The Blu-Ray Disc Group announced
yesterday that it was going to adopt a critical feature that has kept companies like Intel, Microsoft, and HP from
lending their support to Sony's next-gen format of choice. "Mandatory managed content" will allow users the
ability to legally copy their DVD's into a managed (read: DRM'ed) file. Prior to this move, only HD-DVD included
this functionality as mandatory. HP is still waiting for inclusion of Microsoft's (proprietary?) iHD platform for
interactive features on a computer, while Blu-Ray has decided to stick with the more open Java platform. This
format war seems to be narrowing of late and with each and every PS3 doubling as a Blu-Ray player, it seems hard to
imagine HD-DVD making significant inroads.
[Thanks Ghazi]
