February 15, 2005 08:02 AM US Eastern Timezone
Blu-ray Disc Association Surpasses 100th
Member Milestone; Leaders from Critical Industry Segments Join to Support the
Blu-ray Disc Format, Further Solidifying Blu-ray's Leadership Position
HOLLYWOOD--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 15, 2005--The
Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA) surpassed a milestone today as its membership
grew beyond 100 companies. Established in October of last year, the BDA has
rapidly gained the support of leaders from the computer, consumer electronics,
video gaming, optical media, disc replication, authoring and content industries.
All of these industries are critical to the successful development and launch of
a high-definition optical format.
Among the most recent companies to join the BDA are Toho Co., Ltd and
Toei Video Company, Ltd., which are the two leading movie studios in Japan. Toho
Co., Ltd. is a leading production house and distributor of movies in Japan. Toei
Video is known for its production of movies, sales of DVDs as well as other
packaged media. Toei Video generates a steady stream of release titles from its
diversified parent company Toei Co., Ltd. that includes Japanese films,
animation and independent films.
"When a new format launches, people tend to notice only the end product --
the hardware and the software. What often remains out of sight is the ecosystem
needed to support those end products," said Brian Zucker of Dell Inc.'s Client
Product Group. "What's most remarkable about the growing support for Blu-ray is
not just its sheer volume, but its breadth. Blu-ray has support from the
computer, consumer electronics, gaming and content industries, as well as the
authoring, replication, application development and manufacturing leaders that
are critical to sustaining any format."
Blu-ray Disc provides consumers and content providers with a single common
format that has the capacity, image and audio quality, interactivity and
connectivity needed to expand beyond the simple movie playback offered by other
formats and into a range of interoperable consumer products and applications
that will bring a new dimension to home entertainment.
"The addition of new members to the BDA enables expanded opportunities for
both the format and consumers," said Victor Matsuda, Sony Corporation of
America's Vice President for Blu-ray Disc. "Due to the broad support of Blu-ray
Disc, we will be able to offer unparalleled games, versatile recording
applications, and hybrid discs that allow high definition and standard
definition movies to reside on a single disc. These combined attributes will
also offer the greatest flexibility for both new and legacy consumer playback
devices."
Currently, the Blu-ray Disc Association's Board of Directors consists of:
Dell Inc.; Hewlett Packard Company; Hitachi, Ltd.; LG Electronics Inc.;
Mitsubishi Electric Corporation; Panasonic (Matsushita Electric); Pioneer
Corporation; Royal Philips Electronics; Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.; Sharp
Corporation; Sony Corporation; TDK Corporation; Thomson; Twentieth Century Fox;
and Walt Disney Pictures and Television.
Contributors: AudioDev AB, Broadcom Corp., Canon Inc., CMC Magnetics
Corporation, Coding Technologies GmbH, CyberLink Corp., DaTARIUS Technologies
GmbH, Deluxe Media Services Inc., Digital Theater Systems Inc., Dolby
Laboratories Inc., Electronic Arts Inc., Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd., Kenwood
Corporation, LITE-ON IT Corporation, MediaTek Inc., Mitsubishi Kagaku Media Co.,
Ltd., Moser Baer India Limited, MX Entertainment, Nero, Optodisc Technology
Corporation, Pulstec Industrial Co., Ltd., Ricoh Co., Ltd., ShibaSoku Co. Ltd.,
Sigma Designs Inc., Sonic Solutions, Sonopress LLC, ST Microelectronics, Sun
Microsystems, Inc., Ulead Systems Inc., Victor Company of Japan, Ltd., Visionare
Corporation and ZOOtech Ltd among others.
General Members: Almedio Inc., Alpine Electronics Inc., AMC Co. Ltd., ArcSoft
Inc., Asahi Kasei Microsystems Co., Ltd., ATI Technologies Inc., Bandai
VisualCo., Ltd., BenQ Corp., Ciba Specialty Chemicals Inc., D&M holdings,
Inc., Daewoo Electronics Corporation, Elpida Memory, Inc., ESS Technology Inc.,
Expert Magnetics Corp., Funai Electric Co., Ltd., Imation Corp, Infomedia Inc.,
Intersil Corporation, InterVideo Inc., Konica Minolta Opto Inc., Lead Data Inc.,
Leader Electronics Corp, LINTEC Corporation, Memorex Products Inc., Mitsui
Chemicals Inc., Mitsumi Electric Co., Ltd., Nan Ya Plastics Corp., NEXAPM
Systems Technology Inc., NVIDIA Corp., Ono Sokki Co., Ltd., Opt Corporation,
Ritek Corporation, SDI Media USA, Shinano Kenshi Co. Ltd., Sony BMG
Entertainment, STEAG ETA-OPTIK GmbH, Taiyo Yuden Co., Ltd., TEAC Corporation,
Teijin Chemicals Ltd., Toho Company, Ltd., Toppan Printing Co., TOPTICA
Photonics AG, Ltd., Unaxis Balzer AG, Yamaha Corp. and Yokogawa Electric
Corporation among others.
About Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc is the next-generation optical disc format being developed for
high-definition video and high-capacity software applications. A single-layer
Blu-ray Disc will hold up to 25 gigabytes of data and a double-layer Blu-ray
Disc will hold up to 50 gigabytes of data.
About the Blu-ray Disc Association
The Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA) is responsible for establishing format
standards and promoting and further developing business opportunities for
Blu-ray Disc -- the next-generation optical disc for storing high-definition
movies, games, photos and other digital content. The BDA has over 100 members.
Its Board of Directors consists of Dell Inc.; Hewlett Packard Company; Hitachi,
Ltd.; LG Electronics Inc.; Mitsubishi Electric Corporation; Panasonic
(Matsushita Electric); Pioneer Corporation; Royal Philips Electronics; Samsung
Electronics Co., Ltd.; Sharp Corporation; Sony Corporation; TDK Corporation;
Thomson; Twentieth Century Fox; and Walt Disney Pictures and
Television.
Source: BusinessWire
