Today, Asus joined hands with Sony to support its Blu-ray format. Along with being a supporter, Asus announced a multi-format DVD writer that includes the ability to play BD media.
Asus’s Blu-ray disc drive, known as BC-1205PT, is an internal SATA drive for PCs. It will of course handle DVD-ROM writing duties, along with CD-R/RW. It will be able to burn DVD±R/RW media at a speed of 12x and dual-layered discs at 4x. Unfortunately, it will only read BD-ROMs (at 5x) and won’t be able to write to BD-R or BD-RE media. According to Asus the drive is good for "high-resolution movie playback". But, in order to watch movies, users will need compatible BD playback software. A release date on Asus’s new drive has yet to be announced.
Dell’s very own Tom Pratt, a Technology Strategist, believes that Blu-ray is needed for the expansion of the PC platform in a rising digital home. One of the positive outcomes of Blu-ray is that it can store huge data files that are becoming more common with games and movies.
"For instance, a feature film can be distributed on one Blu-ray Disc with plenty of room for additional content such as out-takes and interactive games. Play the disc in the PC Blu-ray Disc drive and view high-definition video, as well as expanded interactive features that take advantage of the PC’s connection to the Internet. The Blu-ray Disc can present interactive content, including games, information about the movie, and downloadable subtitles, sounds, and just-released movie trailers that can be saved to the PC’s hard drive." said Pratt.
Most major computer manufacturers are choosing Blu-ray as a primary disc drive, as opposed to HD-DVD.
According to Pratt, "there was no PC industry involvement in HD-DVD development to address data storage capabilities. Blu-ray Disc technology is superior because it meets all the requirements for next-generation removable storage. It has higher storage capacity, a richer feature set, can be used for data storage and high-definition content delivery, and allows for backward compatibility with CDs and DVDs. It also has broad industry support and well-defined formats, which will help to avoid the compatibility issues associated with previous removable storage transitions. With these strengths, Dell believes that Blu-ray Disc technology is likely to dominate for the next decade or more.”
We’ve listed some of the supporters in each camp below:
Blu-ray:
Warner Bros.
Disney (Buena Vista)
Fox
Lionsgate
MGM
Sony Pictures
New Line
Dell-PC
Asus-PC
HD-DVD:
Warner Bros.
Paramount
Universal Studios
The Weinstein Company
First Look
Dreamworks
Dimension
New Line
Currently, Blu-ray appears to be outperforming HD-DVD. Part of this success is attributed to the PlayStation 3, which can play Blu-ray movies, and also to the superior movie studio support the format has.