Ritek and CMC planning production of Blu-ray and HD-DVD discs

Ritek and CMC Magnetics exhibited Blu-ray Disc (BD) and HD-DVD discs at the recent 2006 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in the US, with each company planning to start volume production of the discs next quarter at the earliest.

Ritek showcased 25GB BD-R (recordable, write once), 15GB HD-DVD-R, 15GB HD-DVD-RW (rewritable) and 20GB HD-DVD-RAM (also rewritable) discs, all single-sided single-layer, at CES, company spokesman Eric Ai pointed out. The production of HD-DVD discs will come earlier than BD discs, Ai indicated.

CMC plans to begin shipments of single-sided single-layer 15GB HD-DVD discs concurrently with Toshiba’s launch of HD-DVD players in the US and Japan markets, company vice president and spokeswoman Andria Wong indicated. The company has been developing single-sided double-layer HD-DVD discs with a capacity of 30GB, Wong noted.

In addition, CMC will begin production of single-sided single-layer BD discs to coincide with BD recorders to be available in the US and Japan next quarter, Wong pointed out. The BD disc has a 25GB capacity to store two hours of digital TV content or 13 hours of high-definition video at a transmission speed of 36Mbps, Wong added.

Source: DigiTimes

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