Apple Computer has sided with the Blu-ray Disc Association, as it enters the debate over which specification will become the next-generation DVD format.
The association, which includes the likes of Sony, Dell and Hewlett-Packard, announced last week that Apple has become its latest member following a bimonthly meeting in South Korea hosted by electronics maker Samsung.
Apple will lend its expertise in HD and DVD authoring to the development of the Blu-ray Disc specification, which is backward-compatible with DVDs and allows for the storage of up to 50GB of data, CNET reported. Current DVDs can hold up to about 8.5GB of information.
Blu-ray Disc’s ability to store such large amounts of data is one of its key advantages over the HD DVD specification. HD DVDs hold up to 30GB of data and are backward-compatible with current DVDs. Proponents of HD DVD say players and discs will be cheaper to make than products based on the Blu-ray Disc specification. The two incompatible formats are the main technologies being considered by electronics and PC makers, as well as entertainment studios, to succeed the highly popular and profitable DVD. Back to the top
