Come ON WB whats going on?

[Izzy]

WB is sleeping with the enemy here guys. This just came on the news wires.

Why on earth does WB keep flirting with HDUD? This is not acceptable to me. Sorry if I sound pissed, but M$ is up to the usual dirty tricks again, as well as Toshiba.

Blu is the superior format, its obvious to everyone, what the hell!

/end rant



Toshiba and Microsoft Announce Plans to Form Advanced Interactivity Consortium

DreamWorks Animation, Paramount, Universal and Warner join IT and consumer electronics industry leaders to extend and promote interactive experiences beyond optical media to new platforms.
October 04, 2007: 12:26 PM EST


TOKYO and REDMOND, Wash., Oct. 4 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Toshiba Corp. and Microsoft Corp. today announced plans to form the Advanced Interactivity Consortium (AIC), an open forum aimed at the promotion of superior interactivity for a wide range of next-generation consumer devices, digital content and distribution scenarios. The newly formed organization's mission is to maximize consumer satisfaction worldwide by accelerating industrywide adoption of advanced interactivity and interoperability across a broad array of HD DVD products.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20000822/MSFTLOGO)

In addition to its crystal-clear picture quality and sound, HD DVD, the next generation of DVD approved by the DVD Forum, is the first platform to include advanced interactivity as a basic feature in high-definition movies and players, substantially expanding the possibilities of high-definition home entertainment.

The new organization will also focus attention on ways to bring these advanced scenarios to other services and platforms, including digital downloads to DVD players, PCs, TVs, cell phones, portable media players and game consoles.

"Creating attractive consumer experiences with advanced interactivity is critical to bringing digital home entertainment to the next level," said Hisatsugu Nonaka, corporate executive vice president at Toshiba. "In order to create these ecosystems, we wanted to bring together a group of companies committed to extending these scenarios across a wide variety of platforms. The Advanced Interactivity Consortium will advocate for these platforms as well as help ensure interoperability of HD DVD players and services."

"The Advanced Interactivity Consortium has its roots in the work we've done with HDi(TM) and HD DVD, but is open to all companies interested in bringing a broader set of experiences to consumers on different platforms," said Robbie Bach, president of the Entertainment and Devices Division at Microsoft. "We look forward to contributing to this effort with HDi, our implementation of HD DVD's interactive layer, and to collaborate with AIC members on how to extend interactive compatibilities to the consumer electronics market. The goal is to ensure a high-quality experience not only through optical discs but also through new digital download services."

Based on easy-to-program Web standards, HDi technology naturally lends itself to cross-platform implementations and integration in online content services. For content owners, HDi provides a simple development environment, resulting in a seamless and visually consistent experience from device menus to Web-based applications.

The Advanced Interactivity Consortium will also include major Hollywood studios DreamWorks Animation SKG, Paramount Pictures, Universal Studios and Warner Bros., which have given their commitment to these advanced scenarios and experience bringing new features to consumers. Each studio currently distributes, or will distribute, HD DVD titles with HDi-enabled features, from advanced in-movie navigation, bookmarking and picture-in-picture, to Web- enabled communities, content downloads and e-commerce stores.

"We are pleased to support the formation of the Advanced Interactivity Consortium and look forward to further developing interactive scenarios on HD DVD that will extend the consumer experience to new platforms," said Craig Kornblau, president of Universal Studios Home Entertainment and Universal Pictures Digital Platforms. "By following a standards-based approach, this collaboration will uniformly benefit consumers as well as the industry."

The AIC founding member companies plan to formalize the organization shortly and to extend additional partner invitations.

[Manco]

We have to understand that WB is in the content business first and foremost. They will look to all avenues of repurposing their content for various distribtion scenarios.

As frustrating as this is, it is an unfortunate consequence of their core business.

Now go Blu-ray already DANG IT!

[Xerious]

AIC is just a funny acronym for HD DVD Promotional Group

[w_tanoto]

no worries about that. it's just consortium. Warner support BD and DUD anyway

[dobyblue]

Notice how Universal's Kornblau commented and nobody from Warner said anything?

Come to think of it, Warner didn't say anything about HD DVD at IFA either did they?

[jermwhl]

Kinda funny they announce/launch this thing just before profile 1.1 comes to life.........ha!

[gandley]

So basicly, its MS's atempt to push iTV again. HD-DVD's fantastic interativity (cough)brought what to the table? Oh yeah, access to the U-shop, so i can buy some movie related rubish i could just use my PC for.

And the brick sinks to the bottom.

[darkpoet25]

What does AIC stand for anyway? Airheads In Command?

[w_tanoto]

http://uncyclopedia.org/wiki/Image:Those_darn_bills.gif.
very funny!!

[GasCat]

A "consortium" is like playing doctor. You show me yours and I'll show you mine. They frequently fall apart later and is an exchange of ideas.

[davidPS3]

Nothing to worry about on this one.

[joeorc]

HD DVD is failing so the only thing the HD DVD people have to fall back on IS IHD..notice were "going to extend invitations" ..looks like Microsoft is trying to force IHD on the Consumer one way or the other. Microsoft does not like OPEN SOURCE..they hate it and what it represents just like BD-JAVA...

http://www.roughlydrafted.com/RD/Tec...D-DVD_War.html



this stupid so called format war is because of IHD....!