What are the reasons that HP moved from a supporter of Blu-ray to a supporter of both formats.
MAUREEN: HP wants to ensure that its customers have a choice in high definition. HP is committed to providing customers with the seamless interoperability needed to store high-definition digital content easily on either a PC or a digital entertainment device. We felt that HD DVD offered several mandatory features for hardware that were important to offering a great consumer experience across the board - such as mandatory support for a network connection, for secondary encoders used for picture in picture, and for HDi to allow interactivity. Support for HDi is also incorporated into Windows Vista, which was a critical requirement of HP in our decision, given our plans for the personal computer over the next several years.
Talk about the advantages that you see for the HD DVD format.
MAUREEN: I see two key advantages: Interactive features and the cost for drives and media.
For interactivity, HDi is already present in HD DVD. In fact HD DVD had network connectivity and interactivity available in the very first generation of players. HP believes that interactivity is compelling for consumers and many of the HD DVD studios are already using HDi to create special features in their title releases.
The second advantage is the cost for drives and media. The market has already shown the cost advantages of HD DVD for both hardware and content. While HD DVD offers a dramatic six-fold improvement in resolution over DVD, the manufacturing costs are still low enough to keep first generation prices reasonable. You can see it in the HD DVD consumer electronic devices from Toshiba, the HD DVD drive for the Xbox 360 as well as the HP notebook prices. And the cost advantages don't sacrifice quality.
Talk a bit about what you see as the benefits of dual-format players in the current format war.
MAUREEN: The confusion created by the format battle, as well as consumer reluctance to adopt one over the other, is definitely affecting the market. From that viewpoint, dual-format devices offer an excellent solution moving forward. HP is currently investigating the possibility of delivering dual-format devices to eliminate the confusion and to provide the consumer with the ability to play back content independent of the media type.
Blu-ray is stating that they have more studios lined up and have matched the number of HD DVD titles on the market. How does this change the landscape?
MAUREEN: It depends on how you look at the market. HD DVD announced more than 300 titles for 2007, which will bring their title count to more than 600 by year's end - and from what I've seen, this includes day-and-date releases of top movies. There are also more than 25 international studios that are supporting HD DVD in Europe and Asia. While the six or seven top US studios represent 80-90% of the content in the US, they only represent 40% in Europe and less in Asia. In the international markets, most studios have selected HD DVD because of the ease of replication as well as the cost advantages. This is important, since HD DVD does not have region coding. So you can buy movies in Europe for example - most of which offer a variety of language tracks - and play them in any HD DVD player worldwide.
As HP is a truly global company we need to think about our technology selections to support all areas of the world.
MAUREEN: HP wants to ensure that its customers have a choice in high definition. HP is committed to providing customers with the seamless interoperability needed to store high-definition digital content easily on either a PC or a digital entertainment device. We felt that HD DVD offered several mandatory features for hardware that were important to offering a great consumer experience across the board - such as mandatory support for a network connection, for secondary encoders used for picture in picture, and for HDi to allow interactivity. Support for HDi is also incorporated into Windows Vista, which was a critical requirement of HP in our decision, given our plans for the personal computer over the next several years.
Talk about the advantages that you see for the HD DVD format.
MAUREEN: I see two key advantages: Interactive features and the cost for drives and media.
For interactivity, HDi is already present in HD DVD. In fact HD DVD had network connectivity and interactivity available in the very first generation of players. HP believes that interactivity is compelling for consumers and many of the HD DVD studios are already using HDi to create special features in their title releases.
The second advantage is the cost for drives and media. The market has already shown the cost advantages of HD DVD for both hardware and content. While HD DVD offers a dramatic six-fold improvement in resolution over DVD, the manufacturing costs are still low enough to keep first generation prices reasonable. You can see it in the HD DVD consumer electronic devices from Toshiba, the HD DVD drive for the Xbox 360 as well as the HP notebook prices. And the cost advantages don't sacrifice quality.
Talk a bit about what you see as the benefits of dual-format players in the current format war.
MAUREEN: The confusion created by the format battle, as well as consumer reluctance to adopt one over the other, is definitely affecting the market. From that viewpoint, dual-format devices offer an excellent solution moving forward. HP is currently investigating the possibility of delivering dual-format devices to eliminate the confusion and to provide the consumer with the ability to play back content independent of the media type.
Blu-ray is stating that they have more studios lined up and have matched the number of HD DVD titles on the market. How does this change the landscape?
MAUREEN: It depends on how you look at the market. HD DVD announced more than 300 titles for 2007, which will bring their title count to more than 600 by year's end - and from what I've seen, this includes day-and-date releases of top movies. There are also more than 25 international studios that are supporting HD DVD in Europe and Asia. While the six or seven top US studios represent 80-90% of the content in the US, they only represent 40% in Europe and less in Asia. In the international markets, most studios have selected HD DVD because of the ease of replication as well as the cost advantages. This is important, since HD DVD does not have region coding. So you can buy movies in Europe for example - most of which offer a variety of language tracks - and play them in any HD DVD player worldwide.
As HP is a truly global company we need to think about our technology selections to support all areas of the world.
