Blu-Ray Disc Association to Microsoft: 'Join us.'
BDA spokesman Frank Simonis comments on the demise of HD-DVD.
February 19, 2008 - Now that the format war is over, with an official concession from Toshiba delivered earlier this week, the question becomes what comes next for manufacturers formerly amalgamated with HD-DVD? In an interview with TechRadar, Blu-Ray Association spokesman Frank Simonis stated that former HD-DVD rivals should join the Blu-Ray family.
"We have always said that Toshiba and Microsoft, and any other company is more than welcome to join the Blu-Ray Disc Association. We are an open organization, with an open disc standard," said Simonis. He later went on to say that Microsoft and Toshiba would be valuable additions to the Blu-Ray camp. Simonis refused to declare an official victory for Blu-Ray although the demise of HD-DVD was seemingly imminent after Toshiba's withdrawal. However, Simonis did express a level of empathy noting the difficulty Toshiba would face if it were to switch to Blu-Ray as one of HD-DVD's principle backers.
After Warner Bros.' crucial withdrawal of support for the HD-DVD format earlier this year, Microsoft representatives acknowledged a potential swapping of support for Blu-Ray. Simonis went on to comment on the prospect of Blu-Ray support in future Xbox systems.
"Microsoft could easily put Blu-Ray inside the Xbox," said Simonis. "From my understanding Microsoft did an early evaluation and the Xbox has a similar processor to the PS3 so it will be perfectly capable of decoding a Blu-Ray disc." While many believe that Blu-Ray support in both the PS3 and Xbox 360 would create an unsavory juxtaposition for Sony, Simonis maintains that Sony would have little choice in the matter.
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Sony has nothing to say on this. The BDA is an open organization and no one company is in charge of it. It's irrelevant whether Sony would be happy about Microsoft joining up, because it wouldn't have a say," said Simonis. Despite the resolution of the format war, some claim that the Blu-Ray format still faces several potential threats; namely digital downloads and streaming.
Simonis debunked these claims, stating that "When it comes to ownership of content, we've seen the research: people like to have a physical disc in their hand. With a real box and real case lining. Downloads don't offer people what they want." Simonis cited the current impracticality and exorbitant download times involved with digital downloads. "Downloading a 4.7GB movie is still an absolute pain for most people," said Simonis. "So what would it be to download a 50GB 1080p movie? It would take an extraordinary amount of time and people are just not ready for such things."