DVD due next year

The full-scale commercial launch of DVD is one step closer following the announcement by consumer electronics supremo SGS-Thomson that it has developed an anti-copying device for digital video disc players.

The first DVD entertainment system should have gone on sale last month but was stalled because of a deadlock in copyright talks between hardware manufacturers and software providers.

The new circuit will allow the player to make one-off recordings of TV broadcasts onto blank digital discs but prevents further copies being made.

Sony has given a new spring 1997 launch date for its DVD (digital video disk) products in the US and Japan, with the UK receiving product in the latter half of next year.