The next generation format that will likely succeed the DVD is still not determined at this point because of a brewing format war between Blu-ray and HD DVD. Both new formats were officially launched this year and there is still no clear winner in this battle. Both of the new formats have their own particular strengths and weaknesses and battle lines are being drawn separating the supporters of either formats.But fortunately there are companies that are sitting on the fence in this battle and instead of throwing in their hat for either format, they have instead chosen a safer route, which is to support both formats.
Nvidia also seems to think that this is the best solution as it recently announced the release of new Forceware drivers that will basically allow the playback of both Blu-ray and HD DVD formats on computer systems that have the supported hardware. The company has already released a list of compliant hardware that a PC user will need to acquire in order to enable the playback of next generation content. Of course, one of these crucial requirements is a dual core CPU.
Enabling next generation format support for a system will require a sizable investment because it requires the acquisition of hardware that is High-Definition Content Protection (HDCP) compliant. This means that a PC owner should purchase either a Blu-ray or HD DDdrive that has an HDCP out, a graphics card with HDCP protection as well as a new monitor.
The new Forceware drivers, which is dubbed PureVideo HD, can now be downloaded in Nvidia’s website.
[tags]Nvidia, Blu-ray, HD DVD, DVD, Forceware, PureVideo HD, dual core CPU, HDCP[/tags]