a little more." out of time |
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This article is from TechJapan http://www.techjapan.com/ The URL for this story is: http://www.techjapan.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=436 |