Just picked this up from the OpenDTV forum.
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Toshiba to delay HD DVD player launch
Tue Dec 13, 2005 5:18 AM ET
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's Toshiba Corp. said on Tuesday it will delay
the year-end Japan launch of its next-generation HD DVD players to
address copy protection issues, potentially undermining its advantage
as the first supplier to put such machines on the market.
The Japanese company had said in September the domestic launch might
be postponed until after December. A spokesman for Toshiba said it
would continue to push for a U.S. launch in the first quarter of
2006, most likely some time between February and March.
Toshiba said in a statement it would not launch the products until
the last details on copy protection management systems, called AACS,
or advanced access content system, were finalized.
"I cannot say when the AACS issues will be resolved," the spokeswoman
said. "But it's hard to think the launch in Japan will come after the
U.S. launch."
Toshiba and Sony Corp., leaurl]ding rival camps, have waged a three-year
battle to have their different standards adopted for the new DVDs,
which promise much greater capacity for high-definition movies.
Toshiba, along with NEC Corp. and Sanyo Electric Co. , has been
promoting HD DVD, while Sony and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co.,
the maker of Panasonic brand products, have been developing a
technology known as Blu-ray.
The Blu-ray DVD group said in November it planned to roll out a
high-definition disc format in spring 2006, and that members of the
consortium led by Sony would unveil specific launch plans at the
Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in January.