HD DVD To Roll Out In 2005 With Prerecorded Support

[Gregg Lengling]

By Paul Sweeting


 
They're not exactly Hollywood blockbusters, but the HD DVD camp has actually lined up its first prerecorded software support.

Eight titles from Japanese distributor Pony Canyon will make their debut sometime in 2005, when the hardware is slated to hit the market in the U.S. and Japan.

The announcement was made in July at a three-day "HD DVD Showcase" in Tokyo, timed to coincide with the summer meeting of the DVD Forum.

The titles include the Japanese drama Moonlight Jellyfish, as well as a series of "virtual trip" travel films shot in HD and featuring the Maldives islands, Australia's Great Barrier Reef, and downtown Tokyo.

Like I said, not exactly Hollywood blockbusters. They do put HD DVD on the map, however, and signal that Toshiba and NEC, the format's developers, have no intention of falling behind the rival Blu-ray Disc camp.
The Showcase itself, in fact, seemed aimed as much at trying to seize the inside lane from Blu-ray in the race to market as it did in actually "showcasing" anything.

Aside from the Pony Canyon titles, there was little new information about the format.

Microsoft announced that its next-generation operating system, codenamed Longhorn—will support HD DVD, but the software giant was quick to add that its "support" was in no way meant to be
exclusive.

"We're still evaluating the final feature set of the forthcoming operating system, and nothing is set in stone at this point," said Jonathan Usher, Director of Microsoft's Windows Digital Media division. "Microsoft remains neutral with respect to the technology we plan to support for high-definition playback in future versions of Windows, and we remain committed to discussions underway with other groups like Blu-ray."

The main point of the showcase was to get the year 2005 on the record as the launch date for HD DVD, in case anyone thought Blu-ray might be closer to commercialization and jump on the Blu-bandwagon as a result.


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