Headline :: Xbox 360 will have Blu-Ray add-on if necessary

[Steven W]

Microsoft has plans in place to shift towards the Blu-Ray market should it be the winner of the high-def format war.

Check out the Headline

[Sinizter]

MS gets paid whenever discs use the VC-1 coded which was developed by them. Blu-ray discs are now increasingly shifting towards VC-1 encoding. So whichever way the format war swings, MS is set to make a profit.

[YorkieBen]

Im not surprised, MS arent dumb. All it requires is a software update and swap the drives in the external add on.

I was actually thinking about this about a week ago

[steve threlfall]

MS said this when the HD DVD add on was announced

[GeorgeTuk]

I have often dreamed of setting a company up purely to appeal to Microsoft so they can buy it for say $10m (I'm not that greedy!).

Apparently there is book on how you could do it but I don't think its just Microsoft I think its generic for all multi-nationals.

[whitebloodcell]

This is pretty cool, although I don't like the idea of supporting Sony too much, they've just been irritating lately

[shaithis]

MS gets paid whenever discs use the VC-1 coded which was developed by them. Blu-ray discs are now increasingly shifting towards VC-1 encoding. So whichever way the format war swings, MS is set to make a profit.

Got a source for that info?

I was firmly under the impression that Sony are going out of their way to make sure no BD titles use VC-1 and are using MPEG4 instead (finally I might add, can't believe they used MPEG2 for so many titles...)

[Sinizter]

Here's a link about MS's VC-1 codec becoming a standard. http://www.betanews.com/article/Micr...ard/1144097224

And obviously if its their codec, they are getting paid for it, just as MPEG2 is something Sony gets royalties for.

There are many VC-1 encoded titles available on Blu-Ray and while Sony themselves might be avoiding its use, other studios do use VC-1 for which they pay BD licensing fees as well as VC-1 licensing fees.