Sony Calls for Blu-Ray, HD DVD Unification

by Anton Shilov
03/24/2005 | 07:56 PM

The opposition between Blu-ray discs and HD DVDs may never happen if just both camps could introduce devices supporting both types of optical media, believes Sony’s new chief Ryoji Chubachi.

“Listening to the voice of the consumers, having two rival formats is disappointing, and we haven’t totally given up on the possibility of integration or compromise,” Ryoji Chubachi, Sony’s president-elect, said at a news conference in which he discussed the company’s performance and future strategy, according to IDG news services.

Blu-ray, also known as Blu-ray Disc (BD) is the name of a next-generation optical disc format jointly developed by thirteen leading consumer electronics and PC companies, such as Dell, Hitachi, HP, LG, Mitsubishi, Panasonic, Pioneer, Philips, Samsung, Sharp, Sony, TDK and Thomson. The format was developed to enable recording, rewriting and playback of high-definition television (HDTV). Blu-ray makes it possible to record over 2 hours of HDTV, or more than 13 hours of SDTV on a 27GB disc. There are also plans for higher capacity discs that are expected to hold up to 54GB of data.

HD DVD is the next generation DVD format being standardized at the DVD Forum, which represents over 230 consumer electronics, information technology, and content companies worldwide. HD DVD can store up to 15GB of data on one layer. HD DVD players and HD DVD video software are expected to come to market in late 2005. The development of HD DVD is headed by NEC and Toshiba.

Apple Computer also recently indicated plans to support both Blu-ray and HD DVDs.

It is unclear how Sony wants its industry confronters to support Blu-ray discs. One of the possibilities could be invention of devices – with two types of lasers – that can playback and/or record both types of forthcoming optical media. An unlikely scenario is aligning the standards to make one similar, as both BD and HD DVD approach commercial deployment.