Toshiba Forms Group to Push HD-DVD
Electronics maker Toshiba formally announced the creation of the HD-DVD Promotion Group in Tokyo yesterday. The move will pool the efforts of four companies to better compete with next-generation DVD rival Blu-ray as the fight for a standardized format gets underway.
As reported by BetaNews, the battle for high-definition DVD has heated up in recent weeks as companies move closer to an anticipated release by the middle of next year. While Sony's Blu-ray is more focused on video and television, the HD-DVD format hopes to succeed in data where the original DVD format did not.
The founding companies of the new promotion group are Toshiba, Memory-Tech, NEC, and Sanyo. The group's purpose will be to ensure that manufacturers have the necessary information they need to create players and software that conforms to the HD-DVD format, officials said.
The HD-DVD Promotion Group was initially announced last September, with plans to invite new members such as content holders in spring 2005. But with pressure increasing from Blu-ray, which recently signed on Disney, the group has already reached out to over 100 companies, according to reports.
The Blu-ray organization had no immediate comment.