The Japanese newspaper Nihon Keizai reported this morning that Sony and Toshiba were close to agree on a unified blue laser format according to Reuters. The format would use Blu-ray's physical disc properties but with software and copy protection technology from Toshiba. Toshiba has however officially denied these rumors in a press release:
Toshiba believes a single format for next generation DVD is most beneficial for consumers, and we are actively participating in talks towards format unification. At this point however, nothing has been decided, and absolutely no decision has been made for unification on any basis. The indication that a unification agreement on the basis of a 0.1mm disc system is imminent is unfounded and erroneous. Given this, Toshiba does not intend to make any proposal on unification to the members of the HD DVD Promotion Group. We recognize that the key factors for a unified format are large capacity, reasonable cost, and backward compatibility with DVD that maximizes consumer benefit. Toshiba will present a new higher capacity HD DVD-ROM disc at Media-Tech Expo 2005 in Toshiba will continue to be engaged in the dialogue on format unification. |
Source: Toshiba
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