《TechnologyTitansBattleOverFormatOfDVDSuccessor》由会员分享，可在线阅读，更多相关《TechnologyTitansBattleOverFormatOfDVDSuccessor（8页珍藏版）》请在金锄头文库上搜索。
1、Technology Titans Battle Over Format Of DVD Successor科技巨头卷入全球DVD标准之战Its been only a few years since DVD players started taking over from VCRs in the living room. But a new battle is already raging over the DVDs high-definition successor. The prize: enormous strategic influence over the consumer-elec
2、tronics market. The players: practically everyone in the technology world, from personal-computer titans that want to reach into consumer electronics to upstart Asian companies that want to lure manufacturing away from Japan.虽然DVD影碟机在前两年才刚刚取代老式录像机进入了家庭，但一场新的关于下一代高清晰度产品的战斗早已拉开帷幕了。谁能取得这场斗争的胜利，谁就能在电子消费
3、品市场上独领风骚，施展巨大的影响力。几乎整个科技界都参与了进来：既有试图把触角伸入电子消费品市场的个人电脑业巨擘，也有希望与日本在制造业领域一争高下的亚洲新秀。The fight could get as messy as the VHS vs. Betamax battle over videotape formats in the 1970s and 1980s, leaving people so confused they end up buying nothing.在上世纪七八十年代，VHS(家用录影系统)与Betamax(Beta制大尺寸磁带录像系统)曾就录像带的格式争得不可开交，
4、到后来消费者们都被弄糊涂了，不知道买什么好，而如今的这场战争恐怕也是如此。By Phred Dvorak in Tokyo, Nick Wingfield in San Francisco and Sarah McBride in Los AngelesWe thought everyone would agree this time, says Kiyoshi Nishitani, a former Betamax engineer at Sony Corp. who is a key player in the new battle. We never thought it would b
5、ecome such a big deal.曾在索尼公司(Sony Corp., J.SNY, 又名：新力公司)研究Betamax的工程师kiyoshi Nishitani认为，这次大家会达成一致了，以前大家根本没想到这是块大蛋糕。Nishitani那时是主要的参战者。On Sonys side is Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., which makes Panasonic products, as well as PC maker Dell Inc. and many others. The opposing camp is led by Toshi
6、ba Corp. and plans to make room for video software from Microsoft Corp.站在索尼公司一边的有松下电器产业公司(Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd., 6752.TO)、戴尔公司(Dell Inc., DELL)以及其他许多企业。另一阵营则由东芝公司(Toshiba Corp., 6502.TO)领头，并打算使用微软(Microsoft Corp., MSFT)的影像软件。Unlike the old days of the stand-alone VCR, DVD players n
7、ow go in computers and videogame machines as well as underneath the television set. In the converging world of digital music, movies and pictures, the technical specifications of the DVDs successor could theoretically affect sales of products ranging from Microsofts Windows to Sonys PlayStation.与以往自
8、成一体的录像机不同，如今的DVD影碟机不仅运用在电视机上，还能用在电脑和电子游戏机上。鉴于数字音乐、电影和图像的结合日趋紧密，新一代DVD的技术标准从理论上说能影响许多产品的销售额，从微软公司的Windows操作系统到索尼公司的PlayStation游戏机，都不例外。Electronics makers in Japan want to keep introducing new formats to stay ahead of competitors in China who have become a huge force in supplying cheap players. Even i
9、f Chinese companies end up assembling the new devices, Japanese rivals can still win by supplying key components and locking up patents embedded in the DVDs successor.当前，日本的电子产品生产商们试图推出新的影碟机技术格式，以便在与中国的竞争中保持领先地位，后者现已成为廉价影碟机的主要供应商。最终，即使中国企业成为新产品的组装基地，日本同行依然可以成为赢家，充当关键零部件的供应商，同时保留新产品的专利技术。The dispute
10、has even ensnared the U.S. and Chinese governments. The U.S. Department of Justice has begun a preliminary inquiry into whether the Sony camp unfairly blocked the other sides progress. Beijing is battling both sides: Its promoting a third DVD format, although that isnt expected to take off outside C
11、hina.这场斗争甚至牵动了美中两国政府。美国司法部(The U.S. Department of Justice)已展开初步调查，试图查明索尼阵营是否采取了不正当手段，以阻止另一阵营的前进步伐。而中国政府则对两方都持怀疑态度，它正在推广另一种新一代DVD技术标准，不过预计这一标准在中国以外不会流行。Its too early for most consumers to start worrying about the format war. After all, a lot of families just unwrapped their first DVD player last Chri
12、stmas. Everyone agrees that movies and audio CDs purchased for existing players will still work in the new generation of machines.对大多数消费者来说，现在就对这场格式大战忧心忡忡还为时过早。大家普遍认为，原先购买的电影碟片和CD在新一代影碟机上应当也能播放。But connoisseurs who already have big TV screens and hookups for high-definition broadcasts may want one o
13、f the new players. The new discs hold several times as much information as a DVD - including enough storage for hours of the data-packed, crystal-clear images required for high-definition television.不过，那些早已拥有大屏幕电视机，并采用了高清晰度播放系统的鉴赏家们也许想尝尝鲜。新型光盘能储存的信息是DVD光盘的好几倍：能连续播放几个小时，同时图像非常清晰，能满足高清晰度电视的要求。The root
14、s of the current struggle lie in the mid-1990s, when Sony was licking its wounds from a second defeat in a technology standards war. Its Betamax standard was crushed in the 1980s by Matsushitas VHS, damaging Sonys sales in the multibillion-dollar market for VCRs. Then Sony failed to get most of its
15、technology into the current DVD player. That was less costly but still embarrassing for the company that prides itself as a leader in innovation.当前的这场竞争可追溯到上世纪九十年代中期。当时，索尼公司还在疗伤止痛-在关于技术标准的争斗中，该公司再次败北。索尼的Betamax标准在八十年代被松下的VHS标准打得一败涂地，致使索尼的产品销量在价值数十亿的录像机市场上受到了冲击。接下来，索尼又未能让当前一代的DVD影碟机采用自己的许多技术。虽然这次败得不算
16、太惨，但也让一向自诩为技术革新领袖的索尼感到很丢脸。Determined to get a head start in the next standards war, Sony engineers began to experiment with a blue laser, whose narrower beam can be used to cram more data on a disc than the red laser used with CDs and DVDs.索尼公司决心在下次技术标准之战中占据上风，它的工程师们已开始对一种蓝色激光进行试验，这种激光的光束更集中，比起目前在CD和DVD上采用的红色激光来，能在光盘上储存更多的数据。In late 1998, Hiroshi Ogawa, one of the CDs developers, got the blue laser to read a disc in a prot
