Toshiba first to slot DVD drives

Toshiba (TAIS) today announced a new consumer PC that will be the first to ship with an integrated DVD-ROM drive for video.

Toshiba's desktop PC compatibles, the Infinias, have been shipping with a bay for DVD-ROMs since their introduction last year. The company says it will now ship DVD-ROM drives in its new Infinia 7220 sometime in the spring.

DVD technology offers up to 17GB of storage capacity, as much as 25 times that of a CD. MPEG-2 video and Dolby Digital Surround Sound AC-3 audio standards are supported by the new drive for playback of video titles.

Toshiba and other vendors planned on shipping DVD-ROM drives in 1996 by Christmas had their plans put on hold because entertainment, electronics, and computer industry executives couldn't reach agreement on copyright protection issues until late October.

Toshiba also said that the drives are compatible with Microsoft's ActiveX DVD-ROM titles. ActiveX incorporates ActiveMovie, a cross-platform digital video technology for playback of MPEG video with 2D and 3D special effects, according to Toshiba.