HP Asks For Blu-Ray Change in Next-Gen DVD Battle
 

Hewlett-Packard Co. on Wednesday raised the stakes in a battle between high-definition DVD formats by urging a group led by Sony Corp. to include features important to PC makers and users. Palo Alto, Calif-based HP has long backed Sony's Blu-ray but last month Microsoft Corp. and Intel Corp. endorsed a competing high-definition DVD format known as HD-DVD, which is backed by Toshiba Corp. That prompted HP to make its move on Wednesday.

"We're still supporting Blu-ray but we're very serious that we want these technologies. If in the end, they're supported in one and then not the other, we'll have to make a choice," said Maureen Weber, general manager of personal storage in HP's personal systems group. Blu-ray and HD-DVD were not available for comment.

The world's No. 2 computer maker asked the makers of Blu-ray to include two technologies in its specifications now supported by HD-DVD. One is known as mandatory managed copy, allowing users to copy high-definition movies onto PCs from discs and distribute them on home networks. HP also asked Blu-ray to support a feature called iHD, which provides for new interactive features and is slated to be implemented in Microsoft's new Windows Vista operating system.

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