(Column) - Microsoft, as is long suspected, decided to back HD DVD and (with Intel) pitched itself firmly in the anti-Sony camp for Blu-Ray, which is pretty much common news, but disregarding the common opinion that it did so due to their differences in the gaming console arena, we find that it really did have very pertinent reasons to go the HD DVD way and of course, Xbox 360 vs. Sony PS3 could be one of the reasons.

We would all love to have a standard that is user friendly in the sense that it allows us to make copies, play them on different players and/or computer setups. This requires a fair bit of revenue loss at the manufacturer’s end and lets face it, bottom line and meeting quarterly street expectations count, so no manufacturer would want to let you make copies easily, if not outright ban it. We, as consumers (con-sumers - wonder who came up with the term), don’t like this and any standard that attempts to limit us in this way is ripped to shreds by our brilliantly gifted and talented crackers (or whatever you choose to call them). Case in point is that CSS (Content Scrambling System) was famously cracked because it disallowed DVD copying.

Making Duplication Legal: HD DVD changes all this by implementing the ‘Managed Copy’ technology. This technology uses parts of the AACS (Advanced Access Content System) encryption system to ensure that users are allowed some amounts of copying such as playing media over a home network, backing up movies on a hard drive, transferring to a portable player (new iPod maybe?) etc., but the real deal comes when you see that HD DVD makes it mandatory for content providers to provide some form of managed copy when you buy the disc, so users can make at least one copy free of charge. Despite Sony being one of the founding members of the AACS technology, it’s still not clear whether or not Blu-Ray will support it.

Also, DVDs are region locked, a feature that doesn’t sit too well with me for if I buy a DVD in Japan, why shouldn’t it play in a DVD player in the U.S.? HD DVD will do away with all this "regioning" and confusing code, so that no matter where you buy your disc from, it will play wherever you want and in more than one location.

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