READING HIGH-DEF TEA LEAVES for possible forwat war talks

[erdega79]

http://www.videobusiness.com/article...5&catType=NEWS

APRIL 15 | Blu-ray Disc developer Sony once again signaled a willingness to compromise with the rival HD DVD camp last week, even as both sides pushed forward with their independent launch plans.

In an interview with the news agency Reuters during Sony's annual European technology showcase, Yukinori Kawauchi, general manager in charge of Blu-ray development for Sony's Video Group, said the company is "open to discussions" on a unified format.

Similar comments last month by Sony's incoming president Ryoji Chubachi, sparked hopes in many quarters that a format war between Blu-ray and HD DVD could still be avoided.

Although there has been "no visible progress" toward a compromise, Kawauchi said last week, "from the point of view to provide the best service to the consumer one format is better than two."

Later in the week, however, without waiting to see what such discussions might produce, Sony announced that the next generations of its Vaio notebook computers would include Blu-ray drives.

That was consistent with Sony's earlier announcement that its next-generation PlayStation game console would also be based on Blu-ray technology.

The conflicting signals were emblematic of the highly fluid state of play at the moment in the entire high-def effort.

While Sony was making headlines in Europe last week, HD DVD backers met with studios in Los Angeles to try to persuade Hollywood that the format's planned copy-protection system was close enough to being ready to go ahead with a launch this year.

Even as the eight members of the Advanced Access Content System (AACS) consortium continue to work to refine the format's technical specifications, some HD DVD supporters argue that the remaining outstanding issues will have no bearing on the security of prerecorded software.

Many of those issues concern the implementation of AACS on networked devices, where movies could pass from one device in the house to another.

However, as the first generation of set-top HD DVD players will not be network-capable, the format's supporters argue, those issues should not come into play.

Some studios remain deeply skeptical of the idea of going ahead with a launch without a complete system of copy-protection.

"We'd have to be idiots to do that," one executive familiar with the discussions said. "Unfortunately, maybe some of us are."

Talk of a possible compromise with Blu-ray has further muddied the discussions, according to sources close to the debate. To some HD DVD backers, a compromise remains a long-shot, and the best strategy is to move quickly toward launch to exert maximum pressure on the Blu-ray side to back down.

To others, the chance to avoid a format war before it starts is worth waiting for.

Those opposing views tend to color different companies' perspectives on how close AACS is to being ready.

Further complicating matters is that the AACS consortium is made up of companies with conflicting interests in whether Blu-ray or HD DVD comes out on top.

Among the eight AACS founders are three Blu-ray backers--Sony, Panasonic and Disney--and two HD DVD supporters--Toshiba and Time Warner. Rounding out the group are Intel, IBM and Microsoft, all of whom are officially neutral.

Although the Blu-ray Group has indicated it also will adopt AACS as the main copy-protection system for its format, it has not yet committed to it.

Despite the hopes of some HD DVD backers, last week's meetings do not appear to have resolved the disputes.