Microsoft moves to own DVD format, HD-DVD movies launched

May 2, 2003

In a move to conquerer the home entertaiment market, Microsoft has started to market their propertary HD-DVD format. The movies Shadowns of Motown and Terminator 2: Judgement Day, will be sold with 2 discs, one that can be played on a normal DVD-Forum approved DVD player, and one disc that can only be played on a home computer with Microsoft Windows Media player software installed.

The HD-DVD disc should contain the movie in much higher resolution, but according to the article can not yet be compared to high resolution television (like blu-ray)

Artisan Home Entertainment is going to be releasing the first wave of Microsoft's bid to control Hollywood. It has two films lined up for special treatment, the first is "Shadows of Motown" and the second is a new release of "Terminator 2: Judgement Day." Both films come with an extra DVD that is playable on a PC using Media Player 9.
The big selling point is that the Media Player 9 disks are higher resolution. And, wait for the slight of hand, the format is called HD-DVD even though Microsoft is stressing that the resolution is far below "high definition" in the sense of HDTV.

This means that there is a possibility of another player in the home entertaiment market, that already suffers from a lack of one format. Currently DVD-Audio and the Super Audio CD are fighting for the audio only format, DVD minus and DVD plus for the recording market, and DVD and HD-DVD and blu ray for the movie market. Read the entire article on TheInquirer.net

Source: TheInquirer.net