Science and technology news blog

Supporters of the two rival next-generation disc formats are slugging it out this week at the Consumer Electronics Show, with HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc predicting victory in the quest for a unified high-definition standard.

HD DVD is banking its prediction of success in large part on the arrival this year of low-priced players from China and other Asian countries. The Blu-ray camp, meanwhile, believes the PlayStation 3 rollout, together with overwhelming studio and consumer electronics support, will boost software sales to such a degree that HD DVD will have no choice but to throw in the towel.

“Game over,” quipped Buena Vista Worldwide Home Entertainment president Bob Chapek, a leading Blu-ray supporter.

Both camps held lavish news events at CES. At the HD DVD event Sunday, the North American HD DVD Promotional Group said that as of Friday, more than 175,000 HD DVD players had been sold in North America. That figure includes computers with HD DVD drives as well as Xbox 360 game consoles with the HD DVD add-on.

Toshiba, which so far is the only consumer electronics manufacturer to produce dedicated set-top HD DVD players, said it will ship this spring a new 1080p unit, the $599 HD-A20, that will offer consumers the highest resolution possible. Toshiba also said it has developed a triple-layer 51GB disc that can hold up to seven hours of high-definition content. The new disc is seen as a reaction to Blu-ray’s dual-layer 50GB disc.

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Toshiba is confident that it will beat Sony to market with consumer electronics devices packing the powerful Cell microprocessor, the head of its consumer electronics business said Thursday.

The Cell chip was developed with a budget of several billion dollars by Toshiba, Sony and IBM for a variety of applications. Much of the initial focus has been on its place in the PlayStation 3 games console. But both Toshiba and Sony have been harboring plans to deploy the powerful chip in a wider range of products. Its power makes it well suited to handle high-definition digital video and possible uses could be in televisions and video recorders. (more…)

Got a new digital device such as a digital camera, mp3 player, laptop computer or other device that can take the new SDHC (Secure Digital High Capacity) memory card standard?

These cards look identical to standard SD cards, but break through the previous 2Gb barrier, allowing digital devices to store more data without needing to resort to 1-inch hard drives.

Also known as a Class 4 memory card, it surpasses the 4Gb cards that were launched earlier this year by Toshiba and competitors, with Toshibas own 4Gb card only arriving in September, little more than two months ago. How soon before we see a 16Gb, 32Gb or even 64Gb card?

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Microsoft confirmed today that Toshiba will manufacture its Zune music player, a product intended by the company to take on Apple Computer’s successful iPod.

The confirmation follows reports of a regulatory filing Toshiba made to the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that mentions the device and its features. “Toshiba is manufacturing the device and the [FCC] report is legitimate,” a spokesperson for Microsoft’s public relations firm said.

She declined to say if other hardware makers also would be building Zune players, adding that Microsoft will reveal further details about Zune in the next few weeks.

More Details

In addition to the name “Zune,” the device also is referred to as “Pyxis” in Toshiba’s filing. A collaborative service for Zune users, something akin to Apple’s iTunes software and service, is called “Argo.”

The FCC filing contains photos of what Toshiba’s Zune player will look like. Here is a PDF of a document that shows photos of the front and back of the device, which looks similar to Apple’s original iPod, but bigger.

According to the Zune “user’s manual” included in the filing, the Zune device will include 30 gigabytes of storage, wireless capabilities, and an FM radio tuner.

The wireless capabilities will allow users to search for other Zune devices within range and share music, photos, playlists, and other media content with those devices.

After months of speculation, Microsoft confirmed in July that it was developing a music player and service to rival Apple’s iPod and iTunes. If other attempts to unseat the iPod are any indication, Microsoft will have a tough road ahead. Earlier this week, Dell stopped selling its DJ Ditty music player on its Web site and ended development of its own line of music players.