HP rolls out HD (DVD) for the holidays
We all know the story, HP went from being a "strong" Blu-ray supporter (like Samsung and LG) to pushing for changes in the Blu-ray spec, hinting at pulling out of the Blu-ray Disc Association altogether, to deciding to remain neutral in the next generation disc format wars by supporting both Blu-ray and HD DVD in their products. While the managed copy feature central to those debates is still completely absent from both formats, HP is rolling out several HD DVD-based products for the 2006 holiday season. Pictured above is the hd100 external HD DVD drive, connecting via USB 2.0, it's a 2x HD DVD reader plus DVD and CD playback. Cyberlink's PowerDVD HD DVD Edition software is included for HD DVD playback, as long as you meet the hefty system recommendations. If you're looking to buy a whole new system -- which you'll probably need -- the HP Pavilion m7600n Series PC includes Windows XP Media Center Edition, Intel Viiv technology, HD DVD drive, built-in NTSC tuner and 7.1 surround sound capabilities. For HD on the go, there's always the Pavilion dv9000t laptop with an optional HD DVD and DVD burning drive, 17-inch 1440x900 LCD, HDMI out, 2.16GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor and NVIDIA GeForce Go 7600 GPU. No mention of Blu-ray products yet, but one must wonder why HP's HD DVD drive says "BD" under the access light on the lower left corner. All should be available "soon", prices for the PCs depend on the configuration, no price yet for the hd100 drive, but we know another USB 2.0 HD DVD drive that recently got a pricetag.
[Via Engadget]
