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Title should read 'Microsoft will follow the money'
Why must Sony always try to market the more expensive, technologically inferior product. I'll say Betamax was better than VHS, but there were certain issues they faced. Just as they're facing with HD-DVD today. I'm just hoping that HD-DVD gets some more advertising and a cheap player comes out.
7
If this happens Toshiba won't be very happy I mean they did join with MS to promote HD-DVD.
Say isn't MS losing a ton of money when they teamed up with Toshiba since Blu-ray won the "higher definition" battle?
Say isn't MS losing a ton of money when they teamed up with Toshiba since Blu-ray won the "higher definition" battle?
No. Microsoft has long stated that their reason for supporting HD or BD is the lower production costs and interactivity. I do believe that they had a hand in developing the HDi standard, and they are a partner in the "buy a player and get xxx HD's free" promotion. However, Sony has also done the same so each side has heavily subsidized players and content to encourage early adoption.
Microsoft's bread and butter is in the software. Specifically, Microsoft is responsible for the VC-1 codec which was typically the codec of choice for HD DVD. Microsoft probably collects some sort of royalty for the use of their codec in high-definition media. Companies such as Universal, Paramount, and Warner, which just went BD-exclusive, all use VC-1 as their preferred codec of choice. The short is story is that Microsoft is and will continue to collect money regardless of who "wins."
deception``
unless they switch from VC1 to standard Mpeg4 or AVC
Which is inevitable. But I think Megatron is implying that Microsoft will still gain royalties on the existing HD-DVDs... which they will... for as long as they exist. Just like what happened with VHS casettes and minidiscs the HD-DVDs will disappear overnight. And you won't see VC-1 on any blu-ray discs.
Warner uses VC-1 for Blu-Ray; I don't see why they would change.....
AVC is the codec of choice for Sony and Disney in particular. [and Fox, too!]
deception``
Hmm... I thought they didn't have any Warner blu-ray discs yet. Didn't they JUST switch to blu-ray? Or have they always and they just decided to be exclusive?