Blu-ray Disc Founders Welcome TDK as Their Newest Member

CeBIT 2004 -- The Blu-ray Disc Founders announced today the addition of TDK, a leading manufacturer of optical discs, as its newest member. With the support of TDK, the Blu-ray Disc Founders are broadening their industry support to develop and establish Blu-ray Disc as the next generation optical disc.

Large capacity for new home entertainment experience

The Blu-ray Disc format is poised to leverage two key market trends. First, the arrival of high definition television, and second, consumers' receptivity to new forms of broadband entertainment. In order to record high definition video or TV programs onto a disc, a large capacity format is needed. Blu-ray Disc provides up to 50 GB on a dual layer, single sided disc, which equals about 5 hours of high definition video content. Blu-ray Disc will offer the largest capacity on a blue laser based optical disc for the consumer market and will enable it to deliver new applications such as interactive services to consumers.

Robust bare discs

"We are pleased to support the Blu-ray Disc format, since it is the format we believe in.", said Mr. Masatoshi Shikanai, Corporate Officer of TDK. "Our new hard-coat technology is perfect for producing robust, bare Blu-ray discs in a cost-efficient way. It will provide the optical media industry with a disc that can be efficiently produced at a large scale, and it offers the consumer a robust recordable or rewritable disc with the same handling capability as DVD. We are very excited about supporting this format."

Compatibility

The Blu-ray Disc is being developed on the basis of the successful CD and DVD formats, using 12 cm optical discs. With the addition of a red laser, Blu- ray Disc players and recorders can easily be made backward compatible with DVD. It will enable millions of consumers to play their existing DVD collection on a Blu-ray Disc product, be it in the PC or CE domain.

Convergence

Blu-ray Disc is being optimized for both PC and CE applications, such as playing high definition movies, recording TV programs, capturing camcorder footage, storing and archiving data, as well as preserving personal content. With HP and Dell as members of the Blu-ray Disc Founders, bridging the needs of consumers in both the PC and CE space is further assured.

Specification and Product Status

The specifications for the rewritable version of the Blu-ray Disc format are ready, and the read-only and recordable versions will follow soon. Specific product introductions depend on the plans from each individual manufacturer.

Worldwide support

Blu-ray Disc is a new optical disc format aimed at playing back and recording high definition video. The format is being developed and promoted by the Blu-ray Disc Founders, a group of leading consumer electronics, PC and media manufacturers. Member companies currently include: Dell Inc., Hewlett Packard Company, Hitachi, Ltd., LG Electronics Inc., Matsushita Electric (Panasonic), Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, Pioneer Corporation, Royal Philips Electronics, Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., Sharp Corporation, Sony Corporation, TDK and Thomson. Blu-ray Disc will provide a new platform that allows for unparalleled creativity, providing the consumer a new home entertainment experience, and the industry with a sound format allowing new business opportunities.

SOURCE: Blu-ray Disc Founders

CONTACT: Dell, Inc - Jeremy Bolen, +1-512-728-8329,
Jeremy_bolen@dell.com; Hewlett Packard Company - Heather Schroeder,
+1-480-459-5711, heather.schroeder@hp.com; Hitachi, Europe Ltd. - Kantaro
Tanii, +44-1628-585-379, kantaro.tanii@hitachi-eu.com; LG Electronics Inc. -
Do Young Nam, +82-2-526-4708, dynam@lge.com; Matsushita Electric (Panasonic) -
Will Safer, +1-201-392-6124, saferw@us.panasonic.com; Mitsubishi Electric
Corporation - Oliver Cox, +81-3-3218-2346, Oliver.Cox@hq.melco.co.jp; Royal
Philips Electronics - Jeannet Harpe, +31-40-27-35677,
Jeannet.Harpe@Philips.com; Pioneer Corporation - Public Relations,
+81-3-3495-9885, pioneer_prd@post.pioneer.co.jp; Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
- Ki Wook Kang, +81-4-2990-2813, kiwook.kang@samsung.com; Sharp Corporation -
Masanobu Umemoto, +81-66-621-1272, umemoto.masanobu@sharp.co.jp; Sony Europe -
Matthias Colli, +49-30-2575-5158, Matthias.colli@eu.sony.com; TDK Corporation
- Nobuyuki Koike, +81-3-5201-7102, nkoike@mb1.tdk.co.jp; Thomson - Jens
Oberheide, +49-511-418-2774 or +49-511-81-24-25, jens.oberheide@thomson.net