Bill Gates - CES 2008 - Comcast - Warner Bros. - Blu-ray - L

BILL GATES opened CES with a clear statement of purpose, declaring that "All media will be software driven." Gates handed the stage over to Microsoft president of Entertainment & Devices Robbie Bach to describe the company's digital media initiatives. Bach announced that Xbox Live will gain content from MGM, Showtime, The Disney Channel and ABC. The service now has 3,500 hours of content available on-demand, which Bach said is twice the amount of any cable or satellite TV operator. Microsoft will also build interactive applications into its Mediaroom IPTV platform, partnering with Showtime, TNT and CNN. Viewers will be able to choose video angles during a Nascar race, experience interactive election coverage and more. Xbox will soon function as both a gaming device and a set-top box for British Telecom customers. Lastly, Microsoft will be partnering with NBC in a massive online video effort for this summer's Olympics. The companies will offer 3600 hours of Silverlight-driven Olympics coverage, including 30 simultaneous live feeds. Robbie Bach ended his presentation with a clear jab at Apple's TV efforts, which Steve Jobs has frequently called Apple's "hobby." Bach said "Building great connected TV experiences is not a hobby for Microsoft. This is something we take quite seriously."

COMCAST announced that it will roll out the "tru2way" standardized cable platform for all markets by the end of 2008. Tru2way is the re-branded OpenCable platform, which will open up formerly closed, proprietary cable systems and allow interoperability with consumer devices. Cox will have "wide deployment" of tru2way this year and Time Warner is said to be even further along in adopting the new technology. At CES Comcast and Panasonic have unveiled new jointly-made devices based on the standard: the AnyPlay portable DVR and a plasma TV with a built-in set-top box. Both will work on any cable system supporting tru2way.

WARNER BROS. stole some pre-CES attention by announcing that it will release future HD titles exclusively in the Blu-ray format. Pundits are calling this the end of the format wars, with a clear victory for Blu-ray. Shortly after the announcement the HD DVD group canceled its scheduled CES press conference. Executives resurfaced after a couple of days, proclaiming that HD DVD was performing well and would continue to fight for dominance.

LG has announced "MPH" - a low-cost way for North American TV stations to broadcast their signals to cellphones and portable gadgets. Stations will need to install an inexpensive add-on for their digital transmitters to gain mobile broadcasting capabilities. Devices will require a reception chip to pickup the MPH signals. At CES the company unveiled prototype devices and announced that Nielsen is currently developing audio measurement technology for the MPH system.

SONY BMG has decided to offer DRM-free digital downloads, becoming the last major label to do so. The label is expected to offer unprotected music on the Amazon MP3 service and to participate in a major Pepsi promotion during the Super Bowl that gives away one billion songs. In related news, Napster will also drop DRM and begin selling all downloads in the unprotected MP3 format.

Read more at Media30.com

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[qasemy]

hey stupid! Playstation 3 is for $399 and bluray is the winning format. Stop acting like an ass.

[quickstart20o7]

ps3 all the way yay

[lyris1]

LondonMuffins: what a load of crap.

Also: there is no such thing as "Blu-ray DVD" the same way there is no such thing as an "iPod tape deck".

[raikesy15]

Lol no it dosent what evidence have you got to back that up.

[LondonMuffins]

Blu-Ray is like.. a screw over anyway. If you buy one you're an idiot because most of the 'blu-ray' DVD players or anything blu-ray breaks so easily.

[clash360]

Blu-ray cost to much its not worth it. your not goin die from watching a regular dvd. plus you can get 3 movies for the same price as Blu-ray.

[domrulesall]

Funny, i hate the word fanboy, but then i do hate those kids who say 'my toys better than yours' not sure if its the same thing. good systems they are each other their own advantages. who cares anyway not me, i hope they both do well - only thing thats sucks with ps3 is in the beginning there were not many exclusives. anyway life must go on

[BornWithTesticles]

He sounds like a computer... Maybe he should unplug himself from the Matrix and wake up..

[Simalacrum]

im not so sure... due to the fact that the Ps3 is still the cheapest blu-ray player available (espeically since price cuts), people may start leaning onto the way of buying Ps3's for the Blu-ray player. so despite 360 sales not ebing affected, it may have a bog effect on Ps3 sales. and online gaming? Home is coming soon on the Ps3 which will probably tromp over Xbox live frankly

[hohahohi]

lol! Bill Gates playing Guitar Hero 3 I'd love to see that. :)