Microsoft stops HD DVD drives for Xbox 360!

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) — Microsoft confirmed on Monday that it will no longer make HD DVD drives for its Xbox 360 video game consoles.

The much-anticipated announcement comes in the wake of the format being abandoned by its creator, Japanese electronics giant Toshiba, as well as major Hollywood studios and US retail chains.

"As a result of recent decisions made by Toshiba, Hollywood studios, and retailers, Microsoft plans to withdraw from HD DVD," the US technology titan said in a written statement released during the weekend.

"Xbox will no longer manufacture new HD DVD players for the Xbox 360, but we will continue to provide standard product and warranty support for all Xbox 360 HD DVD Players in the market."

Toshiba last week conceded defeat to rival Sony in a long-running DVD format war.

Toshiba said it would stop selling its HD DVD machines by the end of March, clearing the way for the Blu-ray format developed by Sony and its partners to become the industry standard.

The victory is sweet revenge for Sony, which learned its lessons well from a defeat in a similar format war that erupted in the late 1970s between the VHS and Betamax types of video cassettes.

Sony includes a Blu-ray player in its own video game console, the PlayStation 3.

Analysts say the end of the format war will reduce consumer confusion and should encourage the Hollywood studios to bring out more movies on Blu-ray.

Toshiba has sold 700,000 HD DVD players globally, while 300,000 more HD DVD drives have been sold for Microsoft's next-generation Xbox 360 video game console. Many more have been put into laptop computers.

"We do not believe this decision will have any material impact on the Xbox 360 platform or our position in the marketplace," Microsoft said of abandoning HD DVD drives.

Microsoft did not reveal whether it plans to shift to the Blu-ray format.

Blu-ray and HD DVD both offer cinematic-quality images and multimedia features, but the movie studios were eager to see the emergence of just one standard, while many consumers had been reluctant to buy a machine that might become nearly useless.

HD DVD's fate was sealed by a series of heavy setbacks, with Hollywood powerhouse Warner Brothers and US retail colossus Wal-Mart both throwing their weight behind Blu-ray.

LaCie's LaCinema Premier: The DVD ripper's friend?

As good as the Apple TV 2.0 is, it's still pretty limited on what sort of videos it can stream from a networked computer--if it hasn't been imported into iTunes, you're pretty much out of luck. If you're looking for something with more file format flexibility--and the simplicity of drag-and-drop operation--the LaCie LaCinema Premier may be just the ticket.

On one hand, it's a standard USB 2.0 external hard drive, available in beefy 500GB ($250), 750GB ($350), and 1TB ($500) capacities. But on the other hand, unlike standard backup drives the LaCinema Premier has a full set of AV outputs (composite, S-Video, and component video--but no HDMI--analog stereo, optical and coaxial surround-capable digital jacks). The idea is that you load the drive with all of your digital movies, music, and photos (via a USB connection from a Mac or Windows PC), and then connect it to your TV. You can then use the included remote control to select which videos, songs, or photos you would like to enjoy via an onscreen interface.

Though the lack of DivX compatibility is notable, the LaCinema Premier looks to support a reasonable variety of file formats, including MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, and--rippers take note--the ISO, IFO, and VOB files of DVDs. (Repeat after me: you're only legally allowed to rip DVDs that aren't copy-protected--which pretty much eliminates any Hollywood release.) The spec sheet also mentions "1080i upscaling." So while it's always a crapshoot to judge products from afar (which is to say: we haven't reviewed this LaCie drive, or even seen it in person), the LaCinema Premier may well be a "just right" sneakernet alternative to the too-small SanDisk Sansa TakeTV ($150) and the way-too-expensive Kaleidescape movie server ($20,000)--assuming the network-enabled Apple TV or Xbox 360 doesn't already handle those needs for you.

One final note to LaCie: In addition to adding that missing DivX support, you might also want to throw in an extra power adapter--one to leave at the computer (when you're loading up the drive with content), and one to leave by the TV (when you're enjoying it on the big screen).

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