HD DVD responds to Fox announcement in support of BD

July 30, 2005

Yesterday
20th Century Fox
announced that it planned to release titles in the Blu-ray Disc (BD) format.
As one of the reasons for choosing the BD format Fox mentioned the format's copy
protection and renewable security. The HD DVD group has however quickly
responded to the Fox announcement:

LOS ANGELES-July
29, 2005-The following is a statement by HD DVD:

"Today's announcement by
20th Century Fox regarding its support of the Blu-ray Disc format is
surprising and misleading in terms of which format provides for more
robust copy protection.

"The content protection
system of HD DVD provides an equivalent level of security as the system
advocated by Fox for Blu-ray. We also believe the Blu-ray disc format and
proposed copy protection system may result in playability and reliability
issues for the consumer.

"HD
DVD provides robust, renewable and standardized content protection coupled
with proven reliability, cost effectiveness and flexibility which is why
many major film studios have announced support for the HD DVD
format."

While the HD DVD format
is going to use the AACS protection the BDA has not yet disclosed what copy
protection the BD format will adopt. Rumors are however telling SPDC
(Self-Protecting Digital Content) is a part of the protection which also DVD forum considered using
for the HD DVD format but chose not to
implement.

Source: Business Wire