A Microsoft perspective: HD DVD Time line

[Elven6]

Andy Pennell goes a bit into the history of HD DVD and what Microsoft had done. It's a really intresting read, Microsoft had a bigger hand in the format war then we were lead to belive last month. Notice how on the CES 2008 portion of the timeline Andy notes:


Jan 2008: CES 2008 turns into an unhappy experience for HD DVD, starting the day after the Warner bombshell. Cool demos never see the light of day and everyone is pretty shell-shocked. Could the Xbox 360 Ultimate be included in this category?

Find out why Microsoft could have easily put a HD DVD drive into the Xbox 360 from the start, Why Microsoft and Toshiba employees laughed at the first Blu Ray player released, and why Andy's license plate is HD DVD! By clicking here (http://blogs.msdn.com/andypennell/archive/2008/02/20/why-hd-dvd-lost-the-format-war.aspx) and here (http://blogs.msdn.com/andypennell/archive/2008/02/19/diary-of-a-high-definition-format-war.aspx)

What are your thoughts?

Oh for those who don't know: Andy Penells blog was the go to place when it came to the latest news in Microsoft's work with the HD DVD add on. He had the latest firmware specs (THe only place to get them), and a in depth look at the code work it would have involved, it was a very intresting read until a week ago.

[pibs]

wow thanks Elven6 it gave me a new perspective towards HD-DVD

[Elven6]

Are you being serious or sarcastic?

[pibs]

im serious, its kinda sad how the format had to go yet it was in a higher developed phase on the scale compared to blu-ray. I loved the fact that HD-DVD would sometimes come with the dvd combo allowing the user flexibility. Not to mention that the idea of having to do Blu-ray player updates for certain movies sucks.

[wiggy fuzz]

blu-ray won because it happens to have a very big film studio. with that kind of market share it was kinda inevitable, despite all of blu-ray's flaws.

although now because there's only one competitor i can't see any prices falling any time soon - i mean, £25/£30 for a HD movie without the special features HD-DVD would have given us?

[WhizzBang]

I'm glad Blu-Ray won simply because it is a better name than the clumsy aitch-dee-dee-vee-dee.

[Elven6]

I'm glad Blu-Ray won simply because it is a better name than the clumsy aitch-dee-dee-vee-dee.

Blu Ray is a horrible name, can you imagine asking someone which if they have so and so title on Blu Ray compared to asking do you have this title on DVD?

If you go to joe consumer and ask them what HD DVD is they could figure it out by saying "Oh I know what HD is and I know what a DVD is so it must be a HIgh Defenition DVD" compared to Blu Ray were they would say "Whats that?".

HD DVD had studios with killer app titles which they never released, I doubt they were even negotiated! Toshiba should have told people about importing aswell, so it would have given people a reason not to buy a blu ray player for movies like T2, Underworld, etc