Bryan: It sounds like DVD is stuck in politics. "Possibly" some players on the market by year's end -- not likely. Even if they could get them out, I bet you have more cash for a Jaz than a DVD player.
FROM MACWEEK MAGAZINE - 8/5/96:
Philips Electronics N.V. of Eindhoven, Netherlands, and Sony Corp. of Tokyo announced today that the two companies will begin licensing their Digital Video Disc technology patents Monday.
The move is in response to a continuing stalemate in the 10-company Digital Video Disc (DVD) consortium, which has been unable to agree on a pooled technology-licensing arrangement. Philips' vice president of key modules, Jan Oosterveld, said his company hopes to kick start the process.
"There are so many differences in the consortium, we felt we couldn't wait any longer," Oosterveld said. "We want to make the technology available to the community so that product development can commence."
One of the major sticking points in DVD is copy protection; Oosterveld said this matter is essentially independent of the technology arena, which Philips says is ready for the market. Copy protection is up to the entertainment industry, Oosterveld said.
A Philips spokeswoman said the licensing fees will be around 2.5 percent of the OEM price on DVD players, and 4.5 cents on each disc. The technology patents cover a wide range of hardware and software, Philips said, including disc structure, data modulation and error correction.
Both Philips and Sony said they will continue to support the DVD consortium and will welcome joint-licensing arrangements. Oosterveld said he foresees no such agreement any time soon.
If issues such as copy protection can be solved, Oosterveld said it is quite possible that consumer DVD players could hit the market by year-end.
"I really don't think they want to go off by themselves on this," said Bob Katzive, vice president of Mountain View, Calif.-based Disk/Trend Inc., a market research company specializing in storage issues. "They are trying very hard to get the rest of the people to get their act together." |
