Toshiba notebooks to have HD DVD

Toshiba will incorporate HD DVD technology in notebook computers by the end of 2005, reports from Japan say.

Japan’s Nihon Keizai daily newspaper reported that Toshiba aims to have their top of the range notebooks fitted with the next generation DVD format by December 2005. the paper said the notebooks would be marketed under the Qosmio brand and will retail between 200,000 to 300,000 yen ($2512 to $3769).

HD DVD is competing with another high capacity format, Blu-ray, to be the dominant standard for next generation DVDs. HD DVD is backed by NEC and Toshiba, while Blu-ray Disc technology is backed by Sony, Philips, Samsung, Panasonic and others. Both formats allows for more than four hours of high definition video to be stored onto one single sided disc.

Blu-ray received a major boost a few months ago when Sony announced it would incorporate the new drives into its upcoming PlayStation 3 games console. Toshiba’s move has been seen by analysts as trying to gain ground for HDDVD over its Blu-ray rivals.