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Toshiba holds door open to unified DVDs

By TAIGA URANAKA
Staff writer

Toshiba Corp. is willing to compromise on creating a unified format for next-generation DVDs if it can be done by yearend, a senior official in charge of format negotiations said Wednesday.
"We have no intention of giving up on creating a single format," Yoshihide Fujii, president and CEO of Toshiba's Digital Media Network Company, said at a news conference to unveil the product lineup for the holiday season.

His comment came a day after Microsoft Corp. and Intel Corp. decided to throw their support behind HD DVD, the next-generation format promoted by Toshiba.

The move by the two PC industry giants was a huge boost to the HD DVD camp, which has been competing against Blu-ray -- the format pushed by Sony Corp. and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. -- to become the next-generation standard.

Toshiba said it plans to release HD DVD players for Japan around yearend and early next year in the United States. HD DVD recorders are scheduled to hit the domestic market sometime before the World Cup soccer tournament gets under way between May and early June.

Blu-ray DVD recorders made by Sony, Matsushita and Sharp Corp. are already on the market.

Asked about possibility of a compromise with Blu-ray, Fujii said he was "flexible.

He said earlier negotiations this spring failed because the Blu-ray camp was not able to convince Toshiba of the reliability of the format's disc structure.

Fujii also told reporters the deadline for any further negotiations will be year's end, when Toshiba releases its HD DVD players.

The Japan Times: Sept. 29, 2005
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