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Toshiba To Offer Laptops With HD-DVD in 2005

Posted by samzenpus on from the what-about-the-sound dept.

LBArrettAnderson writes "Toshiba will release laptops with HD-DVD under its high-end Qosmio brand and plans to ship one million units in the first year to Europe, the U.S. and China, as well as Japan. The company claims the slimline HD-DVD format is more suitable to laptop PCs than the rival Blu-ray Disc format."

3 of 107 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Better suited for laptops? by megalomang · · Score: 5, Insightful
    You mean heavily invested in HD-DVD? The answer is most definitely yes. They would not be on the steering committee without a vested interest in the format. The early release is clearly an attempt to advance the HD-DVD market penetration.

    Reasons why HD-DVD could be better suited for a laptop (I don't know which apply though):

    consumes less power

    is less susceptible to vibration

    smaller form factor

    less heat dissipated (either due to disc rpm or embedded processing)

  2. Them and who else? by Pete+Brubaker · · Score: 5, Informative

    Take a look at the Blu-Ray website. I think the only company that's missing in the industry partner list is Toshiba. Plus after reading some documentation internal to my company regarding manufacturing costs of Blu-Ray discs they are cheaper to make than HD-DVD's in both cost per disc and cost per gigabyte.

    In the past we've seen products like the Beta format for example that have a small industry following just go by the wayside. It seems such that HD-DVD is progressing along the same path. Time will tell I guess.

    --
    What's a sig? Pete Brubaker
  3. Oh really? by foreverdisillusioned · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The DRM will not prevent good old-fashoned "insert and hit play", but it will prevent uncontrolled ripping and copying.

    ...for the first couple of months, you mean.

    I really wonder why they even bother. Unless they include hardware DRM to disallow access to all unauthorized programs, this WILL be cracked. And either one does do such a thing, the other one will almost assuredly win the format wars.

    My message to MPAA is this: Save your money. Leave it unencrypted. Let us do what we want with our movies. The VCR did not put you out of business, and neither will this.