Japan HD DVD Player Launch Delayed

The race for a next-generation DVD standard could become closer, as Toshiba on Tuesday said its planned end-of-year launch for HD DVD players in Japan will be delayed until early 2006.

This could mean both HD DVD and rival Blu-ray formats would launch players at the same time, essentially giving consumers the power to choose a winner. HD DVD was expected to have an advantage in overall market momentum by launching months earlier.

The decision for the delay is due to copyright protection issues. The management system for the player, called advanced access content system or AACS, is not yet complete and Toshiba said the player would not be released until these issues were addressed.

HD DVD players could still make it to the Japanese market by February or March, the time previously slated for a United States launch. Spokespeople for Toshiba said that a launch stateside would not occur before a launch in Japan.

While many analysts agree that Blu-ray seems to be the leading candidate to replace traditional DVDs, HD DVD would have had a significant time advantage by releasing well before the competiting format in Japan.

Consumers in the country are notorious for adopting new technologies much earlier than in other countries, and for HD DVD to gain a foothold within a crucial technology market would be quite significant.

No dates have been set for the release of Blu-ray players as of yet, but the organization behind the technology has promised a slew of announcements at CES 2006 in Las Vegas. Blu-ray will, however, be supported in Sony's PlayStation 3, scheduled to launch in the spring.