HD DVD Gets Microsoft HDi Boost
By Greg Tarr -- TWICE, 7/16/2007
NEW YORK — Microsoft's HD DVD evangelist said the company will be a difference maker in the battle between the HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc formats.
Kevin Collins, Microsoft's HD DVD evangelism director, met with select members of the press while in town for the recent Toshiba press event, where the launch of a firmware update giving all Toshiba HD DVD players the ability to connect to the Internet was announced.
The function will enable movie producers to build key extras into HD DVD discs, including the ability to download continuously changing content.
"When the first titles with Web-enabled extras come to market, you will start to see the distinct disparity between the formats when it comes to interactivity," Collins said.
Some of the first titles with Web-enabled features coming to market include "Blood Diamond" and "The 300."
In "The 300," for example, viewers are given the ability to call up a picture-in-picture image over a scene, showing how the image looked before blue-screen computer-generated graphics were added.
In Warner Home Video's "Blood Diamond" (out now) viewers are given the chance to participate in online polls and instantly view how a response gauges with "the online community" for the film. Other extras that benefit from the connectivity include strategy-oriented video games in "The 300" (due July 31).
In a title soon to be announced, Collins said the connectivity will open the ability to make e-commerce purchases of certain apparel items featured in the film.
"With the network people can download just what they are interested in and they can get rid of what they are not interested in. You have unlimited capacity," Collins said.
In addition, some studios have encoded hidden content on discs that can be unlocked using special keys downloaded from the studio's Web site.
Written into the mandatory spec for all HD DVD players is a "persistent storage" requirement, meaning flash memory that will enable temporary downloads of extras content after network connections have been established.
Although the Blu-ray spec has BD Live interactivity available, Collins pointed out that no currently available dedicated Blu-ray Disc player offers a network connection.
"Network connectivity is not mandatory in the Blu-ray spec — it has always been optional," Collins said. "The only player that has the ability to connect to the Internet is the PS3 and that's not BD Live compatible yet, so there is no one that can do networking."
Ultimately, Collins said market share is going to force more studios to support both formats.
"You can look at the market share numbers from Paramount for DVD — they are single digit. You look at Paramount's numbers for HD, because they do both formats, they are double digit," said Collins. "When you look at market share numbers for Fox and Disney, they are double digit for DVD. You look at their market share numbers for HD discs, they are single digit, because they only do Blu-ray.
"Paramount, even though they have single digit share in DVD, does twice the numbers of Fox and DVD in HD because they do both formats. Shareholders are going to look to that and wonder why they are leaving money on the table," Collins continued.
Collins also said combo players for LG and Samsung and combo DVD/HD DVD discs will help to keep demand going for both formats.
Another good sign for HD DVD, Collins said, is the fact that the DVD Forum's Steering Committee recently agreed to allow Chinese manufacturers to produce HD DVD players supporting discs produced only for that region. The decision, he said, should clear the way for Chinese manufacturers to soon begin production of HD DVD players for global markets, which could lead to significant price reductions on players down the line.
"This all speaks volumes to the longevity of the HD DVD format," Collins surmised."
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As someone who has purchased and owns both a HD DVD and a Blu-ray player, my opinion is that I am much happier with the HD DVD player. HD DVD is half the price, has superior quality, more released titles, more extras and features, web interactivity and superior functionality. Even the HD DVD titles are on average over $2 cheaper per disc then Blu-ray. My $1,000 Blu-ray player doesnt even have an internet connection to perform these same functions
HDDVDnet - 2007-24-7 10:23:00 EDT -
Is it just me, or does it look like the HD DVD supporters are breaking out the defibrillator trying anything they can to resuscitate their already-dead format?
Why would they hang their hat on interactive content when the dawn of BD-Live is around the corner and will make HDi look like it should be riding the short bus?
They are getting their brains kicked in world wide. At what point do you stop costing your shareholders, and unwitting consumers, countless dollars and just apologize and pull the plug on the whole HD DVD fiasco? They should call the DIVX people and get some pointers on how to bow out gracefully.
Jason Brown - 2007-18-7 09:43:00 EDT -
You guys can argue and spin half-truths util the cows come home. In the meantime get back to work raising the audio and video standards and capabilities.
David Pace - 2007-18-7 05:11:00 EDT -
Collins'' comments are riddled with inaccuracies and poor logic:
> Although the Blu-ray spec has BD Live interactivity
> available, Collins pointed out that no currently
> available dedicated Blu-ray Disc player offers a
> network connection.
In addition to the PS3, Pioneer and Samsung have BD players in the market with network connectivity (though not currently supported by BD-Live).
> "When the first titles with Web-enabled extras come
> to market, you will start to see the distinct
> disparity between the formats when it comes to
> interactivity"
Any disparity will be short-lived. BD-Live titles (expected later this year) will likely offer more compelling features than those built on Microsoft''s HDi. BD-Live is based on Java, a platform far more open-ended than HDi and inherently built to support networked content.
> "Network connectivity is not mandatory in the Blu-ray
> spec — it has always been optional," Collins said.
> "The only player that has the ability to connect to
> the Internet is the PS3 and that''s not BD Live
> compatible yet, so there is no one that can do
> networking."
And once an update is available you''ll immediately have millions more households able to consume BD-Live content than you will HDi content. Further, it''s likely that a far higher percentage of PS3''s are actually network-connected than are HD DVD players, since the network is a fundamental part of the PS3 experience.
> "You can look at the market share numbers from
> Paramount for DVD — they are single digit. You look
> at Paramount''s numbers for HD, because they do both
> formats, they are double digit," said Collins. "When
> you look at market share numbers for Fox and Disney,
> they are double digit for DVD. You look at their
> market share numbers for HD discs, they are single
> digit, because they only do Blu-ray."
> "Paramount, even though they have single digit share
> in DVD, does twice the numbers of Fox and DVD in HD
> because they do both formats. Shareholders are going
> to look to that and wonder why they are leaving money
> on the table," Collins continued.
What a curiously absurd argument. Shareholders are looking at the very, very small overall sales numbers, not the relative marketshare of a currently tiny pie. The studio execs know that the end of the format war will result in many, many consumers coming off the fence. HD DVD has no chance to be the surviving format
Bill Sheppard - 2007-18-7 03:52:00 EDT
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