The DVD Forum is an international organization composed primarily of hardware and software companies that use and develop the DVD format. It was initially known as the DVD Consortium when it was founded in 1995.

Mission

The DVD Forum was created to facilitate the exchange of information and ideas about the DVD format, and to enable it to grow through technical improvement and innovation. The organization hopes to promote worldwide acceptance of DVD for entertainment, consumer electronics and information technology applications. Membership in the DVD Forum is open to any company or organization involved in DVD research, development, or manufacturing; software firms and other DVD users interested in developing the format are also encouraged to join. Forum members can support other formats in addition to DVD.

What it does

The DVD Forum is responsible for the official DVD format specifications. The group handles licensing of the DVD format and logo through the DVD Format and Logo Licensing Corporation, which also publishes the official specifications in book form. Reference materials and newsletters are published for DVD Forum members.

Founding members

Ten companies initially founded the organization:

• Hitachi Ltd.
• Matsushita Electric Industrial Co
• Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
• Pioneer Corporation
• Royal Philips Electronics N.V.
• Sony Corporation
• Thomson
• Time Warner Inc.
• Toshiba Corporation
• Victor Company of Japan (JVC)

Today, the DVD Forum has over 230 members.

Address

Office of Secretary, DVD FORUM
Daimon Urbanist Bldg. 6F
2-3-6, Shibadaimon, Minato-ku
Tokyo 105-0012, Japan
TEL 03-5777-2881
FAX 03-5777-2882

News

• On November 18, 2003 the steering committee of the DVD-Forum has decided with eight to six votes to make HD-DVD the HDTV successor of the DVD.

External link

• DVD-Forum Home Page