Driving the HD DVD Juggernaut:

High-Def Digest has a very thorough interview with Microsoft's Amir Majidimehr. Amir is the corporate VP of the Mobile and Embedded Devices Division and as the article mentions he is also the unofficial chearleader for the HD DVD format. The interview does a great job of filling in the gaps of where Microsoft fits into the HD DVD picture. They chat abour interactivity features, storage, video quality and, of course, CODECS.

From the article:

Equally surprising, the last nine months have also brought the the phrase "compression codec" to the front and center of the HD DVD versus Blu-ray quality debate. VC-1, MPEG-2 and AVC MPEG-4 have become, if not household words, then the hip lingo bandied about by those in the know. Most early Blu-ray releases relied on MPEG-2, an older, more space-consuming codec first made famous with standard-def DVD, while most in the HD DVD camp opted for the newer VC-1. The result was that many earlier HD DVD releases came packed with goodies, while Blu-ray fans were left undernourished. Even the PlayStation 3 was no longer a sure format-decider — while the Blu-ray-backed wonder-machine mushroomed Team Blu's installed base, HD DVD appeared to still be holding its own in terms of disc sales.