The DVD Forum, the international organization that defines formats
for DVD products and technologies, today celebrated its official 10th
anniversary at the annual general meeting of its members held in
Tokyo. The Forum, which has been hailed as a model for collaboration
between the consumer electronics, IT and entertainment industries, was
founded in August 1997, to assume and extend the work of the DVD
Consortium, the ten-company organization that initially developed the
DVD format. When it started its work in developing the DVD format and
promoting its widespread dissemination, the DVD Forum could count 86
members. Today, it has about 220 member companies, drawn from all over
the world.
The launch of DVD was one of the most successful consumer product
launches in history. An immediate hit with consumers around the world,
DVD brought new and exciting capabilities to home entertainment,
computing and gaming, and created an immense global market: 2006
demand for DVD players and recorders stood at over 110 million
units(1), and reached about 290 million units for DVD drives(2). In
the same year, 1.7 billion DVD movie discs were shipped in the North
America(3), while shipments of recordable discs climbed to 5.1 billion
discs globally(4).
This extraordinary success rests on the concerted efforts and
long-term support of the DVD Forum. The Forum assured the versatility
and wide-ranging applicability of DVD by defining key specifications
that met diverse needs, including those for DVD-ROM, DVD-Video, DVD-R,
DVD-RAM, DVD-Audio, DVD-RW, and DVD-Video Recording(5). The Forum
continues to define the future for DVD, and is now promoting
development of HD DVD, the next generation DVD format -- based on blue
laser -- and working on the development of an integrated networking
environment -- extending DVD formats to adapt to the expanding online
world.
The DVD Forum will continue to benefit consumers -- and promote
the growth and vitality of the consumer electronics, IT and
entertainment industries -- by contributing to the usefulness and
versatility of DVD technologies and adding new functions, including
downloading to DVD format recordable discs.
(Please visit http://www.dvdforum.org/37scmtg-resolution.htm for
the latest resolutions of the DVD Forum Steering Committee Meeting.).
(1) Source: Japan Electronics and Information Technology
Industries Association (JEITA)
(2) Source: TECHNO SYSTEMS RESEARCH CO., LTD. (TSR)
(3) Source: Digital Entertainment Group
(4) Source: JAPAN RECORDING-MEDIA INDUSTRIES ASSOCIATION (JRIA)
(5) in order of release of specifications
For further information on DVD Forum, please visit
http://www.dvdforum.org/forum.shtml
