HP gets behind Blu-ray

Blu-ray just scored a big hit against HD-DVD in their ongoing battle over which high capacity disc format is going to emerge as the successor to the DVD, with HP announcing yesterday that they're going to start putting Blu-ray Disc drives in at least a few of their PCs by the end of next year. They don't get specific about whether these'll be read-only drives or not.

[Mark @ Dec 19th 2005 12:06AM]

I feel like blue ray is going to catch on more than hd-dvd because the "dvd" part of hd dvd just doesn't sound new enough or cool enough. i think when people buy something they want to feel like they are getting something cutting edge, and thats something that a name with "dvd" in it can't do.

[Byron McCloud @ Dec 19th 2005 12:06AM]

Sony's Blu-Ray is positioning itself to become the winner in this VHS vs. Betamax fight for the high definition television recorded content for consumers. By purchasing MGM's movie library and also deciding to release all Playstation 3 games in the Blu-Ray format it gives itself visibility in the homes of all of the PS3 buyers come Xmas 2006. Xmas 2005 may not be a reality for PS3 availability. By 2007 HDTV will start taking off and 2008 will be half a decade of major network TV programs being HD.

-byron

[levein @ Dec 19th 2005 12:06AM]

This must be a big impact on the format war. As is a major player in PC and DVD industry, it's a bit strange that HP didn't join one of the them in the early days.