HP to use Blu-Ray in many product lines

Rethink IT, Jan, 2005

HP has firmed up its plans to support BluRay DVD storage and said the format would begin going into many of its product lines, including select consumer desktop and notebook PCs, personal workstations and digital entertainment centers.

HP says it will continue to work with the other companies of the Blu-ray Disc Association to complete the format technology and develop the drives and will introduce them in late 2005, initially in media center PCs, desktop PCs, personal workstations and digital entertainment devices followed by notebooks in early 2006.

The technology enables the recording, rewriting and playback of high definition (HD) video, as well as the ability to store immense amounts of data, up to 50Gb on a single dual-layer disk, enough to record 26 hours of standard definition television and eight hours of HDTV.

Blu-ray remains in a fight for its existence with the DVD Forum's HD DVD, which uses the same basic technology and which was initially embraced by over 200 members of the DVD forum last year when the NEC/Toshiba technology proposal was accepted. Since that decision, however, the great bulk of the big consumer electronics firms, including Philips, Sony and Panasonic, have come out in favor of Blu-ray, which is expected to arrive earlier than the competing standard. It was proposed by Sony and Panasonic.