Chapter 1

March 2003
There are now at least 5 candidates for high-definition DVD. (See “What
About the HD-DVD and Blue Laser Formats?” in Chapter 3, “DVD Technical
Details,” for details).
• HD-DVD-9 (aka HD-9).
• Advanced Optical Disc (AOD).
• Blu-ray (BD).
• Advanced Optical Storage Research Alliance (AOSRA), Blue-HD-
DVD-1.
• AOSRA Blue-DVD-DVD-2.
June 2002
Philips demonstrated a blue-laser miniature pre-recorded optical disc. The
3-cm (1.2-inch) disc holds 1 Gbyte of data. The prototype drive to read the
disc measured 5.6 x 3.4 x 0.75 cm (2.2 x 1.3 x 0.3 inches).
February-March 2002
Miscellaneous 207
A group of 9 companies announced February 19th a new high-density
recordable DVD standard, known as Blu-ray. At the DVD Forum general
meeting in March, the Forum announced that it will investigate next-generation
standards to choose the best one. Since the 9 companies are all
members of the DVD Forum, it’s likely that Blu-ray will eventually be
approved by the Forum.
Also at the March meeting, the Forum announced that according to AOL
Time Warner’s request it will work on a standard for putting high-definition
video on existing DVDs. The format is being called “HD-DVD-9.” (See
“What About the HD-DVD and Blue Laser Formats?” in Chapter 3 for
details).