Microsoft has confirmed its upcoming Windows 7 operating system won't support Blu-ray movie playback without the addition of third-party media software.
Blu-ray support in Windows 7 will be provided by "PC makers or BRD drive makers," according to Steven Sinofsky, senior vice president of the Windows and Windows Live Engineering Group at Microsoft, in a statement published by windows7center.com.
"We have new extensibility in media center for those that provide BRD playback to support integrated playback. We do have support for burning BRD data discs," Sinofsky said.
As with DVD under Windows XP, Blu-ray playback under Windows 7 will require the installation of a third party decoder such as those included in PowerDVD or WinDVD media suites.
The news comes amid speculation as to whether Apple's upcoming Mac OS 10.6 "Snow Leopard" operating system will offer native Blu-ray playback, with Apple failing to add the option of Blu-ray drives to this week's refresh of the iMac, Mac Pro and Mac Mini range.
