Microsoft, Panasonic tout HighMAT adoption

Partners Microsoft and Panasonic are touting greater adoption of their jointly developed HighMAT (High-performance Media Access Technology) technology, designed to make transferring, storing and playing media between PCs and other consumer electronic devices easier. With a myriad of devices that use competing and sometimes incompatible standards, it can be difficult to use the same piece of digital media on different devices.

At CES, Panasonic and Microsoft announced 11 new consumer electronic device manufactures have pledge support for HighMAT, including Apex Digital, JVC, Ahead Software, Pinnacle Systems and Sonic Solutions. Panasonic says it will be shipping seven models of DVD players with HighMAT support later this year.

Microsoft added that 40 new devices ranging from DVD players to car stereos will begin supporting the Windows Media Format as well. With devices using the same format as a PC, users only have to have one file that they can share across all their personal listening devices – the Holy Grail of music and video enthusiasts.