Print this article | E-mail this article | Comment on this article

HP Goes Format-Neutral, Backs HD DVD

By BetaNews Staff, BetaNews

December 16, 2005, 3:50 PM

HP publicly announced its support for HD DVD Friday, officially joining the HD DVD Promotions Group and saying it would remain neutral. As expected, the core reason of HP's cooling to Sony's Blu-ray disc technology was the group's failure to use iHD, which would be supported natively in Windows Vista. The Blu-ray Disc Association only accepted one of HP's demands for launch, Mandatory Managed Copy.

"We're encouraged that the Blu-ray Disc Association is adopting Mandatory Managed Copy. Because HP wants to deliver the most user-friendly and cost-effective solution to our customers, we have decided to support both formats," said Maureen Weber, general manager of HP's Personal Storage Business. The company says that supporting both formats would help it assess development costs, "and ultimately provide the best and most affordable solution for consumers."

Add a Comment (19 Comments)

BetaNews reserves the right to remove any comment at any time for any reason. Please keep your responses appropriate and on topic. Foul language and personal attacks will not be tolerated.

By Practice

edited Dec 20, 2005 - 4:08 PM

It’s VHS vs. Beta all over again. Like when Sony lost with Beta, I’m hoping they’ll loose again with Blu-Ray.

The more you tighten your grip, Sony, the more consumers will slip through your fingers.

Score: 0

By Mark Gillespie

posted Dec 19, 2005 - 11:25 AM

Amazing how many underhand deals are going on the nextgen DVD camp. I'm sure there is more to this announcement that HP are letting on. Perhaps Microsoft have been worrying about the clout of PS3 and Blue-Ray on XBox360 sales...

it seems whichever console wins the next gen console format, will be the deciding factor as to who wins the next gen DVD format!!

Is this is the case, then Blu-Ray and the PS3 have it nailed. By time PS3 hits the stores with Blu-Ray, XBox will be a mid-generation console.

Score: 0

By Black-Wolf

posted Dec 17, 2005 - 4:54 PM

Oh, we are neutral too~
Let's buy one of each format. :P

Score: 0

By klingon379

posted Dec 17, 2005 - 2:45 AM

Blu-Ray is as much of an improvement over HD-DVD as CD's were over cassette tapes.

Score: 0

By Second Shadow

posted Dec 18, 2005 - 11:17 PM

I think a better wording would be: "Blu-Ray is as much of an improvement over HD-DVD as Betamax was over VHS tapes."

Score: 0

By klingon379

posted Dec 19, 2005 - 2:45 PM

I never got to use Betamax, but from what I heard it was superior in video quality to VHS.

Score: 0

By pafinator11

posted Dec 16, 2005 - 10:34 PM

I liked the BluRay idea until it got into DRM so much. My entire DVD collection is backed up onto my hard drive so that I can play it on my D-link DSM 320 media player. I have a habit of losing things and this saves me organizational skills and time. BluRay was an advance in technology and thats what I liked about it. HD-Dvd is current technology with 2 layers and some added features. And I bet all this DRM installed more rootkits too. My 2cents.

Score: 0

By expert01

posted Dec 16, 2005 - 8:46 PM

"HP publicly announced its support for HD DVD... saying it would remain neutral"

HP supports HD-DVD. HP is neutral between HD-DVD and BluRay. Huh?

Score: 0

By pafinator11

posted Dec 16, 2005 - 10:31 PM

HP already supported BluRay now they support HD-DVD as well therefore they support both and are neutral.

Score: 0

By AlanRivaldo

posted Dec 16, 2005 - 11:55 PM

More clarity in the writing of the article would have prevented the question from coming up.

Score: 0

By Kramy

posted Dec 16, 2005 - 6:49 PM

Since Sony recently went bonkers and lost all respectability, I would say HD-DVD...

Before that though, Sony had the win...I'm sure their increased copy protection features interested many companies.

Score: 0

By tubaman

posted Dec 16, 2005 - 4:05 PM

I'll put a few coppers in for HD-DVD also.

Score: 0

By bourgeoisdude

posted Dec 16, 2005 - 4:00 PM

Geez, it's a yoyo. HD-DVD looks to win, next week Blu-Ray; then HD-DVD again.

Yep, at this point it's anybody's game. Though I am still betting on HD-DVD ultimately, I'm only betting pennies...

Score: 0

By auiotour

posted Dec 16, 2005 - 5:04 PM

I am thinking hddvd as well. my 2cents

Score: 0

By PC_Tool

posted Dec 16, 2005 - 4:46 PM

I'll throw in. Purely out of spite, mind you.

Score: 0

By cadessi

edited Dec 19, 2005 - 7:42 AM

Heard time ago a hardware vendor (not sure which one at this time) was working on a driver that could read both formats, so if eventually this would come true, why bother?.

Score: 0

By PC_Tool

posted Dec 19, 2005 - 8:59 AM

It wouldn't be a driver, it'd be in hardware. The hardware itself is different, they'd need to find a way to build them both into one unit, which would be a chore, if not completely impossible.

Score: 0

By bourgeoisdude

posted Dec 19, 2005 - 11:04 AM

I believe it was Samsung...or maybe Philips. OK never mind, I have no idea...

Score: 0

By Thorlord2

edited Dec 19, 2005 - 10:47 PM

sony has gone insane with rage over the 360 lately and is on a rampage to hype up everything they are related to.

and with the formats, it wont make much difference as the consumer will most likely just wait it out for a clear shot winner before buying either one.

and as for the next gen consoles. microsoft is going neutrual as well, they can upgrade their 360 to use either Blu-ray or HD-DvD when a clear shot winner is shown (or microsoft just gets impatient and ships a combined model)

ironicly the technology from blu-ray and HD-DvD is almost the same. they both have the same read/write speed, and they both use blue lazers to read/write. the only difference is that Blu-Ray is 25gb and HD-DvD is 15gb-20gb. so to make a multi-disc reader shouldent be that difficult.

Score: 0

Oct 10 - 7:43 PM ET Wal-Mart changes its mind, leaves existing DRM servers up

Oct 10 - 7:05 PM ET Hands on: An amateur photographer tests out Adobe's latest Lightroom

Oct 10 - 6:52 PM ET Mobile service providers brace for the economic storm

Oct 10 - 6:24 PM ET Apple warns users about bad Nvidia graphics chips

Oct 10 - 4:21 PM ET New Norton Vista tool trades UAC for online feedback

Oct 10 - 3:23 PM ET Verizon Wireless to raise fees for service-related texts

Oct 10 - 3:04 PM ET BlackBerry Bold sales halted in UK

Oct 10 - 12:52 PM ET Internet snoop Adzilla vacates the American market

Oct 10 - 11:57 AM ET Qualcomm gains an ally in its renewed war with Broadcom

Oct 10 - 10:44 AM ET First look at latest OpenOffice merits a second