Reuters Technology News reports that nine major consumer electronics companies have settled upon a new hardware standard for blue-laser DVD's. The new standard enables a greater storage capacity: ''up to 27 gigabytes of memory on one side of a single 12-cm disc, nearly six times the capacity of current 4.7 gigabyte disks, and store more than two hours of digital high-definition motion pictures.'' the report states.
Blue-laser light offers a shorter wavelength and therefore can be bundled to a finer beam that allows the higher more compact data allocation on a disc. Among the companies are Sony and Matsushita (Panasonic). Licensing of the new DVD format will begin in the spring. Matsushita has an official press release about the new technology here. All participating companies listed under read more...

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Hitachi, Ltd. LG Electronics Inc. Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. Pioneer Corporation Royal Philips Electronics Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. Sharp Corporation Sony Corporation Thomson Multimedia