Berlin (Germany) – Acer has become a member of the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA), giving Blu-ray a lead among the world's largest PC manufacturers.

“We’re delighted to welcome Acer to the Blu-ray Disc Association,” said Victor Matsuda, chairman of the BDA’s Global Promotions Committee, in a prepared statement. “The addition of Acer provides one more sign of the growing momentum behind Blu-ray Disc and, more importantly, is a significant advantage for consumers, as it further expands the already broad options available to consumers in the personal computer space.”

At the time of the announcement it was unclear if Acer will exclusively support Blu-ray or if the company will also support HD DVD drives throughout the company. The question gets especially interesting when it comes to Gateway, which will be acquired by Acer. Gateway so far has been offering Blu-ray and HD DVD drives and Acer's decision potentially could mean that Gateway will drop HD DVD support in the not too distant future.

We were not able to reach Acer and Gateway representatives to shed more light on the future of HD DVD drives as part of their product families.

A spokesperson for the Blu-ray Disc Association told TG Daily said that it was "her understanding" that Acer would exclusively support Blu-ray.

Acer currently is ranked at #4 in the global PC market, with a share of 7.2% and 4.3 million PCs shipped in the second quarter of this year, according to IDC. Gateway has not been listed by IDC among the world's five largest PC manufacturer; however, the firm estimated that Gateway sold about 965,000 PCs in Q2 in the U.S. – which puts Acer in the global market well ahead of Lenovo (currently in #3), which shipped just under 4.9 million PCs in Q2.

Among the top 5 PC manufacturers, Dell (ranked #2 globally) also is an exclusive supporter of Blu-ray, while HP (#1) supports both Blu-ray and HD DVD at this time.  

We just came out with HD-DVD models

Aug 31, 2007 14:14     

We just came out with the Aspire 5920 in the new design with an HD-DVD player. The Ferrari 5000 also has an HD-DVD player. We also have two models with bluray. why kill something you just started offering? [We don't know. We are still waiting for an answer on the exclusivity question. However, you always can phase out existing models, right? -ed]
Kahless report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Choices!

Aug 31, 2007 15:18     

Here is a prime example of what I have been saying. HD DVD is in big trouble and their not letting people know. There is no room in the market for 2 formats as retailers do not want to have two separate inventories. Dragging out this format war is cost money and Businesses are stepping up finally and making a choice before it ruins the Christmas season altogether.
Shark report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Is it possible that Blu-Ray could be the format of ...

Aug 31, 2007 16:32     

Is it possible that Blu-Ray could be the format of choice for the PC market at the same time that HD-DVD dominates the movie market? I'm not as confident with BD after the whole Paramount deal. It seemed like HD-DVD was slowly dying but now it looks like the end of this stupid war is further off. I'm still going to need a bigger arguement to convince me that HD-DVD has a chance though.
RdwngsFn81 report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Blu vs. HD DVD

Aug 31, 2007 17:40     

I know there is a lot of talk about Blu Ray vs HD DVD. This is a computer forum and I care about data. From what I know Blu Ray has every advantage: More Capacity, Scratch resistant, faster read/write, longer shelf life., etc. I Personally don't like Sony (just because they make everything, so how can they be good on 1 thing?) But for data, Blu Ray seems best.
Erric report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Someone stop the HD fanboys

Aug 31, 2007 17:58     

Look BD lovers. IT WON'T BE OVER FOR AT LEAST A YEAR. HD-DVD lovers. IT WON'T BE OVER FOR AT LEAST A YEAR. So please do everyone a favor and stop friggin bickering over which you think is best. In the end the general consumer will pick one and trust me THEY DON'T CARE WHAT YOU THINK. Thanks bye!
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too late hd-dvd lost war

Aug 31, 2007 18:33     

What ever format the porno industry chooses will be the format that industry will choose. This has happend with vhs and now they have chosen blu-ray as there format.
Ron report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

RdwngsFn81, Blu-ray is currently outselling.......

Aug 31, 2007 18:50     

RdwngsFn81, Blu-ray is currently outselling 5 to 1 as of the numbers that came out today. It is Blu-ray that is dominating both the PC and movie market. Cheers,
Shark report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

To Action Jackson

Aug 31, 2007 18:58     

I am so glade that people like you are in the minority. You talk so laud as though you think people want to hear what you have to say, but really your just an egotistical, self absorb, ideate with nothing positive to add to the debate anyway.. Cheers,
Shark report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

FX530XT has only HD DVD player not....

