Thomson to enter HD-DVD market

Thomson’s Technicolor business plans to manufacture products for both the HD-DVD and Blu-ray discs. However, the company is planning to only provide HD-DVD players and has no immediate plans to unveil a Blu-ray player.

The next-generation DVD players will be sold through Thomson’s RCA brand in the United States and through the Thomson brand in Europe.

Thomson is the latest company to jump into the fray over the next-generation DVD formats. NEC and Toshiba are main advocates for the HD DVD standard, while Sony and a larger number of technology powerhouses, including Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Matsushita Electric Industrial, Royal Philips Electronics and Samsung Electronics support the Blu-ray format.

Supporters of both HD DVD and Blu-ray said their respective formats will pave the way for higher-capacity DVDs, which in turn will result in higher resolution for video and audio, Web connectivity and other advancements.

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