DTS announced it’s core 5.1-channel surround sound will be the mandatory audio format on all Blu-Ray and HD-DVD discs. The optional audio technology, which will also be available for both next generation DVD formats, is cleverly titled DTS-HD and will encompass DTS Digital Surround, DTS-ES, and DTS 96/24.

According to the DTS website, “the introduction of DTS-HD will provide manufacturers and content providers with a complete range of DTS-branded technologies, incorporating lossless technology for next generation formats.” Lossless operation basically means the soundtrack will be essentially identical to the master, due to the extra bandwidth and space provided on both the HD-DVD and Blu-ray discs. As for the next-gen DVD player, a DTS decoder will be incorporated into both Blu-ray and HD-DVD.

Michael.G

It would seem as if Warner Bros, Universal, and Paramount have indicated their preference toward HD-DVD. All three companies are said to be in talks with Toshiba about finalizing their adoption of the HD-DVD standard for their catalogs. Mind you an official standing from any of the three has yet to surface, but such a statement is expected in the coming week.

Michael.G

With the announcement of plans to start selling PCs and notebooks equipped with HD-DVD drives by end of 2005, Toshiba and NEC have taken it to the next step in the blue laser DVD Format War. Toshiba has high hopes of selling about 1 million of its high-end Qosmio notebooks, at about $1,845 to $2,770, within a year after the launch date. NEC has not yet annouced which PCs will carry the HD-DVD drives, but does plan to make the technology available for their notebooks by end of 2006.

This is a big step forward for the HD-DVD supporters in getting their format standardized, but the major factor that will ultimately decide who wins this battle will be the movie companies.

R.Hollis

In recent articles from Forbes, PCWorld, PCMagazine (just to name a few) regarding the Blu-ray, HD-DVD battle there has been a lot of name dropping. Mainly mentioning the companies that support either side in it’s development and hopefully in becoming the final standard in the blue laser DVD format. One name drop in particular has caught my eye because it is misleading. The DVD Forum has been mentioned as backing and supporting the HD-DVD side. True they have been over-seeing specifications for the HD-DVD format but they have also done the same for Blu-Ray Discs.

The DVD Forum’s main purpose is defining DVD formats. It also licenses the DVD Format/Logo, administers DVD verification laboratories, holds worldwide DVD conferences, and promotes information about DVD. As part of their mission statement, it simply states “Forum Members are not required to support the DVD Format to the exclusion of other formats.” Basically the DVD Forum is the Switzerland in the DVD Format War.

The DVD Forum has members from both sides of the battle and the competitors sit on the same committee known as The Steering Committee, which is the executive body of the forum, to make decisions on DVD formats. This committee is made up of 20 companies including Blu-Ray supporters (Sony, Sharp, Phillips) as well as the HD-DVD supporters (Toshiba & NEC). Another interesting note, Sony and Toshiba also make up the founding companies of the DVD Forum.

R.Hollis

I-O DATA introduced a DivX capable HD DVD player dubbed the AVeLLinkPlayer. Boasting full support 720p and 1080i, the unit also supports WMV9 discs. While not capable of playing “true” HD-DVD’s the player does offer the ability to archive off-air hi-def programming, provided the files are can be converted to DivX.

Michael.G

Here are a few images of Blu-Ray prototype recorders, from the 2004 CEATEC consumer electronics show, held this past week in Tokyo Japan.

From left to right: the Sharp Aquos Blu-Ray recorder, Blu-Ray DVD-R/W, JVC Blu-Ray recorder, Mitsubishi Blu-Ray recorder, Pioneer Blu-Ray recorder and Sony Blu-Ray BD-ROM player.

Michael.G

Topics discussed yesterday at the DVD forum meeting in Tokyo, were finalizing the standard, included features and the initial target cost of a HD-DVD player. One of the more interesting issues discussed was the “spread” or absorption time, for HD-DVD to fully saturate the world market. The committee laid out a 5 year span, from the time HD-DVD is introduced next year, to the end of 2010 at which time they expect full saturation of the medium, and standard definition DVD’s to be a thing of the past.

As to the expected cost of first generation HD-DVD players, Mr. Hiroshi Yamada, of Toshiba stated the initial average price of a HD-DVD player in the United States would be around 1000.00 USD and expected total sales of such devices to be about 10k units. With more than 100k sold, by year’s end 2006. Mr. Yamada also expected around 50 HD-DVD titles to available by the end 2005.

Audio codes and standards were also addressed, among those already confirmed were DTS, Dolby Digital, MLP lossless and Dolby Digital plus. The inclusion of WMV9 as a video codec, was also discussed.

Michael.G

The DVD forum, held another meeting in Tokyo Japan. To discuss among other things, physical descriptions of the new HD-DVD standard. And specifically layering and rewriteable disc properties. Among other issues discussed was the implementation of 1080p into the standard.

