February 19, 2006 — This past week two stories circulated around the Internet that dramatically illustrate the confusion surrounding the next-gen optical disc formats. The first rumor had both formats being delayed due to failure to agree to the finalized standard for the AACS copy protection that will be employed by both formats. The second was that Toshiba will kick off a 40-city promotional tour this coming week to hype HD DVD's March launch. Well, is it on again or off again?!

In spite of prior reports that the AACS standard had been finalized, reports surfaced that negotiations among the member companies supporting both formats on the final specs had broken down completely as of Friday February 10th, putting the launch plans of both formats in jeopardy. According to various reports, the disagreement centered on Blu-ray Disc's BD+ technology, which is described as an additional layer of copy protection exclusive to the Blu-ray format.

Read more at http://www.guidetohometheater.com/news/020906hddvdaacs/.