Ballmer bowls for HD-DVD

[thunderhawk]

Ballmer bowls for HD-DVD

Microsoft has reiterated its preference for the HD-DVD version of next-generation high definition optical storage, despite recent announcements of support for the rival Blu-ray format from several Hollywood studios.

CEO Steve Ballmer said that Vista, the next version of Microsoft Windows, will eventually support HD-DVD, although possibly not when it is first released sometime in the next 18 months. HD-DVD is expected to make its debut early next year.

Ballmer said that the company's support for HD-DVD was based on several reasons, including the way in which it can be integrated with the PC.

'We think it has some real advantages and that's why we have been working very actively with Toshiba and other members of the DVD forum in order to promote this concept,' he said.

He added that although MGM and Warner have recently backed Blu-ray, there is support for both formats among the major studios.

Microsoft has previously given six reasons for preferring HD-DVD - arguments that Blu-ray backers (and the world's two biggest PC makers) rejected.

Current consensus appears to be that Blu-ray holds the advantage, not least because it will be in millions of homes just as soon as Sony releases the PlayStation 3 in the spring of 2006.

Ted Schadler of Forrester Research wrote a report entitled Blu-ray Will Win A Pyrrhic Victory Over HD-DVD.

'After a long and tedious run up to the launch, it is now clear to Forrester that the Sony-led Blu-ray format will win,' he concluded.

However he warned that unless the HD-DVD group 'abandons the field', consumers will be slow to adopt either technology and will instead look elsewhere for video content.

'The longer the format war continues, the worse off the industry is going to be,' he wrote. 'As long as they're battling each other, they're not focusing on selling the benefits of the next-gen formats, and that will leave consumers even colder.'

Source: PC Pro


Again stuff about HD DVD. Still they get so much attention...