The next version (1.9) is expected to be ratified in February of 2005, while 2.0 should go into effect September of 2005. This will mark a milestone for the group as this around the same time HD-DVD players and discs, should start to make their way to consumers abroad.

Michael.G

Joining HD-DVD format partner Toshiba, Sanyo unveiled their prototype HDDVD player, at the 2004 Ceatec electronics show in Chiba Japan this week. A Toshiba spokesperson said both companies were preparing for mass production.

No real surprise here, but as Blu-Ray was a shoe-in for the next Playstation, NEC and Toshiba are trying to sway the XBox2 platform over to HD-DVD. Given the competition between XBoX and Playstation, I’d guess this was a natural match.

Michael.G

On Monday October 4, Twentieth Century Fox Film became the 14th member of the Blu-Ray disc Association (BDA). With mega-movie titles under their belt, such as Star Wars and Titanic, Fox is definitely a step in the right direction to aid Sony’s Blu-Ray technology in the DVD battle against its rivals, Toshiba’s and NEC’s HD-DVD. The winner of this war, which could go either way, will be deciding what the standard HD format for DVD should be.

All this talk about Fox jumping on the Blu Ray bandwagon is somewhat misleading though.Yes Fox has joined the Blu Ray disc Association (BDA) to support, study, and promote the devolpment of Blu Ray format and develop copyright technologies to protect the discs, but it seems like Fox is still playing the field. According to Fox technology Group’s special advisor Michael O’Neill, Fox is not ready to commit any of their content to the Blu-Ray format at this time. “We are also exploring the HD format, as we have been for a year, and we are going to evaluate both formats in a positive, collaborative fashion,” stated O’Neill on Monday, before the inaugural meeting of the BDA began. Other players in the association include Sony (of course), Samsung, Phillips, Hewlett-Packard, Dell, Sharp, and Hitachi.

So far it seems that Fox is the only film studio that is supporting Blu-Ray. On the HD-DVD side, Japan’s largest movie distributor has signed a deal to begin releasing movies in HD-DVD by late 2005. This is about the same time that Sony is preparing to launch their Blu-Ray line of players/recorders and DVDs. No U.S studios have stated when they will release DVDs in the new format or even which format it will be, though.

Michael.G

The DVD Forum, approved the new logos for HD-DVD and HD-DVDROM recently, along with the logos, DTS was applied as a standard for all HD-DVD disc’s. So DTS in one form or another will be included on all HD-DVD’s. I cant tell you how many times I’ve watched an old movie on DVD, that didnt even have a dolby digital track much less DTS. This is welcome news.

Michael.G

I’ve always been a film buff, but all the way back to the VHS days, when we could first “own” movies, I felt something was lacking. With VHS it was obvious, the picture was grainy and deteriorated, rather quickly. From there we moved onto Laserdsic (I still own a few). Laserdisc was a marked improvement over VHS but in all actuality, offered very little increase in resolution, but color reproduction was significantly better. Toward the end of medium, Laserdisc introduced us to a digital soundtrack, definitely a step in the right direction. I was always a little miffed at Laserdics seeming lack of acceptance, I suppose it just wasn’t “different enough” from VHS, to make people shell out 350.00 to 500.00 dollars, for a player.

Then the big kahuna of movie mediums came on the scene around 1995 and it really changed the way we watched and collected movies. Finally we could buy or rent movies with a full digital soundtrack and more often than not, a more than acceptable picture. I won’t discount the impact DVD had however, in all fairness, it was still the NTSC standard. I saw friends buy massive amounts of DVD’s, “their collection” as they called it, and I always thought to myself, collection of what? Don’t get me wrong I own 45 of 50 DVD’s myself, but their nothing I went out of my way to own. I just never saw the need to get excited over 480 lines of horizontal resolution.

I suppose I always had this arbitrary goal of a thousand lines of resolution. I don’t know why but it just seemed with HDTV already in the works, if not actually available, why were standard definition DVD’s so en-vogue? HD-DVD as a medium certainly wasn’t an “early out of the gate” technology. It’s time is now, of that there’s no doubt in my mind, but others argue this by saying “DVD is good enough”. I’ve never been of that mindset, and I for one am really excited to be able to really own a movie. That’s the way I look at it, finally we can own a movie with 1000 lines of resolution or more, enough in my mind at least, to truly enjoy the film.

I suppose many of you by now know about the impending format war over the final DVD standard. I say final because at the moment we have two. Both HD-DVD and Blu-Ray discs are set to compete for your dollars. I’ll say more about that soon, but suffice to say which format comes out on top is as important as the medium itself. What I intend to do with this site is deliver the news as I see it, and help consumers make an informed choice as to which format to adopt. Am I biased? Of course I am. I’ve already decided which one I prefer, that is I know right now, but that could change. This will be a learning experience for me as well. I look forward to the coming months, as they will be critical in the shaping of this new format, and the potential end result will be better movie viewing for all of us.

Michael.G