James Delahunty
4 Oct 2005 22:42
After talks broke down between the HD-DVD camp and the Blu-Ray camp collapsed in June, fears began spreading about the possibility of a format war between the two. However, a unified standard is still a slight possibility according to Toshiba president Yoshihide Fujii who told the Japan Times that Toshiba has "no intention of giving up on creating a single format." He said the talks originally broke down because Blu-Ray supporters couldn't convince Toshiba that the format's disc structure was reliable.
He said however that Toshiba would be willing to come to a compromise because the company is "flexible." He said there is still time for new negotiations to happen but the deadline has been set for the end of the year which is when Toshiba plans to release HD-DVD players. This extra bit of hope comes just as the DVD format war is heating up.
We reported just days ago that Microsoft and Intel had pledged support for the HD-DVD format which drew much criticism from Blu-Ray supporters including Hewlett-Packard and Dell. "Every computer manufacturer in the Blu-Ray Disc Association carefully reviewed both formats and ultimately chose Blu-ray as the superior solution for meeting customer demands and providing the best possible end-user experience." said Hewlett Packard's Maureen Weber.
"It is surprising that announcement is not aligned with that of the vast majority of the computer industry and is contrary to our consumer research," she added referring to Microsoft and Intel's earlier announcement. Dell founder Michael Dell criticized Microsoft, questioning whether the company had any reason or right to even back a format. "Which version of Windows was the first to support DVD drives? The answer is none, because there is no DVD Codec in Windows, because manufacturers have always provided their own codecs," he said.
Source:
GamesIndustry.biz