New DVD standard gains support.

http://money.cnn.com/2004/01/12/tech...ex.htm?cnn=yes

New DVD standard gains support

Dell and H-P lend support to Blu-DVD that can hold up to 4 hours of
high definition TV.
January 12, 2004: 8:49 AM EST



AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - U.S. computer makers Hewlett-Packard and Dell
said Monday they would support a new DVD standard with much higher
storage capacity which is being promoted by 10 electronics companies.

Dell (DELL: Research, Estimates) and H-P (HPQ: Research, Estimates),
the world's largest personal computer makers, said they would support
the so-called Blu-ray DVD technology, which allows for recording of up
to four hours of high-definition television on a single disc.

"H-P believes Blu-ray Disc is the most consumer-friendly technology
choice for the next generation of removable storage," John Romano,
senior vice president at H-P, said in a statement.

Gerry Smith, vice president of peripheral development and procurement
at Dell, said the technology was an obvious choice given the
additional storage capacity offered and the broad support from
consumer electronics and PC manufacturers and large entertainment
companies.

Blu-ray is competing with another new blue laser-based DVD technology
from Japan's Toshiba and NEC.

Blue lasers have a shorter wavelength than the current red lasers,
which allows for a thinner light beam which can read and write smaller
bits of information on a disc.

Among the 10 companies promoting Blu-Ray are Hitachi LG Electronics,
Philips Electronics, Sony and Thomson.

Although the support of the two main PC makers is a shot in the arm of
the Blu-ray group, the rival technology from Toshiba and NEC won the
support of the DVD Forum in November.

The DVD Forum is the alliance of some 220 DVD companies, including
electronics and media firms.

The DVD industry has seen other format wars. There are five different
rewriteable red laser technologies on the market, many of which will
not play discs recorded with a competing standard.

Crucial in the blue laser battle will be the support of the Hollywood
movie studios, which are expected to adopt just one standard for
pre-recorded (read-only) blue laser DVDs.

"The BD-ROM (read-only) format, developed in collaboration with
Hollywood studios and the IT industry, is expected to be available
early 2004, allowing for BD-ROM products to be available by the end of
2005," the Blu-ray group said.









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