Ms and Blu Ray.

[BinaryJack]

Ok, 3 stories popped up this morning from N4G and both involves MS moving to a next-gen DVD format.

One is the juicy one of MS and Sony in bed with Blu Ray...together...at the same time. I do think that this is more to do with MS and their PC OS not 360 but it could have some ramifications later on though.

Microsoft Confirms Going with Bluray
Mar 12, 2008

http://www.techtree.com/India/News/Microsoft_Confirms_Going_with_Bluray/551-87585-581.html

Just two days back, we reported that Sony is busy wooing Microsoft to add Blu-ray support to its Xbox 360 gaming console.

The effort's paid off (or so it seems) -- with Microsoft now confirming that it's trying to figure out the best way to connect with Blu-ray. The company also seems to be working on ways to include device driver support for Blu-ray drives in its Windows operating system.

Incidentally at the Mix '08 conference in Las Vegas, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said, "We have already been working on, for example, in Windows, device driver support for Blu-ray drives and the like, and I think the world moves on."

"Toshiba has moved on. We have moved on, and we will support Blu-ray in ways that make sense," Ballmer had said rather pointedly.

Before Toshiba went public with withdrawing its HD DVD format, Microsoft had HD DVD players as add-on along with their Xbox 360 gaming consoles.

But with HD DVD all but dead and Blu-ray the winner, Microsoft had no option but to stop manufacturing HD DVD drives for its Xbox 360 console.

What wasn't clear though was whether Microsoft would finally go with the Blu-ray format. The latest admission from the company clears that confusion.

The 2nd story is somewhat more confusing and almost seems to be incontradiction to the first. I found it from N4g but it is from a forum website and I tried to log into the link but unableto verify the post.
So for now, take it whence it comes.

http://www.dvdtown.com/messageboard/topic/6725/6/0

At the same meeting, according to a summary posted on the Forum Web site, the committee approved the formation of a new working group (dubbed WG-12) “to study and specify network applications and related network specification of DVD Forum formats, make recommendations for better interoperability and functionality of network-connected DVD Forum specified devices and content and communicate on relevant recommendations with other standard creation organizations.”

What that means in non-Forum legalese, I’m told by sources familiar with the plans, is that the new working group will look for ways to incorporate some of the same next-gen functionality developed for HD DVD into a DVD 2.0 format, including the HDi interactive layer and the advanced network connectivity.

One of the co-chairs of WG-12 is Microsoft, which played a major role in developing those capabilities for HD DVD (the other co-chair is Panasonic).DVD 2.0 Format Specification

1. Video encoded in MPEG2 SD
2. HD available via Super Upconversion to 960p
3. HDi interactivity
4. Networking
5. Managed Copy
6. Fully backward compatible with existing DVD players.

The third story is more relevant in regards to the 360.
Just as we thought it as safe to step out into the street.

http://www.n4g.com/News-122416.aspx

Microsoft Says No Blu-Ray for X360
60 The comments by Aaron Greenberg, group product manager for Xbox 360, poured cold water on recent speculation that Microsoft could support Blu-ray after Toshiba Corp (6502.T: Quote, Profile, Research), backer of the rival HD DVD format, gave up when key movie studios and retailers abandoned the technology.

"Xbox is not currently in talks with Sony or the Blu-ray Association to integrate Blu-ray into the Xbox experience," Greenberg told Reuters in an interview.

Microsoft, which has stopped making an HD-DVD add-on for the Xbox 360, would continue to invest in its Xbox Live online service that already lets users rent hundreds of movies, including ones in high-definition.

"We're the only console offering digital distribution of entertainment content," Greenberg said.

The software giant also expected that supply problems for the Xbox 360 meant the machine was outsold in the U.S. market by Sony's PlayStation 3 console in February for the second month in a row.

"We definitely expect we will trail in February as a result of our supply constraints," Greenberg said, adding: "By April, we will be in a very healthy inventory situation."

That would be in time for the April 29 launch of Take-Two Interactive Software Inc's (TTWO.O: Quote, Profile, Research) "Grand Theft Auto 4" game, which is widely expected to be one of the best-selling titles of 2008 and could drive purchases of the Xbox 360 and PS3

Greenberg spoke a day ahead of the planned release of U.S. video game sales data for February by market research firm NPD, whose monthly reports are pored over by game companies eager for bragging rights.

The PS3 struggled last year due to its high price and lack of must-have games, but sales have picked up in recent months thanks to price cuts in late 2008 and a slate of anticipated upcoming games.

"We still think we have a great value, that we have significantly better value than Sony. Every month we've actually been in stock we've outsold them by a 2 to 1 margin," Greenberg said.

 

[doobiwan]

The first article from techtree is a load of hogwash, and has misrepresented or at least misinterpreted what MS said.

Their actual statements have explicitly stated that there will be no BD for the 360
http://news.teamxbox.com/xbox/15938/Microsoft-No-Plans-to-Integrate-Bluray-into-Xbox-360/

Where the guy is getting confused is that they ARE discussing BD but for PC, seems people forget about windows. Apparently the question is around BD-J as Suns lawsuit prevents MS from bundling any form of Java with windows, which is why they'd like BD to support HDi as well.

 

[BinaryJack]

I Bold that part of the sentence to make it clear for some of the readers.
I also included an article from N4G.com with a clear answer from MS in regards to BD.
Just in case...