Microsoft is one of the greater forces behind the HD DVD format, and that MS has chosen HD DVD over Blu-ray is hardly surprising since Sony is behind the latter and use it with its coming game console PlayStation 3. But Microsoft also has plans for a deeper and more thorough support for HD DVD, among other with Windows Vista. It has also developed some technologies of their own for HD DVD, e.g. iHD, short for “interactive HD”, which lets the user access features and settings while the movie is playing. Universal Studios has now decided to use both iHD and the VC-1 compression technology that has also been partly developed by Microsoft. It seems that all movie studios supporting HD DVD will use VC-1.
“VC-1 will allow Universal to offer full 1080p resolution, yet have enough space on the 30GB HD DVD disc for additional features. iHD will allow for the accessing of interactive features without the need to interrupt playback.”
Source: BetaNews
