The SD Card Association (SDA) expects to finalise specifications for a new, high-capacity SD Memory Card —the SDHC Memory Card — in early 2006.
The new specification will expand SD card capacity beyond 2GB, to meet the memory-hungry requirements of a new generation of audio/video and telecommunications devices.
“Consumers are demanding new capabilities of their digital devices,” said Paul Reinhart, Executive Director of the SD Card Association, “and the SDA is working to help deliver on the entertainment and productivity-enhancing promise of such products. The new SDHC card specification will allow manufacturers to develop a new world of digital devices with the advanced features and functions consumers are clamouring for.”
The new specification will expand SD Memory Card capacities to meet the memory needs of products, which use the memory-intensive FAT 32 file system. The new specification also guarantees a minimum SD Speed Class Rating, which for video products, is equivalent to MPEG-2 video. The new SDHC Memory Card will also offer the expanded capacity needed to help deliver new applications made possible by three other SD specifications: SD-Audio, SD-Video and SD-Binding.
SD-Audio will allow users to move music libraries between a variety of SD-enabled devices, to include mobile phones. The SD-Audio specification provides content protection via CPRM which is built into each SD card, to prevent theft of data.
Similarly, the SD-Video specification allows consumers to capture video, even MPEG-2 quality, and move it to an SD-Video enabled product securely. SD-Video will soon allow users to record and watch h.264 digital TV programs from their SD-Video enabled mobile phones. Finally, the SD-Binding specification allows operators to provide security for content downloaded to their specific network mobile phones. the cell phone device.