Toshiba Corp. has developed a next-generation DVD player that can handle both current and new formats, the electronics maker said Wednesday.
Toshiba has said it may start selling the player in 2005. The standard was developed with NEC Corp. A prototype will be shown at the International CES exhibition, which starts Thursday in Las Vegas, the Tokyo-based company said in a statement.
Next-generation DVDs will be able to record five times the amount of information as current DVDs.
A DVD today can record about two hours of conventional analog TV programming, while the next-generation format can record more than two hours of digital TV programming.
Sony Corp., Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. and Philips Electronics NV of the Netherlands are pushing another format in next-generation DVDs, known as Blu-ray.