AfterDawn: News

Will DVD be inheriting HD DVD's web features?

As the primary backer of HD DVD, Toshiba spent a lot of money developing technology that they didn't get a lot of use out of. Some features from HD DVD players, like upscaling, fit nicely into standard DVD players. Others, like web-enabled content, aren't quite as applicable. Sure you could put the same capabilities into a DVD player, but with no official standard you'd be hard pressed to get anyone to take advantage of it.

Now it looks like they're hoping to establish such a standard as DVD Download. At their last meeting in June, the DVD Forum's steering committee, headed by Toshiba, approved a logo for it.



Although it's not a definite sign that Toshiba will be adding any type of web-features to their DVD players, as one of the last major companies to seriously support the continued development of actual DVD technology (Blu-ray is separate from the DVD Forum), they may be in a position to push for adoption of HD DVD features in the DVD specs.

Combined with the continued work on China's extension of HD DVD, China HD DVD (C-HD DVD), it's possible they didn't actually give up on the format war with Blu-ray. Maybe they just figured Blu-ray would probably fail without any competition and are positioning themselves to pick up the pieces afterward.

Maybe if the industry as a whole had taken this sort of evolutionary approach from the beginning we would be talking about the amazing growth of DVD now instead of speculating on the future of Blu-ray.

Written by: Rich Fiscus @ 3 Jul 2008 13:15

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• 5 comments

• core2kid

  This means new DVD players... No DVD player, except consoles/PCs, supports online.

  3.7.2008 13:22 #1

• Hunt720

  .. thus making current DVD players "last gen" in comparison and incompatible with the newer features... if you are going to buy another DVD player for "web features" you should save your money.

  3.7.2008 13:45 #2

• Vr0cK

  Sounds like they're really trying to keep DVDs alive. Its time to gradually move onto new technology. Its inevitable. Its how the world works. If the price of DVD players increase like 50$ due to these features its not worth it.

  3.7.2008 14:04 #3

• emugamer

  New DVD players aren't a bad thing now, especially if yours is old and you've been looking at getting one that upscales to avoid having to sink money into bluray.
  
  As for keeping DVD's alive, I think anything Toshiba does has a hidden agenda against bluray - the longer they can keep people from investing in bluray, the better. And at what cost? The technology is already mostly developed.

  3.7.2008 14:15 #4

• nobrainer

  Lets hope not as these web features are what are going to be used to snoop on our usage and control media playback.
  
  Lets keep DVD a privacy haven please.
  
  

  The BPI Are: SONY, UNIVERSAL, WARNER GROUP, EMI.
  The RIAA Soundexchange Are: SONY, UNIVERSAL, WARNER GROUP, EMI.
  The IFPI Are: The same anti consumer lot as listed above!
  The MPAA Are: SONY, UNIVERSAL, WARNER GROUP, DISNEY, PARAMOUNT, FOX.

  4.7.2008 04:57 #5