To make the transition from current DVDs to next generation DVDs smoother, Toshiba and Memory-Tech announced the development of a read only disc that will house both standard definition and high definition content. According to Masato Otsuka, general manager of Memory-Tech’s engineering department, the disc will be one sided and contain two layers, an upper DVD layer with a capacity of 4.7GB and a lower HD-DVD layer with a 15GB capacity.

This a great way for HD-DVD to market themselves to the consumer because old and new DVD players will be able to read all types of HD-DVD discs, though only the next generation DVD player can take advantage of the HD-DVD layer. Memory-Tech will produce the new discs and they should hit the market around October or November of 2005. As for the competition, a spokesman for Sony said that it was possible to produce a disc with both standard DVD and Blu-ray formats, but they have no plans to do so.

R.Hollis

This entry was posted on Friday, December 10th, 2004 at 3:12 pm and is filed under HD-DVD news. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.