Philips Electronics NV and Sony Corp, partners on the audio compact disk standard, are proposing a new standard for movies on the same 4.7 disks that conflicts with one being proposed by Toshiba Corp and Pioneer Corp.Sony and Philips have a system that stores 3.7Gb on a compact disk – against the 740Kb available in the audio standard, and they have compression technology to squeeze 135 minutes of video into 3.7Gb. The rival Toshiba system uses finer recording tracks to get capacity of 4.8Gb, which means that compression can be less drastic – 4.5Gb for 135 minutes is the minimum the Hollywood studios reckon will deliver adequate quality. Both disks will be able to double their capacity, the Toshiba one by being two-sided, the Philips by using two layers, the top one being transparent, and focusing the laser so as to pick up from either. Sony says its disc will be cheaper to manufacture because it can be made with little adjustment to music CD facilities, and players would be able to handle existing disks. Observers worry that the existence of rival standards will lead to a replay of the VHS-Betamax war, where Sony’s Betamax video cassette standard lost out despite being superior to VHS. According to Reuter, the outcome depends on Matsushita Electric Industrial Co: if it backs Sony and Philips, that is likely to clinch it, whereas if it leans toward Toshiba, look for all-out war.
