HD-DVD launch delayed in Japan
HD-DVD launch delayed in Japan
David Katzmaier Editorial Director -- Personal Tech
David reviews TVs and leads the Personal Tech team at CNET, covering mobile, software, computing, streaming and home entertainment. We provide helpful, expert reviews, advice and videos on what gadget or service to buy and how to get the most out of it.
Expertise A 20-year CNET veteran, David has been reviewing TVs since the days of CRT, rear-projection and plasma. Prior to CNET he worked at Sound & Vision magazine and eTown.com. He is known to two people on Twitter as the Cormac McCarthy of consumer electronics. Credentials
- Although still awaiting his Oscar for Best Picture Reviewer, David does hold certifications from the Imaging Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Standards and Technology on display calibration and evaluation.
Today Toshiba announced it would be delaying the Japan introduction of its HD-DVD hardware, which was originally scheduled to launch late in 2005 (just 11 days left!). The units, including stand-alone HD-DVD players and notebook PCs with HD-DVD drives, will now hit store shelves in Japan early in 2006. According to Toshiba's HD-DVD spokesman Mark Knox, , the delay was caused by the fact that the Advanced Access Content System (AACS) copy-protection scheme used for both next-generation DVD formats, HD-DVD and Blu-ray, is still unfinalized. "They just have to take the final votes so they can issue keys," Knox said. "There are some points still under discussion, but I think they are going to reach consensus now on a few items, such as not doing region code, for example." HD-DVD's anticipated March 2006 U.S. launch will be unaffected, according to the company. The first products to employ the competing Blu-ray format, including Sony's PlayStation 3, are expected to launch in the United States in the second quarter of 2006.
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