Treat this as Rumor for now... But Micro$oft...

...maybe resurrecting HD-DVD. Last night I made a stop at my local computer store. While I was there the local sales rep for Micro$oft was in the store doing some inventory and showing the owner some new products coming their way. I Overheard the rep mention that M$ might resurrect HD-DVD to save HDi. When the owner had to walk away I introduced myself and asked him some questions about what I had overheard. I explained I am an HD-DVD collector, and how much I love the format etc etc. However, I asked why would microsoft resurrect a format Toshiba will no longer produce parts for, and I also mentioned about Micro$oft going Blu for the XBOX 360. The rep said while they will likely produce a Blu add-on, M$ has millions of dollars invested into the development of HDi, and HDi was designed specifically for home optical disc entertainment. He mentioned Toshiba went into deep into the red with all the price slashing which left them vulnerable for failure. It seems Toshiba was losing $200 per player at the third gen pricing level, in hopes to compete with BR. He further added that Toshiba didn't inform M$ how far in they were until they were 4 days before announcing the death of HD-DVD.

Now I find it hard to believe Microsoft had no idea Toshiba was messing up this badly, and I asked why M$ didn't step in with checkbook open to address the problems before they started hitting the downward spiral. The rep had said that the Warner announcement was a shock because they were set to go red and held it in until the last minute at which no one was in a position to do anything about. He made it out like M$ was the last to know about everything that happened and weren't kept in the loop during this debacle.

Again, I find it hard to believe that the company partly responsible for the functionality of HD-DVD's menu structure and features would be the last to know... but, I have heard goofier things in my 36 years on this earth. So at this point, according to the rep... M$ may try to bring back the HD-DVD format, but I like everyone else, am a realist and can't see how they would resurrect the format at this point as it has been 3 weeks since the announcement, and every B&M store tells everyone HD-DVD is dead.

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M$ has millions of dollars invested into the development of HDi, and HDi was designed specifically for home optical disc entertainment

That would all be interesting, if the above were true. But it isn't.

However, you may find this even more interesting...

HDi is built upon standards that have been used and delivered via streaming IP or HTTP since the early Internet days. HDi was designed purposely for Internet delivery from the ground up, and Microsoft has been trying to get third party CE companies that make set top boxes (Scientific Atlanta for example) to adopt the interactive layer based on ECMAScript, XML, CSS, DHTML, etc. for years without much (if any) success over it's rival implementation based on Sun's Java GEM/MHP.

Microsoft saw HD DVD as a vehicle to gain more industry acceptance for HDi, and if HD DVD won, perhaps have HDi become a standard in all set top boxes and multi-media mobile devices. When Sun saw this, they worked with the BDA to quickly counter Microsoft by selling GEM/MHP to the Blu-ray crowd and calling it BD-Java. Sun and Microsoft were fighting a battle that had NOTHING to do with Blu-ray or HD DVD, as surprise, surprise - Sun's BD-Java was also built upon standards already used in set top boxes and will allow "Blu-ray interactive" features to be made available on cable-based video on demand or via Internet download, and of course used in portable devices.

And Toshiba and Microsoft didn't see anything coming last fall? And why would Microsoft pick Toshiba as its main partner in the formation of "Advanced Interactivity Consortium" last October? The consortium has nothing to do with hardware, and only exists to promote HDi as an interactive content mechanism everywhere EXCEPT on HD DVD disks!

Obviously HDi is still in a "war", but one that has nothing to do with media disk formats, and probably never did have much to do with physical formats. So there ya go... IMO of course.

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Microsoft saw HD DVD as a vehicle to gain more industry acceptance for HDi, and if HD DVD won, perhaps have HDi become a standard in all set top boxes and multi-media mobile devices. When Sun saw this, they worked with the BDA to quickly counter Microsoft by selling GEM/MHP to the Blu-ray crowd and calling it BD-Java.

Microsoft offered HDi to Blu-ray. It was the whole reason for the format war really. Microsoft, intel and HP demanded that blu ray used HDi. If it didn't then they would support HD DVD. If blu ray had decided to use HDi there would not have been a format war. Toshiba would have had to quit right there.

good post Sky

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Microsoft, intel and HP demanded that blu ray used HDi. If it didn't then they would support HD DVD. If blu ray had decided to use HDi there would not have been a format war. Toshiba would have had to quit right there.

Almost... Microsoft had already given it's full support behind HD DVD with HDi before the BDA was approached by HP. I personally don't see how this would have affected the format war though, except that you might consider the HDi technology "Duel Format" if it had been adopted in both HD DVD and Blu-ray. It still wouldn't have changed that fact that Blu-ray was not compatible with HD DVD player hardware, and vice-versa. The only difference it would have made is that HP would have supported Blu-ray exclusively from the start. Perhaps that may have speeded up HD DVD's demise, but I don't think it would have had much of an effect one way or the other. I mean, how many HP computers with HD DVD or Blu-ray players are in consumer's homes now? Certainly not enough to significantly influence media sales IMO.

Here's an old news release on the subject (dating back to late 2005):
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,175904,00.html

[Post edited by Skyhawk on Mar 7, 2008]

Weird, but I had a dream HD DVD made a comeback, and it was Microsoft that used the technology in the Xbox 720! Weird, but probably never going to happen. Anywho, I have two HD Scientific Atlanta IPN receivers at home. I should check if they use HDi.

I can see that happening, M$ actually resurrecting HD DVD.

But not for the reasons you might hope for....

They waited for Toshiba to build a reliable platform and perfect the TL-51 discs, now they can go back and make HD DVD the next generation optical data storage media for PC's.

Three-Layer discs with 51GB/per side, double sided of course.

The can make very good use out of it for data storage, Toshiba would almost give M$ the patents at this point, and NO ROYALTIES PAID TO $ONY.

Engenius, ploy by M$.

Let another company lose their shirt developing a storage technology, M$ scoops it up for pennies on the dollar, NO ROYALTIES, it's a Win-WIN-WIN for M$

Expect that next generation XBOX to come with a built in HD DVD drive, and a Blu ray add-on option as well.

And you called me crazy with my Microsoft and downloads theory???

Great post Sky...

EDIT: Do you think MS actually thinks waaaay into the future? I mean one thing is 5 yrs or less, but more? And if MS wants to make the only allowed disc to be used with windows, well, they have the power, they have the base, they can do whatever they want. And we'll comply. But how much can you invest in HDi? I mean is it worth?

[Post edited by mvckalel on Mar 7, 2008]

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Do you think MS actually thinks waaaay into the future? I mean one thing is 5 yrs or less, but more?

They sure do. Corporations position themselves to take advantage of new technological trends that could have an effect a decade, or even far beyond a decade into the future.

Actually... Microsoft waits for someone else to develop advanced technology - then they buy them out!