[opendtv] News: DVD Fight Intensifies: Microsoft and Intel to Back Toshiba Format

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/27/technology/27dvds.html?th&emc=th

DVD Fight Intensifies: Microsoft and Intel to Back Toshiba Format

By KEN BELSON

Published: September 27, 2005

Microsoft and  Intel are throwing their full weight behind one side 
in the long-running battle over the format for the next generation of 
high-definition DVD's.

Today, the two companies will announce that they are backing the 
HD-DVD format developed by Toshiba over the Blu-ray standard 
championed by  Sony, Matsushita Electric, Samsung and others. 
Microsoft announced in June that it would work with Toshiba to 
develop high-definition DVD players. Now, Microsoft and Intel say 
they will develop software and chips that will allow personal 
computers to play the next-generation DVD's from Toshiba.

The companies said they had not ruled out incorporating Blu-ray 
technology in their operating systems and on their chips in the 
future. But they are convinced that as of now, the HD-DVD format 
discs can be produced more cheaply and more quickly than the Blu-ray 
discs, and are therefore likely to become the dominant technology.

For the last two years, Microsoft and Intel have been careful not to 
alienate either camp in the format battle because they sell software 
and components to companies on each side. They also hoped that the 
electronics makers and Hollywood studios developing the formats would 
reach a compromise.

But the major Hollywood studios are now split between the formats, 
and electronics companies on both sides plan to start selling 
next-generation DVD players as early as Christmas. Sony also plans to 
include Blu-ray technology in its new PlayStation 3 game console to 
be released next spring.

As the format standoff has deepened, demand for the current 
generation of DVD's and DVD players has slowed, alarming Hollywood 
studios, which have come to depend heavily on disc sales. The 
studios, as well as electronics makers and computer manufacturers, 
expect high-definition discs to restart sales growth. But the lack of 
a resolution over the future format has slowed the changeover.

"We were neutral for a long time," Jordi Ribas, the director of 
technical strategy for Windows at Microsoft, said. "But we're 
approaching the time when this has to come to market and from our 
standpoint, the earlier the better."

As early as last year, however, some industry executives said that 
Microsoft was likely to side with the Toshiba camp.

Though Microsoft and Intel do not make DVD machines, they benefit 
from the sale of next-generation discs because consumers will also 
want to play the new discs on their PC's. That means that the 
computer operating system will have to be designed to read those 
discs.

Microsoft and Intel say that Toshiba has proven that its discs can be 
copied onto hard drives and home servers and sent over home networks. 
The companies also favor the "hybrid" disc developed by Toshiba that 
includes a standard definition version of a movie on one side and a 
high-definition version on the other side.

Their decision to support Toshiba's HD-DVD format also creates 
another fissure in the tug of war between the companies backing the 
two formats.

For instance, Dell and  Hewlett-Packard, two of the world's largest 
PC makers, are part of the Blu-ray group. Their computers, assuming 
they include Microsoft and Intel products, will be capable of playing 
HD-DVD discs. But if they want their machines to play Blu-ray discs, 
they may have to find a third-party to design software for them.

In addition to developing software to play HD-DVD discs on PC's, 
Microsoft may also create software so its new Xbox game console, 
which will be released later this year, will be able to play HD-DVD 
discs.
 
 
----------------------------------------------------------------------
You can UNSUBSCRIBE from the OpenDTV list in two ways:

- Using the UNSUBSCRIBE command in your user configuration settings at 
FreeLists.org 

- By sending a message to: opendtv-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word 
unsubscribe in the subject line.

Other related posts: