New DVD format proposed

TOKYO, Japan (Reuters) -- Japanese electronics giants Toshiba Corp. and NEC Corp. said on Thursday they have proposed a cheaper type of high-capacity DVD incompatible with a format advanced by Sony Corp and others.

NEC and Toshiba said they submitted their format to the DVD Forum, an industry group of more than 230 companies that defines DVD format specifications and aims to promote DVD use.

The format would be incompatible with the Blu-ray standard for blue-laser DVDs unveiled in February by Sony, Panasonic maker Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. and seven other electronics giants from Japan, South Korea and Europe.

Toshiba and NEC said their format for blue-laser DVDs, set to hit the market next year and able to store huge amounts of data due to blue light's short wavelength, was more compatible with existing red-laser DVDs and would smooth the transition from red to blue.

"Toshiba and NEC support this trend, with a format that provides a cost-effective upgrade path for media vendors, and a backward-compatible solution for the many customers who have built DVD libraries," the two companies said in a news release.

DVD equipment makers have already been hurt by a fragmentation of formats for red-laser DVD recorders, blamed for hindering the take-off of that market.

Toshiba, Japan's biggest chipmaker and a major player in DVD equipment, was one of the few Japanese electronics giants not to join the Blu-ray consortium.

The other members of the Blu-ray consortium are Japan's Hitachi Ltd., Pioneer Corp. and Sharp Corp., South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. and LG Electronics Inc., Philips Electronics NV of the Netherlands and France's Thomson Multimedia.