The 23rd RWPPI General Meeting was held on February 25.
The meeting began with a powerful message from Mr. Koki Aizawa, Representative. "Pertaining to the Japanese market, the DVD recorder sold well at the beginning of the year, where one can really feel the support and impact the consumer electronics industry has on the Japanese economy. I feel very honored that our RWPPI activity can contribute to the development of DVD. The share in the HDD all-in-one design models overwhelming occupies the DVD recorder market, and it is expected that demands will joyously rise in the DVD recorders further this year, where most recorders are compatible with DVD-R / DVD-RW. Though on one side there is the harsh reality like the price competition, RWPPI will not fear to achieve higher goals and challenges in the market through cooperation as a whole. "
Following the speech, the Hardware / Media Working Group Committee's report were made, where the proposal to expand the "RW Compatible" indication not only on hardware including recording machines, but also onto the PC Application Software packages as an idea were made. Additional sentences in the current CPRM caution language were proposed as well, which was acknowledged.
Next, the exhibition plans for CeBIT Asia (Shanghai, China) to be held in April 26-29, and the exhibition report for CES 2004 held in the United States in January 8-11 were announced.
In continuation, the Round Robin Test progress report of their activity contents and current status was made.
This time, there were a variety of guest speakers from related groups in the industry to report on their activities. Firstly, from the Japan Recording-Media Industries Association (JRIA), the CD-R / DVD-R Committee activity report was made by Mr. Miyata. The report emphasized the importance for closer relations with overseas manufacturers especially centered in Asia; aiming for healthy developments of the DVD media industry; and on copy-once protection systems for digital broadcasting; and aims to provide more accurate information to users concerned with optical disks. In addition, ambitions on establishing advancements in DVD Technology through intimate information exchange with RWPPI were discussed.
Next, the educational campaign activities concerning digital broadcasting by the Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association (JEITA) were introduced through their AV Storage Applications and Network Systems Committee. Guest speakers of this committee were: Mr. Yamakawa of Sony Corporation, Mr. Watanabe of Sharp Corporation, and Mr. Koyama of Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. With the copy control encrypted signals added on televised digital broadcasts, accurate notification to end-user activities were introduced: such as "CPRM refers to the copyright protection technology for programs, where 'copy-once' can be achieved," and composition of explanatory pamphlets on the advantages and problems in the digitalization of broadcasting.
For the closure, the special lecture entitled: "Current and Future LSI Developments for Video Compression" by Mr. Niitsu was made. The successful background history of the MPEG‐2 encoder development, and high quality recording achievements as well as architecture construction, and personal experiences were made. The attendees showed strong interest in this lecture, and the General Meeting was adjourned.