HP Goes Format-Neutral, Backs HD DVD

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."