HD DVD - The Look and Sound of Perfect

HD DVD delivers all the capacity necessary for all sorts of recorded content, including movies and live performances. The overwhelming majority of HD DVD discs are dual-layer discs with 30 GB of storage. Using the latest compression technologies, the 30 GB disc can display up to 1080 lines of high-definition images with high-resolution audio and advanced interactivity. Today's DVDs have a capacity of up to 8.5 GB, and can only display 480 lines of standard-definition (SD) images with no high-resolution audio or interactivity.

Your HD DVD player is on the cutting edge of high-definition technology. With mandatory support for networking, every HD DVD player can take advantage of the Internet for player firmware updates, making the process quick and easy. Check out your HD DVD player manufacturer's manual or contact the manufacturer personally for instructions on receiving and installing the latest firmware updates.

Toshiba Customer service: 1-800-631-3811
Toshiba: http://www.tacp.com/techsupport

Qosmio® PC: http://www.pcsupport.toshiba.com
Xbox®: http://www.xbox.com:80/en-US/hardware/x/xbox360hddvdplayer/default.htm

DVD and HD DVD share the same basic disc structure: back-to-back bonding of two 120 mm diameter substrates, each 0.6 mm thick. As a result, HD DVD combines advanced capabilities with essential backwards compatibility. The shared disc structure of DVD and HD DVD offers numerous advantages to consumers and manufacturers alike. Full backward compatability allows consumers to enjoy their current DVD library and audio CDs on the same HD DVD player.

The blue laser that reads and writes to HD DVD has a shorter wavelength than DVD's red laser. Even though DVD and HD DVD share the same disc structure, the blue laser's shorter wavelength translates into an HD DVD storage capacity dwarfing that of DVD. Standard DVDs can hold 4.7 GB of data. The single-sided, dual-layer HD DVD-ROM surpasses that 6.2 times with its 30 GB capacity.

In addition to recognizing content in MPEG-2 encoding, HD DVD players also recognize the advanced codecs MPEG-4 AVC and VC-1. The quality and efficiency of these codecs allow for substantially lower average bit rates while maintaining the quality of the original master. That means more hours of high-definition content on every disc.

Rapid technological advances are being made that will promote the smooth transition to HD DVD in everything from disc manufacturing to players and drives for PCs. HD DVD digital video recorders under development will also integrate HD DVD drives with hard drive storage to allow consumers to record HD TV programming and archive it on HD DVD discs.

Commercialized HD DVD integrates state-of-the-art protection technology using the highly secure system developed by AACS (Advanced Access Content System). AACS is licensed by AACS LA.

HD DVD has set the standard in the PC world. While there are already dozens of different HD DVD-ready laptops and PC models on the market today from four of the top five PC manufacturers, Microsoft's next-generation operating system, Windows Vista®, will provide HD DVD playback through a variety of third-party HD DVD software players. That means the smoothest playback and guaranteed compatibility with HD DVD content.