SONY IN FIRST DEMONSTRATIONS OF BLU-RAY ROM PLAYBACK
Although preliminary Blu-ray specifications on playback-only ROM discs are still believed to be weeks or months away, Sony said it would use the Las Vegas CES to mount “proof of concept” demonstrations for the first time publicly of a prototype ROM player capable of playing bare single- and dual-layer discs not contained in caddies.
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Sony Senior Blu-ray Vp Mike Fidler said the demonstrations would show the capability to switch seamlessly between layers of prototype dual-layer ROM discs produced in pilot runs at Sony’s optical media plant in Shizuoka, Japan. The content, shown on a Sony SXRD digital TV, was contributed for the CES demonstrations by Sony’s affiliated Columbia TriStar, including clips and trailers from such films as Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle and S.W.A.T.
Fidler said that although the prototype Blu-ray player used for the demonstration lacked the slick graphic user interfaces or menus found commonly on consumer DVD players, Sony decided to showcase it as a means of emphasizing “the enormous strides” that have been made in its effort to commercialize Blu-ray products by late 2005, as Sony and Columbia TriStar have indicated. Fidler said the Blu-ray camp still expects to complete work on preliminary Blu-ray specs by the end of the first quarter, and work on a final spec would be done by mid-year, about the same time that specs on write-once Blu-ray discs will also be ready.