Toshiba follows NEC with HD-DVD player
Hot on the heels of it collaborator NEC, Japanese electronics firm Toshiba has developed a DVD player compatible with both current and next-generation discs.
Toshiba’s player features a single-lens optical head mechanism that integrates both the red laser diode needed to play current discs and the blue light sources required for high-definition playback.
With their format (version 0.9) approved by the DVD Forum in barely six weeks ago, both NEC and Toshiba have now rushed out prototype versions of their next-generation players.
Toshiba says that employing the single objective lens for both lasers allows the compactness required for consumer-use HD-DVD.
NEC and Toshiba’s rivals in the Blu-Ray consortium have yet to gain approval for their technology from the DVD Forum. Blu-Ray member Sony has developed its own HD-DVD player, which is said to be backwards-compatible with some, although not all, current discs (see related story).
Toshiba is showing off the prototype player at the International CES 2004 show held at the Las Vegas Convention Center from January 8-11.
