May 11th 2005

Toshiba Unveils 45GB HD-DVD

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They may be talking peace with Sony in the long-running battle between Blu-Ray and HD-DVD, but that hasn't stopped Toshiba developing the HD-DVD format further.

Yesterday they announced a 45GB disc, only 5GB less than Blu-Ray's 50GB. On the surface this would seem to narrow the distinction between the two formats, but in fact this may cause HD-DVD more problems than it solves.

The extra capacity is generated by sticking a single data layer on top of a dual-layer. This means that an extra laser read head is required, so not only do we have increased production costs for the discs, we also need more complicated hardware. The lower of cost of HD-DVD was one of its main selling points.

Toshiba was pushing players and recorders to market this year, but only dual layer. The addition of an extra layer will either delay the widespread release of the format, or severely annoy early adopters who find that they can't play the triple layer discs.

Toshiba may have shot itself in the foot with this one.