TDK: HD DVD has no chance in HD war

[Dave]

TDK executive Jean-Paul Eekhout has said that his company is 100 per cent committed to the Blu-ray Disc format and that he is absolutely certain it will win out over HD DVD. In an interview with Tech.co.uk, Eekhout spoke about the prospect of TDK releasing recordable HD DVD discs in the future.

"Long before the two HD recordable formats had names, TDK developed core technologies for post-DVD products," said Eekhout. "TDK Corporations' research and development efforts were in fields of material research, manufacturing technologies and hard coating.

"We judged the Blu-ray Disc recordable and rewriteable product concepts to be the superior format in terms of capacity, durability and performance. TDK's core technology aligned very well with the BD-R/RE concepts and there exclusively supports the BD format."

He went on to say: "In our recording media domain, there isn't much of a war going on. Today HD recording is 100 per cent in the hands of the Blu-ray products. The format benefits of BD are undisputable indications that BD-R/RE will in fact be the only format that matters for high-definition recording. In our recordable market segment, capacity, data transfer rate and widest format support guarantees the winning position for BD-R/RE.

"TDK strongly believes that there will be one global winner: Blu-ray Disc!" he said.

As a founding member of the Blu-ray Disc Association, a TDK executive is hardly going to start talking up the benefits of a rival disc format. But, if there was money to be made in the HD DVD recordable market, you would think that TDK would want to get in on the act.

TDK: HD DVD has no chance in HD war
http://www.tech.co.uk/home-entertain...eid=1874033668

TDK declares Blu-ray the HD winner
http://www.tech.co.uk/home-entertain...-the-hd-winner

[blu-rayfan101]

This is nice to know!

[buckshot]

I laugh just imagining the hd dvd spin on this.

[Manco]

Originally Posted by buckshot

I laugh just imagining the hd dvd spin on this.

You just gotta wonder... who would bring a format to market that doesn't even have recording capabilities ready yet.

[kknight]

Who wouldn't want a 200gb disc (Blu-ray) vs 51gb disc (HD-DVD)? Blu-ray is no doubt the format to go with in the PC world.

[Deane Johnson]

Anyone notice that all of those in a position of leadership and knowledge say Blu-ray will be the winner, and that the only persons saying HD-DVD will win are off the edge bloggers trying to get attention for their sites or columns.

[bdrex28]

This is something alot of the format war "talking heads" seem to always forget.

Not ony is BD a great medium for High-Def movies, but it's THE up and coming format for storage. In storage and recordable media it simply blows away HD-DVD.

[jamclaur]

I've never understood the concept behind wanting to buy HDud. It's good to have more facts to back my choice up.

[sj001]

Nice article, thanks for posting, it's always good to hear FACTS from leadership in Blu-ray companies.

[mcy_999]

One thing you need to watch about TDK is their 100GB disc is based on the three layers. They streched the 25gb to 33gb for each layer. It is different than what Sony and Hitachi are doing (4-layer). HItachi said their 4-layer 100gb can be played on the existing BD drive with firmware upgrade. That's the way to go. It is unclear whether TDK discs (3-layer 100gb or 6-layer 200gb) require diferent drive.

[jorg]

Originally Posted by mcy_999

One thing you need to watch about TDK is their 100GB disc is based on the three layers. They streched the 25gb to 33gb for each layer. It is different than what Sony and Hitachi are doing (4-layer). HItachi said their 4-layer 100gb can be played on the existing BD drive with firmware upgrade. That's the way to go. It is unclear whether TDK discs (3-layer 100gb or 6-layer 200gb) require diferent drive.

very true very true the same thing is with hd dvd and the hd dvd-rom spec (20 gig a layer) new drive requierd (not to mention huge reading problems with the rw format)

[dobyblue]

Originally Posted by Deane Johnson

Anyone notice that all of those in a position of leadership and knowledge say Blu-ray will be the winner, and that the only persons saying HD-DVD will win are off the edge bloggers trying to get attention for their sites or columns.

Absolutely, excellent point and you're totally correct.

[WriteSimply]

Originally Posted by mcy_999

One thing you need to watch about TDK is their 100GB disc is based on the three layers. They streched the 25gb to 33gb for each layer. It is different than what Sony and Hitachi are doing (4-layer). HItachi said their 4-layer 100gb can be played on the existing BD drive with firmware upgrade. That's the way to go. It is unclear whether TDK discs (3-layer 100gb or 6-layer 200gb) require diferent drive.

