As a close ally of Microsoft—a contributor to HD DVD technology— Niveus was possibly the first vendor to incorporate HD DVD into Media Center more than one year ago.
At CES 2007, Niveus VP of marketing Brian Paper said that Niveus might adopt Blu-ray in the future, but that the compay had received support from Microsoft and Intel when implementing HD DVD. The format wasn't pushed on Niveus, he said, adding that the commitment "isn't religious."
Niveus, developer of high-end Media Center-based solutions for the custom channnel, says that new production of HD DVD-based servers will be phased out in the next 30 days. Niveus is currently looking for a distributor in Australia.
The decision deals a blow to Microsoft: If windows Media Center providers are dropping the HD DVD format, then who will support it? And what will become of Microsoft's HDi interactivity technology used in HD DVD and other products?
"Incorporating Blu-ray into our offering has always been part of the plan but the demand from our customers, market trends, and recent announcements expedited our decision to come to market with Blu-ray support sooner rather than later," said Niveus CEO Tim Cutting in a statement announcing the decision. "While we have stood behind HD DVD as a viable high-definition platform, Niveus engineers have been running Blu-ray in our testing facilities and are very impressed with the performance and integration with our servers."
Blu-ray is available now on Niveus Media's 2008 line of Windows Vista Ultimate-based Media Servers including the Summit Series Sierra, Rainier, and Denali Editions, and Pro Series models.
Customers who have been shipped an HD DVD-based Niveus Media Server within the past 90 days are eligible for upgrade to a free Blu-ray drive (other fees may apply). Further details, upgrade plans, and pricing will be available to Niveus Authorized Dealers this week.
Will the other Media Center vendors follow suit? Ace Computers, Vidabox, Inteset, and other channel-oriented vendors have been showing or shipping dual-format products.
