AIMMA to give its support for the HD DVD format

October 23, 2006

According to DigiTimes, the American Independent Media Manufacturers Association (AIMMA), whom I have never heard of prior to this news, has voted to support HD DVD over the rival format Blu-ray. From the AIMMA website:

"Founded in 1987 as the AVDA, the association was established to advance the interests of the media manufacturing industry and its members through collective advocacy, education and networking. AIMMA provides a forum for interaction among its member companies to share common manufacturing concerns, challenges, and techniques."

The group consists of members (registration required to view listing) that apparently represent the makers of the lions share of non-theatrical pre-recorded discs in North America. They feel that it is important to note that the HD DVD format is more economical than Blu-ray to produce, due to its kinship with the DVD. They are concerned about the cost of producing Blu-ray discs and the capital investment required to accomplish the production of these discs.

However, U-Tech Media, the largest maker of pre-recorded discs in Taiwan, indicated the real influence in adopting HD DVD or BD for movie discs will come from the top movie studios in Hollywood rather than makers of movie disc makers, including members of AIMMA. For the time being, most top movie studios are having their movies pre-recorded in both HD DVD and BD format as a way of testing the market, U-Tech pointed out. U-Tech expects to produce movie discs for both formats, the company said.