Blu-Ray, HD DVD wars
p2pnet.net News:- The failure by competing Toshiba- and Sony-led groups to agree on a unified DVD format has, “paved the way for a costly battle reminiscent of the VHS-Betamax war that caused widespread customer confusion,” says Reuters.
To make things worse, 32-bit versions of Microsoft’s Windows Vista apparently won’t play next-gen high definition protected content [read discs polluted with DRM].
The movie and music monopolies supporting Blu-ray say they’ll offer an initial 75 software titles in Japan, “in an effort to woo customers in a format battle for next generation DVD technologies,” says Reuters, going on:
“While Blu-ray has drawn more support among Hollywood and electronics firms, HD DVD has garnered allies among U.S. computer industry titans Microsoft Corp. and Intel Corp” and, “Each side is keen to offer a wide range of attractive software titles to grab potential buyers’ attention.”
Meanwhile, computer owners will have to choose between a PC able to play high definition content (64 bit) versus one that can potentially run older devices, “that only have unsigned drivers available (32 bit),” says senior Microsoft program manager Steve Riley, also stating:
“The media companies asked us to do this and said they don`t want any of their high definition content to play in x32 at all, because of all of the unsigned malware that runs in kernel mode can get around content protection”.
Also See:
Reuters – Blu-ray camp to offer 75 software titles in Japan, August 29, 2006
won’t play – Vista next-gen DVD shocker, August 30, 2006
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