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Consumer electronics companies including Samsung, Sharp and LaCie have already introduced HD-capable FireWire-equipped Blu-ray disc technology. Sharp, for instance, has introduced a Blu-ray recorder equipped with 1394 connectivity for recording high-definition TV programs from its FireWire-equipped TV sets.

Similarly Samsung has external burner capable of recording from FireWire-enabled set-top boxes or computers.

'Blu-ray is becoming an important piece of the high-definition architecture - and so is FireWire,' said James Snider, executive director of the 1394 Trade Association. 'There is no better way to move large volumes of high quality audio and video than by using 1394's superior quality of service, reliability and high bandwidth.'

Snider also trumpeted the use of FireWire by early manufacturers of Blu-ray drives for computers such as LaCie and Other World Computing, though he declined to mention that these drives also sport the less-powerful but more widely used USB 2 interface.