http://www.betanews.com/article/Micr...DVD/1127787846
Microsoft and Intel to Support HD-DVD
By Nate Mook, BetaNews
September 26, 2005, 10:24 PM
JUST IN Microsoft and Intel are expected on Tuesday to pledge their
support for HD-DVD, the next-generation DVD format created by Toshiba.
Microsoft had previously remained neutral in the standards war between
HD-DVD and Sony-backed Blu-ray, as the company's VC-1 Windows Media
Video codec will be included with both formats.
The announcement isn't that surprising, however. Microsoft's Xbox will
soon begin a fierce battle with Sony's Blu-ray capable PlayStation 3
for living room dominance, and the company inked a deal in April for
Warner Home Video to use VC-1 in its HD-DVD discs.
Other Microsoft rivals, including Apple and Sun, have thrown their
support behind Blu-ray. Sun's Java Virtual Machine technology will
power the menus and multimedia features in the new format.
In June, Microsoft also entered into a wide-ranging agreement with
Toshiba that enables the two companies to share hardware and software
technologies. At the time, Microsoft said it would investigate the
feasibility of an HD-DVD player running Windows CE.
But in the end, copyright controls may have been the deciding factor
for Microsoft and Intel. As the companies push out more Media Center
enabled PCs, the movement of protected content around the home becomes
an important factor.
Blu-ray will include advanced watermarking technology that favors
standalone consumer electronics devices by requiring authorization
codes built into the hardware to access content. Such security
features could make it difficult for consumers bouncing video from a
PC to a TV, or those streaming content between networked computers.
Backing from "Wintel" and other PC heavyweights could prove an
important boost for HD-DVD, which has been losing momentum to Blu-ray
in recent months. Toshiba acknowledged in late August that its
high-definition DVD format would not be ready by the end of the year
as originally planned, pushing HD-DVD into early 2006.
Still, it's unclear whether consumers will even express interest in
high-definition DVD - especially with the confusion a fractured
marketplace will bring. Movie studios could create hybrid discs that
also contain original DVD content, but that won't encourage users to
make the leap into HD.
"Arguing with anonymous strangers on the Internet is a sucker's game
because they almost always turn out to be -- or to be indistinguishable from
-- self-righteous sixteen-year-olds possessing infinite amounts of free time."
- Neil Stephenson, _Cryptonomicon_
