High Definition DVD on the way

[Skipjack]

I hope I'm not stepping on your toes here, Greg, but I just caught this article and wanted to share:

High-definition DVD on the way
Mon Apr 28, 8:00 AM ET  

Mike Snider USA TODAY

Even as the public's love affair with the DVD blossoms, the tech world is hard at work in the lab creating the next generation of high-definition disc.


With 56.5 million DVD players sold since 1997, it's not too early for engineers to work on a successor. It took about three years to develop DVD, and new players and prerecorded discs probably won't arrive in final form for at least three years.


Don't panic; any future player also will handle the discs you buy today. But just as DVDs are of higher quality than TV, digital TV and high-definition programming have leapfrogged the quality of DVD. And as sales increase for digital TV sets, capable of displaying video two to three times better than that of DVD, the industry is wrangling over ways to keep up.


''The good news is, Hollywood is not trying to cheat consumers. The studios, artists and directors really want to get the home theater experience as good as possible,'' says Richard Doherty of consulting firm The Envisioneering Group. ''As good as DVD was over VHS, high-definition (discs) will be an even higher jump in image quality.''


Beyond better video, HD-DVD discs may hold seven-channel soundtracks and more interactive bonuses, such as automatic software that, through a Net-linked home entertainment server, could connect online for additional language soundtracks and live chats with filmmakers and actors. ''Those are the kinds of areas we're working on in defining the format,'' says Erin Sullivan, with Panasonic's entertainment technology laboratory in Hollywood.


Most companies involved are skittish about discussing next-generation discs for fear of confusing consumers and derailing DVD. But about two years into the discussions, several systems are competing to become the standard:


* The Blu-ray Disc, supported by nine major makers, including Sony, Panasonic, Philips and Pioneer, could store up to 50 GB of data (more than six times the data capacity of today's DVD) by using a blue laser beam instead of the current red laser. Blu-ray recorders and players could play current DVDs, but Blu-ray discs could not be played on current players.


* Advanced Optical Disc, a second blue-laser system proposed by NEC and Toshiba, brings disc capacity to 20 GB. One advantage touted by backers: Today's DVD-making equipment could easily be modified for the new discs.


* HD-DVD-9, based on the current DVD format, uses improved software compression to pack 135 minutes of HD video onto the disc. It was developed by Warner Bros.


A format decision is expected by the end of the year. But that hasn't kept the technology from peeking out early: Sony released a Blu-ray DVD recorder in Japan earlier this month for about $3,800. HDTV is more prevalent there, and viewers increasingly want to time-shift high-definition programs.


With DVD, prerecorded discs and players hit stores first; DVD recorders are just starting to reach the mass market. Today, DVD players start at as little as $50; recordable drives for PCs can be found for $300; stand-alone recorders sell for about $600.

The fact that the article mentions a format decision will be made by the end of the year is exciting enough.

Anyone wanna place bets which format will win?