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Vista MCE & HD-DVD/Blu-ray

  • 25-08-2006 10:28am
    #1
    8T8
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,757 ✭✭✭


    A story doing the rounds that Vista would not support HD-DVD/Blu-ray playback under 32-bit editions of Vista only 64-bit versions has turned out to be false (sort of) the MS engineer was basically incorrectly informed (update:APC Magazine also posted a follow up).

    Not that I care too much about these new formats but still functionality being restricted is annoying nonetheless.

    The Vista blog and Vista MCE blog both clarify the situation and reveal some details on Vista MCE's playback capabilities for HD-DVD & Blu-ray.


    The Vista blog basically states that any third party software vendor with a HD-DVD/Blu-ray player can restrict playback under a variety of conditions to which those include a 32-bit processor or unsigned drivers however this is entirely optional and Vista does no enforcement of any kind with regards to third party players.

    Basically the content owners can lay down restrictions if you will for third party players freezing out playback if your system doesn't meet the requirements. Given the fact that there are already 32-bit XP versions of Cyberlinks HD-DVD/Blu-ray player I think it unlikely anything will happen with 32 vs 64-bit. In fact you can download an advisor from Cyberlink which will tell you if your XP system is "compliant".


    In regards Vista MCE out of the box Vista natively supports 2 of the 3 codecs required for HD-DVD;
    VC-1 (what you know as WMV-HD)
    MPEG-2 (finally!)

    Whats not supported;
    MPEG-4 AVC (what you know as H.264)

    The 'good' news for those interested in the HD formats is that Vista MCE will now support third party players within it's environment so Cyberlink or Intervideo players with support for HD-DVD or Blu-ray installed will allow seamless playback under MCE.

    It was hinted at on the Vista MCE blog that Vista will only require a third party player for HD-DVD H.264* encoded movies VC-1 & MPEG-2 may play out of the box, Blu-ray on the other hand will definitely require a third party player no matter the codec as Vista does not natively support the framework.

    *I don't think there are even any of these out yet, all I've seen so far are MPEG-2 & VC-1 from the titles reviewed to date.

    Anyway hope that clears up some of the info for some of you as it I was wondering about it myself.

    Feckin movie studios :mad:


Comments

  • #2
    RuggieBear
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 17,958 ✭✭✭✭RuggieBear


    Everything is always hamstrung in order to squeeze more money out the consumer:(


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