In the waging battle between HD-DVD and Blu-ray, it looks like heavyweights Microsoft and Intel are joining the underdog — HD-DVD.

The two formats have been competing in the vein of VHS and Betamax, but are still in the vendor and content provider level. Neither has reached the consumer luckily.

Quick summary of the two formats:

• HD-DVD is more of an evolution from DVD. It uses existing discs and manufacturing equipment and just records with more compression. Obviously supported by vendors and providers for its cheaper production / migration costs.
• Blu-ray is a whole new type of disc. It will be higher density and therefore store more information than current DVDs. It’s supported for its better quality.

Who’s on which side right now?

• HD-DVD has creator Toshiba, Microsoft, Intel, along with several movie studios: Warner Brothers, New Line Cinema, Viacom, NBC Universal, and Paramount.
• Blu-ray has creator Sony, Apple, Hewlett-Packard, and Dell, along with several movie studios: MGM, Sony Pictures, Walt Disney, and 20th Century Fox.

It looks like the sides are leveling again with this new addition. I know I’m still crossing my fingers for the superior Blu-ray to win. But then again, the inferior VHS won the last round.