RSSJapan HD DVD Player Launch Delayed
By Ed Oswald | Published December 13, 2005, 12:17 PM
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.
Does anyone know if these players will require HDCP support by their TVs?
Score: 0
|Does anyone now how to click "Post Your Comment" only once? :)
To answer your question, I do not believe it will REQUIRE HDTV.
Score: 0
|It was a glitch in the registration process that caused the double post.
HDTV is not HDCP.
Score: 0
|Does anyone know if these players will require HDCP support by their TVs?
Score: 0
|Damnit, I was hoping HDDVD would become the next standard but now I'm starting to doubt its ability to penetrate market vs. the PS3...
Score: 0
|seconded
Score: 0
|error
Score: 0
|man i forgot about that i wonder how much crap they are going to be putting on these new disks I mean all the useless crap they put on DVD's these days what ever happened to just putting the movie on the disk an nothing else
Score: 0
|VHS
Score: 0
|If you don’t like the extra crap then don’t watch it.
Score: 0
|:D And P2P movie rippins!
Score: 0
|Yeah, but the really annoying "extra crap" is the stuff that tells you how terrible movie piracy is, how you shouldn't copy DVDs, explanations of the content rating etc. You know, the stuff that they prevent you from skipping past.
Score: 0
|LOL yeah skip it that way you have an excuse to make illegal copies, right? ;)
Score: 0
|yawn
Seems like neither of them will have much difference in content available, so it'll be down to price.
Although I wouldn't say DVD is exactly "dead" yet.
Aside from more content on a single disc, what additional features do these offer over current DVD?
(and don't say HD quality, because the majority of people's TVs don't support that)
I think most people will stick with DVD because they're all pretty much the same but DVD is A LOT cheaper for players and recorders etc.
I certainly have no plans to switch from DVD any time in the future.
Score: 0
|HD DVD at least will be backward compatible, and it's possible Blu-ray will be too. So you may not have much choice in the matter: studios will just release the new formats and stop shipping standard DVD movies.
Score: 0
|Blu-ray will be backwards compatible as well! THe PS3 for example will play DVDs CDs and BDroms
Score: 0
|If we go by your way of thinking, we should still be using VHS.
Score: 0
|That's the Blu-ray drive itself. The important part is the actual discs. HD DVD will be able to store the original DVD format in a separate layer to make them backward compatible and work in current DVD players.
Score: 0
|"and don't say HD quality, because the majority of people's TVs don't support that)"
Its goofs like you that hinder world technology advancement. First off, you dont need HD compatible TV to view higher quality movies. Secondly, why did they release DVD players when everyone was using VHS you tard? BECAUSE its the next standard.
So think before you post.
Score: 0
|Well, as long as lower devices can give good--probably better than the older format--playback on newer formats, I think everyone can be happy.
Score: 0
|I agree with ArabianNight, I just spent $40k on outfitting my new house with HD everything. Plasmas in the living room and library, 106" HD projection and an Onkyo TX-NR1000 in the theater. It kicks a$$! The HD content I can get now is fantastic. Current DVDs upconverted to 720p look better then just the standard DVD, however, if movies came out at 720p or 1080p and cost $10 more I would buy it.
If you don't want to watch anything other then standard DVDs, then watch Standard DVDs but don't spout your ignorance that others might take as fact and lead to uninformed purchases.
True, right now HDTVs are in the minority, however look again in 2-3 years and I think you will see SDTVs on the way out.
Do you think the DVD was an overnight success? How long was it betweem when it came out and became popular? If a HDDVD/BlueRayDVD is going to provide HD content then let it come out, it will be a couple of years before it takes off anyway, by then I am even sure you will have an HDTV.
Score: 0
|It can. Blue-Ray not only brings HD quality dvds, but just higher quality video period. Possible more angles, and a new window of opportunity.
Score: 0
|The drive itself is the only thing that really needs to be backwards compatible. Why do you need a standard definition movie on HD DVD if you already own the original standard definition DVD?
Score: 0
|