Aug 31, 2007 23:21     

Gateway FX530XT only offers an HD DVD player. For a hi def writer I had to order BD which is twice the cost ($600) of what an HD writer should be.
Al report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

blu v. hd dvd real life comparison

Sep 01, 2007 00:34     

just recently i purchased a pioneer plasma 4280HD. i then followed this purchase with the pioneer BDP-HD50-K (pricey i might add). the picture is amazing. better than i could possibly imagine. excited with my recent purchases i went on the hunt for all the blu-ray movies i could find. most i found, but some were elusive. upon reading the announcement of paramount and dreamworks, i bought the toshiba HD-A20KU (not as pricey). i now have the two players side by side hooked into my plasma. there is no comparison. the blu-ray picture is head and shoulders above the HD. it's too bad having the best product doesn't mean it will last. more like who has the most money to buy the win.

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picture quality comparisons - must be same title

Sep 01, 2007 04:04     

or else it doesn't mean much. While Blu-Ray is CAPABLE of better PQ they have yet to pull this off. Every single title available on both formats is either identical or superior on HD-DVD. All of the Paramount titles are better on HD-DVD. It was obvious Paramount was favoring HD-DVD...they just never tried on Blu-Ray as I think almost all of them are MPEG2.
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real life? most reviews disagree

Sep 01, 2007 06:20     

most reviews have seen better picture quality on hddvd releases actually. if you don't specify which film you actually compared its a bit of nonsense really since it depends on the transfer and compression quality. by the time we have cheap bluray burners and media we'll have cheap multi terabyte external eSATA or whatever drives. we are already at cheap half terabyte and decent price 1tb now! 1tb is like 40 bluray discs! burnable media isn't as important as it used to be. eventually we'll have flash drives that make bluray look tiny:P

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Off Topic: Is plasma TV same/better/worse vs LCD?

Sep 01, 2007 11:22     

what's the difference in a nutshell? which is better?
Bob report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Asia prefers Blu-Ray.

Sep 01, 2007 12:33     

At the moment, if you need a writer, Blu-Ray is the way to go. You get DL Blu-Ray at 2X speed for HK$7950 (US$1000). You get SL Blu-Ray at 2X speed for HK$4950 (US$630). For backing up your data especially lossless directly DV stream to DV file on PC, you need Blu-Ray. In the movie industry (at least in Hong Kong), many prefers the Blu-Ray format because of the default 1080p support and a little bit better picture quality in most titles. Mostly, Sony is still the brand we like across Asia.

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unfortunately

Sep 01, 2007 17:22     

Comparing the same title often reveals very little differences because lazy producers are making one video encode and copying it onto both disc versions. You have to find a title that has some sincere effort put into AND a title longer than two hours to really see the image quality differences.
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HD-DVD video quality is equal to Blu-Ray...

Sep 01, 2007 17:44     

C'mon, enough with the comments saying Blu-ray video quality is better. Side by side, with the exact same title, they look the same. They're both 1080p. No difference guys. Which title were you viewing on both HD and Blu-Ray that you think was superior?
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are all 1080p's the same?

Sep 01, 2007 23:09     

i am surprised that anyone would have the nerve to say that all 1080p's would render the same image...why are you on this site?
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i hope you're not trying to convince others that be...

Sep 01, 2007 23:49     

i hope you're not trying to convince others that because a title is 1080p or a T.V. is 1080p that they are all equal in quality. if that were the case then differing brands would not exist. saying all is equal in quality is a mistake. hope you reconsider your views on the matter. comments like yours do not belong on a tech site
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pmav nails it

Sep 02, 2007 07:19     

Ditto and ditto, pmav. But as you may have noticed, the comment sections at TG Daily are becoming more political in nature than empirical or even anecdotal. The politics of X360 vs PS3, HD-DVD vs Blu-Ray, AMD vs Intel, etc. Personally, I don't get why anyone would want to be an unpaid shill for one particular brand or another. But that's what a lot of people here seem to want to be. To illustrate, I have yet to find a commenter who prefers X360 for games but Blu-Ray for films (or PS3 for games but HD-DVD for films). Surely such people should exist, no? Tribalism, us vs them, and not a love or understanding of tech, drives some.

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1080p is 1080p

Sep 02, 2007 15:26     

a bad transfer is a bad transfer correct. but 1080p support is the same for both sides. there are superior hddvd 1080p transfers, there are superior bluray transfers. these formats aren't radically different like previous format wars, they are just storage mediums for current codecs. as for porn, gone are the days people were yearning for home video. its not a significant driver anymore, especially when considering the convenience and immediacy of the internet. as for storage, 500gb external drives are cheap now. by the time bluray media is cheap and the burners as well our drives will be multiterabyte. our usb keys will hold more than a bluray. burned media is losing importance now, its no longer the era of cdr where it was the only thing that really worked. now there are better more varied options. so computer maker choosing a media is no big thing.

