Microsoft obviously has a more complicated relationship with “industry” standards, because anything it decides is its standard—even proprietary ones—becomes a kind of de facto standard for everybody else, simply because of Microsoft’s overwhelming marketshare. This was more true in the past than today, with Microsoft playing ball with everybody else more often.

Microsoft’s AV Club
Let’s start with Windows Media Audio—most commonly, it’s known as Microsoft’s proprietary audio codec that at one point fought the good fight again MP3, but is now much more, having grown into a sprawling family of various codecs with multiple versions. To name a few of the current ones, there’s WMA 9, WMA 9 Lossless and WMA 10 Pro. Microsoft says it offers superior quality/compression over MP3, with “CD quality at data rates from 64 to 192 kilobits per second.” Needless to say, while it’s baked into Windows Media Player for ripping CDs and is supported by a fairly wide range of PMPs and phones, it obviously never displaced MP3, nor is it ascendant as the “new” standard like AAC (the official successor of MP3), basically since it isn’t supported by the iPod, which owns over 70% of the MP3 player market. WMA Pro, despite being an even better codec than WMA, has more limited support still, mostly with Microsoft’s own hardware, like the Xbox 360 and Zune.

WMA’s more ignoble legacy, undoubtedly, is PlaysForSure, Microsoft’s grand attempt to standardise the entire digital music industry (except Apple, or rather, against Apple) by getting everybody on the same page. PlaysForSure was technically a certification for players and services with a variety of requirements, but support for WMA, WMV and Windows Media DRM is what it amounted to in practice. Microsoft succeeded, for a time: Pretty much every PMP maker and services from Walmart, Rhapsody, MSN Music, Yahoo, Napster and others were all aboard PlaysForSure. Then it imploded. As every real music service went to DRM-free MP3, Microsoft re-branded it to Certified for Windows Vista. Which, incidentally, was a badge they slapped on the Zune, Microsoft’s own audio player that didn’t actually support PlaysForSure. When Microsoft ditched its own standard for its premiere player, everybody knew PlaysForSure was dead.

Windows Media has been more successful on the video front, with WMV. Like WMA, it’s gone through multiple versions: At one point (WMV 7) merely Microsoft’s take on the MPEG-2 standard, Microsoft actually succeeded in making it a genuine industry standard, with WMV 9 becoming the basis for the VC-1 codec that’s backed by the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers. VC-1 is part of the spec for both HD DVD and Blu-ray, though at this point it’s really just an alternative to H.264, which is becoming the dominant modern video codec. WMV saw some success as the codec of choice for some services during the heyday or PlaysForSure (since WMV support was part of the certification), but now it sees a lot of action as the video codec for Silverlight, Microsoft’s Adobe Flash competitor.

Internet Exploder
Silverlight itself actually isn’t doing so bad, considering it’s fighting Flash, which is installed on the vast majority of internet-connected computers. But like Flash, it’s proprietary, which is obviously a bit disconcerting for people who want an open web. Which brings us to Internet Explorer. The early history of IE and Netscape is grossly complicated, but suffice it to say, being included with Windows eventually gave IE over 90% of browser marketshare. In other words, Microsoft defined how an overwhelming majority of people looked at the internet for years—meaning it essentially defined what the internet looked like. Microsoft essentially stopped moving forward with IE6, sitting on its arse for years, which is a problem since it’s totally non-compliant with what most people would call modern web standards. (Short version: Web developers hate IE6.) With IE8, which entered a new world with Firefox having devoured a huge chunk of its marketshare, Microsoft supports actual real web standards (mostly—it still fails the Acid3 test miserably). And, they’re actually serious about HTML5, even though they’re not planning to implement the controversial video aspect at all.

Do You Trust Me?
Obviously, Microsoft’s in an odd spot in part because the constant spectre of antitrust allegations hang over its head—it’s had to de-couple Internet Explorer from Windows in Europe, and it’s moved to separate other stuff from the core OS, like even its mail, video and photo applications, making it harder to achieve the kind of de facto standards through sheer force of market like before.

Which might be part of the reason it’s moving to make tech legit industry standards—besides VC-1 above, for instance, its HD Photo has become the basis for the successor to JPEG, now dubbed JPEG XR. Also, it’s simply that standards matter more now than ever as people do more and more of their computing on the web, on multiple platforms from Windows desktops to Android phones, so industry-wide standards are way preferable to proprietary formats, even if most people still are on Windows.

Increasingly, if Microsoft wants people to use their tech, they’re going to have to open it up in the same quasi-way Apple has (it’ll also go a long way with the whole trust/control issues people have with Microsoft). So don’t surprised if you see Microsoft continue to “open up” and “standardise”. Just don’t be surprised if the standards they embrace have Microsoft tech at the core.

A bit ashamed, he tenuously explained the situation to friends and family, detailing the player’s typical 1080p/24fps output while urging his former in-laws that AVCHD support and SD card reading had made the whole decision a lot easier. They didn’t understand, but they accepted his decision. They’d loved him once, like a son.

Of course, Toshiba’s most judgemental friends noticed that the BDX2000 was a skinnier model than the HD-XA1 (bless her heart). Plus, she was prone to flaunting around town with a smoked glass finish like she owns the place.

Besides, for $US250 this November, most of us would have picked the PS3. [prnewswire and Image]

The company’s first Blu-Ray/DVD deck should arrive (in Japan first, probably) before Christmas this year, and “sources” say it’ll be called the BD-18 (we think. The Google translation is sort of sketchy). We don’t know anything else about the alleged player, but we imagine some Toshiba exec is sitting in a bathroom stall, crying quietly and cursing Sony. [Yomiuri via Engadget]

You may have thought stupid format wars were over. You thought wrong! This week brings the first saleable “China Blue” players—a rival to Blu-ray. My guess on the rationale? Players made of heroin.

