The chairman of the Blu-ray disc association has slammed HD-DVD's announcement of a triple layered 51GB HD-DVD as nothing more than a publicity stunt. He commented that the HD-DVD camp is in a reactive mood, and that a tripe player disc should reach 45GB and not 51GB (obviously that is 1GB more than double-sided Blu-ray). Secondly, he stated that BD 50GB production has been going on for a while and he has heard nothing from the HD DVD production lines.

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"I'm not surprised at all," he told us. "But we believe they are very much in a reactive mood. Based on their format one would expect that a triple layer disc is three times a HD DVD single layer adding up to 45 GB. Now suddenly they change it to 51GB for promotional reasons.


Simonis also said that the BDA is dubious as to whether existing HD DVD players will be able to read these new 3-layer discs which have 2GB per layer more than the original format.

"You better ask them," he said, "I question it, however, very much."

Tech.co.uk asked Simonis whether the 51GB HD DVD disc proposal is a threat to the Blu-ray format which has a maximum dual-layer capacity of 50GB.

"BD 50GB production is running already for some time on high volume with a two layer concept. There are currently lots of companies producing BD products compatible with 50GB capacity. No news yet from the HD DVD production lines."