Digest of the Seminar
The 5th JRT Tokyo Seminar ^*1

The 5th JRT Tokyo Seminar was held on February 15, hosted by Pioneer Corporation.

<Agenda>

1. Representative Mr. Aizawa's speech
2. Summary of JRT and Stage 7 (The tests implemented this time)
3. Introduction of results achieved during Stage 7 of the Round Robin Test by each WG.
4. Introduction of the plans for the next test.
5. Q&A

First of all Mr. Aizawa (Representative of RWPPI) thanked all of the member companies and participants for their generous cooperation and the success they achieved in relation to the presentation of the RWPPI Round Robin Test report.

RWPPI Representative
Mr. Aizawa

The report on Stage 7 of the Round Robin Test was then announced. At the beginning, chairman of the Round Robin Test and committee member of JRT, Mr. Ishii (Pioneer,) introduced the significance of JRT and presented an overall summary of Stage 7 that was implemented this time. His report explained that tests covering 36 member manufacturers, 265 models and 369 items were implemented, and that the "mount check" stage was added to the tests for the first time. The "mount check " test investigates what kind of problems may arise in advance when a disc with new standards is accidentally played back by the user on a piece of equipment that does not support such new standards. The results of this test not only provides data that can be fed back onto each company's model designs for their next production, it also proves to be a valuable source of information for quality assurance divisions and customer service divisions.

RRT Head-chairman
PIONEER Corp. Mr. Ishii

The first report on achievements was given by the Physical WG co-chairman, Mr. Fujiki (JVC.) The report announced that tests were implemented on 8x DVD-R, 16x DVD-R, 16x DVD-RW DL (Dual Layer), and 8cm DVD-R DL discs this time, and that all were found to have high levels of performance and compatibility.

Physical WG Chairman
Victor Company of Japan，Ltd. Mr. Fujiki

Writer WG chairman, Mr. Shinohara (TEAC) announced that recording and playback compatibility tests were implemented on 8cm DVD-RW and DVD-R discs, and mount check tests were implemented on non-recorded and recorded DVD-Download Discs, and no problems were discovered at any level.

Writer WG Chairman
TEAC Corp. Mr. Shinohara

Recorder WG chairman, Mr. Kawahara (Pioneer) announced that 51 tests were implemented on 23 models manufactured by eight companies, and it was confirmed that all had high levels of compatibility, leading to the belief that this provides an indication of activities to improve compatibility in the future.

Recorder WG Chairman
PIONEER Corp. Mr. Kawahara

Playback Compatibility WG chairman, Mr. Shinoki (Kenwood) announced that mount check tests were implemented on 135 models with DVD-RW DL and DVD-Download Discs, and that all member companies showed a deep interest. He also announced that problems were discovered in several of the models, which provided valuable information that should be fed back to all related divisions in each company.

Playback Compatibility WG Chairman
KENWOOD Corp. Mr. Shinoki

And lastly, JRT Committee member Mr. Shinohara (TEAC) reported on the plans for the next stage tests. Each WG will consider and implement plans for the next stage tests from now on.

The press release related to this has been uploaded to the IT + PLUS website at the following URL:
http://it.nikkei.co.jp/digital/news/release.aspx?i=181991

Reference: Ongen Publishing Co., Ltd. Phile-web URL:
http://www.phileweb.com/news/d-av/200802/18/20444.html

*1: JRT (Joint Round Robin Tests) involve verification activities for recording and playback compatibility jointly organized by RWPPI and RDVDC (Recordable DVD Council). This is the fifth time since the commencement in 2002.