After much delay, the DVD Forum will select an advanced encoder/decoder for the HD-DVD format in the next few months, allowing development of next-generation DVD systems to move forward. The failure of the standards-setting body to select a codec for the HD-DVD format has stalled work at chip and systems vendors and delayed the arrival of next-generation DVD products.
The DVD Forum appears to be considering several codecs as candidates. These include H.264, the technical specification of which is scheduled to be frozen in March; MPEG-4 Advanced Simple Profile; MPEG-2 with a so-called "enhancement layer;" and Microsoft Corp.'s Windows Media 9. All the codecs have reportedly produced satisfactory high-definition quality pictures at the DVD Forum's technical working group, packing 9 GB of high-definition content onto a two-layer DVD using a red laser, with encoding bit rates as low as 7 Mbits/second.
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