That China Blue doesn’t smuggle itself across the border, so it only makes sense for enterprising Triad lords to form the raw her-on into high-def-disc-player-shaped cakes for transfer into California’s many China-facing ports.

The players run around $US300, which is somehow not cheaper than a Blu-ray player, but is a pretty good deal for 4 pounds of raw China Blue. [Sina.com via Engadget]

Take their latest DVD player, the XD-E500 DVD upscaler. It’s marketed on the fact that it can take your vanilla old DVDs and upscale them to HD-like quality with 1080p output. That sounds pretty good (although the press release says that standard def DVDs are 480p – not in Australia, Toshiba!). But then there’s the price: $199.

Sure, the Toshy’s got some pretty catchy-sounding tech on board (XDE Technology, anyone?) for upscaling, plus DivX playback, HDMI CEC connectivity and a host of connections, but is it worth $200 bucks? Sony’s latest Blu-ray player has an RRP of $449, but you can pick it up for $380 online, and it will not only upscale your DVDs, but playback Blu-ray movies as well. Even at $150 for the Toshy, don’t most people already own a DVD player?

Still, if the infinite format war takes Blu-ray as its next victim, Toshiba will probably be the company laughing all the way to the bank.

Toshiba Fast Forwards To Clear And Crisp Viewing With New XD-E500 DVD Upscaler

SYDNEY, 10 October 2008

Consumers can unlock the benefits of HD-ready TVs and enjoy their standard DVD collections in near High Definition picture quality, thanks to new Toshiba XDE™ technology now available in its latest DVD player.

XDE, or “eXtended Detail Enhancement,” is more than just DVD upconversion. XDE takes DVD picture quality to a whole new level. In addition to providing upconversion from 480i/p up to 1080p, XDE offers user selectable picture enhancement modes that allow for greater detail, more vivid colors and stronger contrast that bring standard DVD quality closer to the HD experience. XDE technology lets consumers enjoy their existing DVD libraries in a whole new way.

“Consumers have embraced the DVD format and have invested in large libraries of their favourite movies. Now, the Toshiba XD-E500 allows them to experience their existing DVD library and the tens of thousands of DVD titles in enhanced detail and richer colour at near HD picture quality with the Toshiba price and quality promise,” says Francois Spina, AV Product Manager – DVD at Toshiba Australia.

Your movie your way
The XD-E500 offers consumers the ability to customise their viewing experience to their taste with its three picture mode settings, Sharp, Color and Contrast.

* Sharp Mode offers enhanced detail that is one step closer to high definition. Edges are sharper and details in movies are more visible. Unlike traditional sharpness control, XDE™ technology analyses the entire picture and adds edge enhancement precisely where it’s needed.
* Color Mode makes the colours of nature stand out with improved richness. Blues and greens are more vivid and lifelike. Color Mode combines the improvement in colour with the detail enhancement of Sharp Mode and is ideal for outdoor scenes.
* Contrast Mode is designed to make darker scenes more clearly visible without the typical “washing out” that can occur with traditional contrast adjustment. Recommended for dark scenes where detail may be difficult to notice, Contrast Mode is also combined with Sharp Mode to provide a clearer viewing experience.

In addition to Toshiba’s new XDE™ technology, the XD-E500 also features support for PAL progressive scan playback and offers DVD, DVD-R/-RW, CD/ CD-R/-RW, Video-CD, SVCD, CD-DA and HDMI compatibility. It is compatible with Toshiba’s REGZA-Link (HDMI CEC), and also includes Component Video and Composite Video outputs, Coaxial and Optical Digital outputs and two channel audio. JPEG, DivX, MP3 & WMA support is also included.

Key Features:

* Toshiba’s new XDE™ Technology
* Sharp, Color and Contrast Modes
* DVD Upscaler: 720p, 1080i, 1080p
* HDMI connection
* REGZA-LINK (HDMI CEC)
* DivX / MP3/ WMA/ JPEG Viewer
* Pal Progressive
* DVD, DVD-R/-RW, CD/ CD-R/-RW, VIDEO-CD, SVCD, CD-DA
* Component Video Output
* Composite Video Output
* Digital & Coaxial Audio Output
* 2 Channel Audio Output

Pricing and Availability
The XD-E500 DVD player is available now from Harvey Norman, Clive Peeters, Myer, JB Hi Fi, Bing Lee, Rick Hart and speciality Hi-Fi stores, RRP of $199 inc. GST.

The XD-E500 comes with a standard two-year replacement warranty.

Important Notes
This product does not play HD DVD or Blu-Ray discs. It upconverts standard definition (480p) DVD content to HD (720p, 1080i or 1080p) to match the resolution of your HD display. Although near the picture quality, it does not produce or output native HD video content.

* To display upconverted 720p, 1080i or 1080p video content, a 720p, 1080i or 1080p capable HDTV or HD Monitor (as applicable) with an HDCP capable HDMI or DVI input is required.
* The effect of enhancements may vary depending upon disc content quality and display device capability/functionality/settings. Depending on the quality of the DVD disc, some video noise may be visible.
* Some DVD-R/DVD-RW discs may be incompatible due to laser pick up and disc design. CD-R/CD-RW discs must be recorded using CD-DA method for CD audio playback. The DVD player may not support some MP3/WMA/JPEG/DivX recordings due to differences in recording formats, disc structure, or condition of the disc (use of CD-RW for MP3 files is not recommended). See Owner’s Manual for more information.
* Use of REGZA-LINK, a feature based on HDMI-CEC, requires an HDMI-CEC compatible display device. Depending on the specifications of your display device, some or all REGZA LINK functions may not work even if your display device is HDMI-CEC compatible.

[Toshiba]