Although we had heard that "another studio" would be mimicking the approach taken by Warner Home Video on the forthcoming Harry Potter DVD, now we're learning the who, what and when. Apparently, 20th Century Fox will be including an "electronic copy of the complete movie [that's Live Free or Die Hard, for those wondering] that can be played on a computer and select portable video players." This could debatably be seen as an "industry first" considering the November 20th release date (compared to Potter's December 11th), and while the Digital Copy system is expected to hit future Fox DVDs, we've no idea what those titles will be just yet. Furthermore, it's stated that the feature is "DRM-free," but after entering a 16-digit serial code found within the case, users can only "transfer the movie file to Windows-based computers or PMPs equipped with Microsoft Windows' PlaysForSure feature." Gotta love those limitations, eh?

Users clamoring for alternate (read: easier) ways to transport commercial DVD footage to portable media players will likely enjoy knowing that the next Harry Potter DVD will reportedly feature "two downloadable digital files" for easy viewing on devices other than a vanilla DVD player. According to Jim Wuthrich, Warner senior VP of digital distribution, users can "buy the DVD and have the option of the digital copy," and apparently, he also suggested that "another studio was preparing to launch digital copies of a film tied to its DVD release." Unfortunately, details about the actual formats and whatnot weren't disclosed, so barring any unforeseen announcements, it looks like we'll be waiting for the December 11th release of Order of the Phoenix to find out exactly what this disc contains.

[Via ArsTechnica]

We haven't yet seen any official confirmation of the news, but it's been reported that the 51GB triple-layer single-sided HD DVD Toshiba first announced at CES has been approved by the DVD Forum. (The last we heard about this, the new format had been submitted for approval.) Of course, this might mean consumers will need new players to read 51GB HD DVDs, which could potentially damage the format more than help it; the last thing either HD DVD or Blu-ray need right now is to fork hardware compatibility with their own embattled formats, so we'll hope what we've heard about 2nd and 3rd gen HD DVD players being able to read 51GB discs via firmware upgrade is true. Also up to bat: the "twin" dual-layer DVD / HD DVD combo-disc was also approved, with one 5GB DVD layer and two 17GB HD DVD layers. We'll let you know when the DVD forum officially confirms (or denies) the news.

[Thanks, Ken]

Read - News of the new approvals
Read- AVS Forum thread

We suppose being the most-populated nation on the planet, home to many CE manufacturers -- and having a huge black market -- can afford one such "privileges". As such, the DVD Forum recently defined the Chinese version of HD DVD they've been working on since early this year and expect to complete by the end of the year. Physically, it's the same as the HD DVDs used elsewhere, but uses a different modulation codec (the pattern used to record the pits and lands) that makes it incompatible. Exactly how "HD DVD-ROM part1 Ver 10.0 for China only" will be implemented is apparently just the thing under discussion between China and the DVD Forum.

While Paramount isn't bringing that many titles to the HD DVD party this year, one of its biggest summer movies is making the trip. Mission: Impossible III was announced for the format at yesterday's DVD Forum meeting, with date and other specifics yet undetermined Paramount did state all the extras were filmed in HD -- a welcome change from the 480i SD extras that have largely accompanied releases so far -- and that it will take advantage of HD DVD's picture-in-picture feature to show video commentary from the director as the movie continues to play. Also mentioned was The Look and Sound of Perfect marketing campaign, set to roll out online ads this week, a bus tour leaving Denver in mid-September, and television spots to follow in the fourth quarter. We're still hoping for a day-and-date release with the DVD version but that remains to be seen.

Microsoft wasn't the only one with something to show off yesterday, the rest of the HD DVD camp was on hand to show off what they've done in the months since launch and what we can expect for the rest of the year. On the hardware side there is of course the Xbox 360 drive, as well as Toshiba's HD-A1 and HD-XA1 players already on shelves. A Toshiba exec stated the cheaper A1 is outselling its more expensive counterpart by a ratio of 5-1, although that may not mean much as it is much more widely available. Depending on who you ask, Warner Home Video exec Steve Nickerson either said there are as many HD DVD players sold as there were DVD players in all of 1997, or that there will be by the end of this year. Seeing as there were about 300,000 DVD players sold in '97 and HD DVD is still in the "tens of" range, we'll go with the latter interpretation.

As far as software, Paramount Home Entertainment, New Line Home Entertainment, Universal Studios Home Entertainment and Warner Home Video were all on hand, however New Line does not expect to release any discs on either format until early 2007. Warner will release between 35 and 50 additional titles by the end of this year, 60 total from Universal, while Paramount expects to "probably double" its ten movies currently available by the end of this year. All in all they expect as many as 150 HD DVD discs for consumers to choose from in 2006. We can still look forward to limited availability of interactive additional features on discs this year as the studios continue to gauge customer reaction to the new technology to predict what will work best in 2007.

Even with all the positivity and good consumer reactions, it's hard to ignore that HD DVD is still talking thousands, while Blu-ray will be saying millions after the PS3 launch in November.

[Via AVS Forum]

At yesterday's North America DVD Forum Conference, Microsoft showed off video playback from their upcoming Xbox 360 HD DVD player add-on. The short clip from Phantom of the Opera was reported by Video Business to be similar in video and sound quality to standalone players shown earlier during the meeting. While they found time to mention that there is a "high interest level about HD DVD" among 360 owners and that 64% of them own HDTVs already, the only pricing information given was that it "will be the cheapest HD DVD player on the market for consumers who already own an Xbox 360 console". A quick bit of work with the calculator reveals that to mean the incredibly specific range of anywhere from $0 - $499. While there weren't any pictures available from the conference itself, Microsoft did find time to release these diagrams of the menu will allow users to select content from either the DVD or HD DVD drive when attached.

Despite their claims of "high demand" -- if it's so high, why didn't the 360 ship with an HD DVD drive in the first place -- the total pricetag for 360 HD DVD vs. PS3 w/ Blu-ray will likely be a key battle this holiday season and next, even if PQ isn't.

Update: John at the Gamerscore blog posted this animated .gif to show the dashboard in action. After selecting the disc as usual, the user selects up or down to go to the DVD or HD DVD drive.

Read - More on the HD-DVD player from Major Nelson - Microsoft Gamerscore Blog
Read - Xbox 360 HD DVD add-on unveiled - Video Business