Video Asylum

Posted by clarkjohnsen (R) on February 27, 2006 at 12:57:18

AT first glance, Amir Majidimehr does not look like a game-changer
in the battle to develop the next generation of DVD players and
discs. As the vice president for Windows digital media at
Microsoft, he neither steers a Hollywood studio nor controls one of
the many consumer electronics giants that are betting billions of
dollars on one of the two new formats that promise to play
high-definition movies and television shows.

Yet when he and his team in Redmond, Wash., decided last September
to abandon their neutral stance and to support Toshiba and its
HD-DVD standard over the Blu-ray format led by Sony, the unexpected
change of heart reverberated through the technology industry.

Suddenly, Toshiba's seemingly quixotic defense of its format had
new life. Intel joined Microsoft in backing HD-DVD. Hewlett-Packard
withdrew its exclusive support of Blu-ray. This month, another
member of the Blu-ray camp, LG Electronics, hedged its bets, too,
signing a deal to license Toshiba's technology.

• http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/26/business/26disks.html?pagewanted=all   (Open in New Window)