Sanyo Hedges Bets

Japanese consumer electronics maker Sanyo has joined a group of companies led by Sony to develop Blu-ray DVD disks, but will also remain allied with the rival HD DVD group.

Sanyo's decision to help both the Sony-led group and its competitor adds uncertainty to the race to develop a global standard for next-generation optical discs, which are expected to offer sharper images than current DVDs.

Sony leads a group promoting the Blu-ray Disc format, while Japan's Toshiba leads a rival group that backs the HD-DVD format.

Sanyo quietly joined the Blu-ray Disc side in April, while retaining its ties to the HD-DVD group, the Kyodo news agency quoted the company's officials as saying on Tuesday.

It plans to have a DVD player compatible with the HD-DVD format on store shelves later this year.

The news follows Toshiba's announcement last week that it is preparing to mass produce recordable high-definition DVDs with a 15-gigabyte storage capacity.

Hitachi Maxell and Mitsubishi Kagaku plan to market the new discs next spring, when Toshiba is scheduled to launch the new DVD recorders.

Sanyo plans to make a key part of the machines that reads the discs for both formats - apparently hedging its bet, as the two groups pour resources into a technology that is expected to revolutionise Hollywood movies and consumer electronics.

A Sanyo spokesman could not be reached after the company's headquarters in the western city of Osaka closed for the day.

Blu-ray has more capacity, with 50 gigabytes, compared to 30 gigabytes for HD-DVD read-only disks, but proponents of HD-DVD say their format is cheaper to make because the production method is similar to that for current DVDs.