Thomson has announced that it will support both the HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc advanced DVD formats by manufacturing both discs and players for both formats. Players will be marketed in the U.S. with the RCA label, and in Europe with the Thomson label.
In addition to HDTV, advanced DVD formats promise higher-resolution audio, advanced navigation, and other improvements. These advanced formats require the disc to contain much more data than contemporary DVDs.
HD DVD is the high definition DVD standard being developed by the DVD Forum, a consortium of consumer electronics, information technology, and content producing companies. It is based on the same physical disc structure as current DVDs. The Blu-ray format is a competing technology being developed by another consortium called the Blu-ray Disc Association.