TDK's proposal came early. Hitachi's one was "newer". Both will have to be vetted through the BDA. Either approach will result in shared IP royalties, I think.

If the Hitachi 100GB/200GB works with just a firmware update, then I believe the BDA would act on that instead of one that requires firmware and hardware update. Simply because it makes more sense to provide backwards compatibility.


fuad

[joeorc]

Originally Posted by bdrex28

This is something alot of the format war "talking heads" seem to always forget.

Not ony is BD a great medium for High-Def movies, but it's THE up and coming format for storage. In storage and recordable media it simply blows away HD-DVD.

add in the fact it also has SOFTWARE NOT JUST PLAYSTATION 3 Blu-Ray SOFTWARE but also PC Blu-Ray software already. Blu-Ray just sell's more DISC's compared to HD DVD its nocontest.

[ESUNintel]

Not only is Blu a superior movie and gaming format, it is also the best format for storage. I rather store my data (whatever it may be, videos, music, etc...) onto a single Blu disk rather than a few HD-DVD disks. It's also a whole lot easier to find blank Blu disks than it is HD-DVD disks. On the retail level all I see is blank Blu media, only newegg.com seems to have blank HD-DVD media. There is also greater company support for Blu recorders than HD-DVD recorders.

Why people still think HD-DVD is superior, or will win the format war is truly beyond me (other than price and nice menu's and extras).

[ESUNintel]

Originally Posted by joeorc

add in the fact it also has SOFTWARE NOT JUST PLAYSTATION 3 Blu-Ray SOFTWARE but also PC Blu-Ray software already. Blu-Ray just sell's more DISC's compared to HD DVD its nocontest.

If I were some sort of exec for a software I would choose Blu over HD-DVD in a heartbeat. Especially for a gaming company, the more the disk capacity the more extras, the better the sound and graphics. Even non gaming, for stuff like VB.net or other such programs that require multiple discs, wouldn't it be cost efficient to fit everything on one single Blu (of course Microsoft has to support Blu first and Blu drivers need to become a bit more affordable first, so that's in the long run)?

[kaliraver]

I totally agree Mt. Eekhout about Blu-Ray being the future winner of this war. HD-DVD doesn't even have finalized specs for an HD-DVD RW drive let alone disc. How do these HD-DVD fans think is a positive thing? Then they point fingers about Blu-Ray not having finalized specs? They really have to look at themselves in the mirror and realize the real picture, thats all about the movies.

[JAGUAR1977]

Originally Posted by Deane Johnson

Anyone notice that all of those in a position of leadership and knowledge say Blu-ray will be the winner, and that the only persons saying HD-DVD will win are off the edge bloggers trying to get attention for their sites or columns.

It's not gone unnoticed, then again they know in their hearts Blu-ray are very strong.

[Dalese]

Originally Posted by Deane Johnson

Anyone notice that all of those in a position of leadership and knowledge say Blu-ray will be the winner, and that the only persons saying HD-DVD will win are off the edge bloggers trying to get attention for their sites or columns.

That is exactly why I chose blu. For a manufacturer of players or media to commit to a format is not the same as a consumer. A consumer can say I choose Blu-ray or I choose HD-DVD, walk into a store, and make their purchase and then post on the web how great their decision was. Companies have to consider business plans, budgets, allocation of manpower and time, stockholders, banks, and company resources in everything they do. Managers need to be able to defend their decisions as being a good one to their superiors who in turn have to defend it to theirs. To have a vast majority of these companies behind the Blu-ray format shows the strength of the format and their commitment to be profitable with it.

A single consumer making a wrong format decision is out a little cash and may face some embarrassment if they posted on the web. For a company it's a matter of multiple thousands or millions of dollars and peoples careers for choosing the wrong format.

It always amuses me when a poster in the other forums suggests a CE company should support HD-DVD as well because it highlights how little they truly know on how major companies make the decisions they do.

[ikbradley]

Originally Posted by dobyblue

Absolutely, excellent point and you're totally correct.

Except for Ken Graffeo and Amir. Both guys are in the know... and "by in the know", I mean men who take it hard from Microsoft to obtain a sustainable pay cheque.