Toshiba delays the year-end launch of HD DVD players

It seems that nothing is going right with the HD DVD group as the chief developer Toshiba has reported that it would be delaying the year-end Japan launch of its next-generation HD DVD players. Toshiba said that they need some more time to sort out the controversial copy protection issues with the format.

However, if the company delays the release by a significant time and the rival Blu-Ray camp comes out with their drives (or the Sony Playstation 3) first, Toshiba would lose the very important first mover advantage. Toshiba had earlier announced in September that the domestic launch might be postponed until after December. They are continuing to target a US launch of these drives in the first quarter of 2006, most likely some time between February and March.

Toshiba has also said that they won’t be releasing the drives until the last details on copy protection management systems, called AACS, or advanced access content system, were finalized. A spokesperson from the company said: “I cannot say when the AACS issues will be resolved. But it’s hard to think the launch in Japan will come after the U.S. launch.”

The Blu-ray DVD group said in November that they are looking at a launch of their Blu-Ray format in spring 2006.