As we all know, HDi was the "interactivity" layer for HD-DVD. However, now that HD-DVD is apparently dead, why not keep HDi alive by partnering with HD-VMD? Apparently New Medium Ent. has already licensed VC-1 from Microsoft so it seems like a logical progression to license HDi as well.

HD-VMD discs are basically just multi-layer DVD's. They use the same red laser as DVD, which keeps costs down. Also, rumor has it that most DL-DVD drives can be upgraded with a new firmware to support HD-VMD discs.

Currently HD-VMD uses the same interactivity stuff as DVD's so it seems like adding HDi to HD-VMD would turn HD-VMD into a compelling alternative to Blu-Ray. Of course, we'd still need native HDi support added to Media Center. And we'd have to get all the major DVD drive vendors to release updated firmware. But if the market demands it, the drive companies would meet that demand, right?

I don't even consider Blu-Ray as an option and I know a lot of people who feel the same way. Personally, I'm boycotting Sony because of the way they handled the HD disc battle which was to pay off studios and tech companies instead of letting the free market decide the winner.

Frankly, I'm surprised no one else has though of this. At least I've heard no discussion or news about something like this happening. Which seems odd when HD-VMD discs can hold something like 20 GB of data. It seems like everyone would be wondering when HD-VMD burners and recordable media are going to show up.

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Media Browser (Formally Video Browser) Developer
http://code.google.com/p/videobrowser/
http://mediabrowser.tv/

I don't know it Blu-ray will last or not. But I see no reason to boycott Sony though. They had the pockets to pay off studios because Sony has Industry money to play with. They've been doing music and movies for long enough they knew how to play the game. Had this been the case 30 years ago we'd have ended up with Beta and not VHS.

Personally I thought it premature to kill HD-DVD but the well of money was runnung dry too quickly to compete with Blu-ray.

Then again I'm still planning on none of this mattering in 3 to 5 years anyway. I'm still hoping it all goes broadband Hi-Def streaming online. In the meantime I've stopped buying DVD's and will stick with Netflix for now...

And I have both HD-DVD and Blu-ray drives in my MCE.

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.rev

Microsoft Certified Trainer
askthemct.com

Frankly I'm amazed that no one else even cares about HD-VMD. It's basically just a four-layer DVD which means you can get 1080p on something that's about 1/4 the price of Blu-Ray. Brilliant.

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Media Browser (Formally Video Browser) Developer
http://code.google.com/p/videobrowser/
http://mediabrowser.tv/