Monday, January 08, 2007
Toshiba announces 51gb HD DVD disc and strengthened hardware support
Blu-ray Disc's "size advantage" thrown into dispute
At their pre-CES conference, Toshiba have announced that they have successfully researched an HD DVD disc holding a total of 51gb. The disc is still in preliminary stages and will first need to be approved by the DVD Forum to become an official part of the HD DVD spec, meaning we won't be seeing films released on it any time soon.
Although I last year brought information from Toshiba that a triple-layer 45gb disc was possible, the 51gb size comes as a surprise to everyone. Until now, a single-layer on an HD DVD disc has held 15gb. To make the 51gb disc possible, it would appear that Toshiba's engineers have maximised the available space per layer to bring it up to around 17gb.
Just how necessary a 51gb HD DVD disc is, is also unknown, because as of yet, the Blu-ray format, which has a select few titles on its much touted (and reportedly difficult to produce) 50gb discs, has not produced superior picture quality or features despite its space advantage. Most HD DVD titles use VC-1 as their video codec of choice, which is incredibly efficient at compressing video, meaning that artefact-free results have been delivered on 30gb and even 15gb discs.
In addition, new hardware manufacturers have announced support for HD DVD, including boutique manufacturers Onkyo and Meridian. Toshiba has also strengthened its lineup by introducing a new mid-range model that supports 1080p video output, the HD-A20, due to ship in the Spring for $599. Microsoft and decoder chipset provider Broadcom are also working to create solutions to allow for even lower-cost HD DVD players.
Stay tuned for more HD DVD news from CES.
Posted at 11:33 AM