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Consumers are the winners anyway

Sep 02, 2007 21:28     

Hopefully they will lower the cost to reasonable price soon. I believe we are the biggest winner anyway. High quality video/games, more convience players.
JC report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

You said all 1080p's are the same, not me...

Sep 03, 2007 01:00     

Instead of throwing stones, you might want to do a bit of research before spouting off. First, do you have both an HD-DVD player and a Blu-ray player available with titles in both formats so that you can truly compare them? I do. Second, do you have a true 1080p display device with a screen size that's sufficient to both need an HD signal, and one on which the human eye can detect differences? I do. Now, assuming you actually have met these rather basic requirements, and that you have actually compared at least one, if not more, HD-DVD titles alongside a Blu-ray title, can you please inform us as to where the degradation in quality is occuring? Both HD-DVD and Blu-Ray are encoded on their discs at 1080p/24. Some HD-DVD players are limited to 1080i/60 output, which is then converted to the exact same 1080p/24 signal that it originated from, with absolutely no loss in quality assuming you have a decent display device capable of doing the conversion (I don't use a junk display, do you?) So, if the source format is the same, and the end result is the same, where are you claiming the quality loss is coming from? The codecs? HD-DVD actually uses a far superior codec as compared to Blu-ray, who has in the past refused to use the same codec as it's backed by Microsoft. So if you're going to claim Blu-ray's video quality is superior to HD-DVD, can you please back it up with some actual facts? Please tell us what differences you're seeing, on which titles, which display, and which source unit. I've tried them side by side, and there is no visible difference the human eye can detect that I and my friends in the industry can see.

Dozer report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Ummm!

Sep 03, 2007 18:19     

Right now both formats use the exact same encode. Now that doesn't mean Bluray cant take a higher bitrate, it all comes to encoding time and money. Blu-ray can have a higher quality video.
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HD-DVD vs. Blu Ray

Sep 04, 2007 07:21     

Blu Ray does have higher capacity but thats the only advantage it currently holds over HD-DVD. HD-DVD's last longer (shelf life), are more scratch resistant than Blu Ray and less expensive to manufacture (HD-DVD's are produced on the same assembly line as DVD's). The big bonus is the fact that HD-DVD supports dual format on a lot of titles, which allows me to take my HD-DVD over to a friends house and watch the regular version of it if they don't have a HD-DVD player.

Bruce report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Dualies Drive?

Sep 04, 2007 08:08     

It would be neat to have a drive that handles both blue ray and hd dvd. This way one does not have to decide either way and be able to use both without having to have separate drives. There are mini-cd's and mini-dvd's. Will there be mini-blu-ray and/or mini-hd-dvd? It would be neat to have a drive just big enough for the mini versions of these disc's which will enable smaller computers. :)
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DRM DRM DRM

Sep 04, 2007 13:29     

No debate about how much Sony blows would be complete without discussing how they champion DRM. I have a media server with over 100 DVD movies (that yes I bought) that I can play over my HDTV. This is possible because you can copy a DVD to a hard drive and play it just fine. You will also be able to enjoy fair use of your HD DVDs and copy them to your hard drive to create a media sever or to back up your collection. This will not be possible with Bluray. Sony will never stop the pirates from copying their intellectual property... but they will be able to stop consumers from enjoying fair use of the product they bought. Sony blows... death to Bluray.

RockHop report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

If Microsoft only supports HD-DVD...

Sep 05, 2007 12:33     

If Microsoft only support HD-DVD, then why are the computer makers not supporting it only? There's got to be some kind of stupid going on, or under-the-table deals from Sony to make these guys really be that stupid. Future software titles released on HD-DVD, but not Blu-Ray for the PC... Think about it.
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If dual format drives come out...

Sep 05, 2007 12:34     

The Blu-Ray will die, because HD-DVD is and always will be easier to make, and more capable than Blu-Ray.
Narg report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Blu-ray

Sep 11, 2007 22:08     

M$ supports HD-DVD because it doesn't want to give money to Sony. Blu-ray has more capacity and the so-called cost advantage of HD-DVD has become insignificant so stop spreading FUD. Blu-ray is better due to the extra capacity, period.
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Dual-format drives

Sep 17, 2007 11:05     

HP is releasing a dual-format drive. I'm sure many PC makers will follow suit...
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