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 (HD) DVDs.
The two companies were to announce yesterday 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 DVDs 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 past two years, Intel and Microsoft have been careful not to alienate either camp in the format battle because they sell software and components to companies on both sides. 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 two 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 DVDs 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 PCs. That means that the computer operating system will have to be designed to read those discs.
Microsoft and Intel say that Toshiba has proved 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.
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