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HD DVD Player Delays in Japan

Posted by Zonk on from the waiting-for-the-shiniest-discs dept.

TheSync writes "EE Times is reporting that Toshiba is delaying introduction of HD DVD players in Japan because of the unavailability of Advanced Access Content System (AACS) DRM system licensing. The Register reports that Toshiba is still planning a late Q1 launch of HD DVD in the US." From the EET article: "Toshiba hoped to introduce HD DVD players by the end of 2005, ahead of Blu-ray Disc players, but decided in September to postpone the U.S. introduction until 2006. In July, IBM Corp., Intel Corp., Microsoft Corp., Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd., Sony Corp., Toshiba, Walt Disney Company and Warner Bro. Studio formed the AACS Licensing Administrator (AACS LA) to develop license AACS technology. AACS LA has completed its version 0.9 of the technology."

1 of 86 comments (clear)

  1. What I demand of movies: by agraupe · · Score: 1, Flamebait

    1) That I can watch them anywhere, copy them to any format, and do both of those things based on Open standards, without contrived devices intended to prevent such things.

    2) That they are available in a buyable, watchable format at the same time they are released anywhere else (i.e. DVD and theatrical release occurs at the same time).

    Until both of those conditions are met, I will continue to download movies for free. Number one is mostly available from the current DVD format, and for that I applaud it, but it also has a number of problems (DeCSS and the DMCA, for example), and I fear that the next generation (HD-DVD or Blu-ray) will take a step backward on this issue. As for number two, I am confident that the studios will figure it out eventually, and tell the big cinema chains to go fuck themselves. I am not against cinemas, but I am most certainly against the monopoly they hold for the first few months of a movie's life. I don't download movies because I'm cheap; I download them because there is no other way to watch them in the comfort of my home until the DVD is released. I'm sure there is a wide range of people like me in this regard, that would spend money on DVDs given the opportunity. How this develops.... we'll wait and see, I suppose, but whichever format offers the best combination of these two features will be my favorite.