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HP joins rival camp, Pioneer launches Blu-ray drive

HP, one of the Blu-ray Disc Association's key members, has joined the rival high-definition DVD group led by Toshiba.

Technology giant HP, formerly known as Hewlett-Packard, has decided to support the high-definition (HD) DVD group.

Previously, HP had exclusively backed the rival Blu-ray Disc technology promoted by Sony, and the Silicon Valley company is also a key member of the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA).

Both the BDA and HD DVD formats rely on disc drives featuring GaN-based blue lasers made by companies such as Nichia. Talks between the two industry camps to unify the disc format broke down last year and the BDA and HD DVD groups are now battling for supremacy in the emerging market.

After HP requested that the BDA adopt two different types of user software, known as iHD and Mandatory Managed Copy (MMC), the Sony-led consortium only adopted MMC.

In contrast, the HD DVD disc format already uses both types of software. As a result, HP decided to join its former rival, while continuing with its role in the BDA.

Meanwhile, the Japanese electronics firm Pioneer says that it will begin shipping Blu-ray drives for personal computers in the current quarter.

Pioneer expects its new drives, which are backwards-compatible with standard DVD formats, to find widespread use in storing high-definition content captured by camcorder.

"Users will increasingly rely on the Blu-ray Disc drive to store massive amounts of high-definition video," said the company in a statement.

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