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Yes the format war is still at large. But resent news may just end this war, will the next one emerges.

Overview

First off to those who do not know much about HD DVD and Blu-ray are. Most of you may already know what HD DVDs are just by those letters but not quite sure what it is, well it is High Definition Digital Video Disc (DVD), they are basically DVDs, which most of us are accustomed to now a days, but they have the capability to have a clearer picture on better HD TVs. Blu-ray on the other hand are generally the same as HD DVDs but of course with some differences but I will get into that later on.

HD DVD

It was introduced into the world in 2003, created by Toshiba and NEC. Its physical structure is basically the same as an ordinary DVD but formatted way differently. First off a dual layer HD DVD can hold around 30 gigs while a duel layer DVD can only hold a little less than 10 gigs, which right there gives production companies the ability to have put more content in the DVDs and make them HD. Reason being they did not make DVDs HD is because HD just takes up way to much room and movies are already compressed so tightly into standard DVDs and can only put out 480p without up converting it. Today’s TVs can put out up to 1080p, and HD DVDs can put out 1080i is basically the same quality, but a little less, most wont notice it on regular size TVs Also HD DVDs had something totally original, something to me that s cool, it is interactive menus. For example while your watching your favorite movie, or watching Scrubs box set and you want to go to a different scene or episode. In old DVDs you had to either push skip chapter or stop and go to menu. But now with the interactive menus you can continue to watch and look at a menu and choose the scene or episode with out stopping the movie. Also if you do not know if that scene is it will show a little snip it video of it and then you will get a better idea, but better than just text or a picture. Those are just some points on a HD DVD, and to me selling points of it.

Some other companies backing HD DVD are not just some hardware companies to make the palyers but some production companies as well on this side. Some of them are, HBO, New Line Cinema, Paramount Home Entertainment, Universal Studios Home Entertainment and Warner Home Video. These are some big companies but there are also some big companies on the Blu-ray side as well.

Blu-ray

This little bad boy was created by the electronic giant Sony, creators of the PlayStation. Blu-ray physical structure is again the can be the same size as DVDs but can hold much more information. A duel layer blu-ray can hold 50 gigs, that is 5x more that a regular DVD and is about 1.6x bigger capacity than HD DVD. Since blu-ray can hold 50 gigs of information it gives production companies more room to fit all the content on it plus some. Blu-ray is also newer, which makes it a bit more expensive. Blu-ray being newer can put out 1080p, giving it a true HD picture, that is if you even have a full HD (1080p) TV. Also those TVs are still quite expensive, but many TV makers said there will be a huge price drop in HD TVs in 2008, let’s see, and hope this is true, I know I hope it is. Also blu-ray has a way better security than HD DVDs. this may be because Sony makes movies and music and knows how companies feel about when people steal their content. Given that blu-ray has better security, this may help suede productions companies to back blu-ray and not HD DVDs.

Yes Blu-ray has the giant Sony on their side, they also made it so they should be, but they have many other companies backing them. They have both electronic companies to make the players but also many production companies to have movies for the players to play. Some of the electronic companies are, Sony (of course), Panasonic, Philips, Samsung, Sharp, Pioneer and LG Electronics. Blu-ray also even have individual computer companies backing them, and they are Dell, HP and Apple Computer. And again like HD DVD some production companies sided with one and Blu-ray production companies are wentieth Century Fox, Vivendi Universal and Walt Disney. They een have a certain game developer that prefers blu-ray, mainly since they create games for the PS3, and it is Electronic Arts. They are a huge game developer for console gaming, they develop Madden!

Personal Opinion

First off just to make it clear I’m all for HD DVD. To me it is the way to go. Not only is it innovative, with the cool interactive menus, it is also way cheaper. That is mainly because it has been around much longer than Blu-ray has. Yes blu-ray holds more information but the write speed for it is I think still under 5x, which is damn slow, compared to DVD’s 15x or so, and CD’s 52x but CDs are way old so doesn’t really matter. I bet blu-ray will get faster as it progresses, but personally I think it is way too soon for blu-ray. But I guess that is what will get blu-ray the crown, till a new format comes about . Also blu-ray to me is just a DVD that can hold way more information. Blu-ray also rots . It probably is not going to be a problem, well if it is Sony will fix that ASAP.

Still a bunch of BIG backing their favorite format, Microsoft on HD DVD side, and just recently BlockBuster announced they are only going to stock Blu-ray in most of their stores for their new HD format. And apparently it has already starting to hurt HD DVD player sales; it won’t be long till HD DVDs goes down to.

I guess I will warm up to blu-ray. Well if HD DVD looses of course . And once blu-ray prices goes down, way down, apparently Sony said they are going to have a cheaper blu-ray player out by this years Winter Season. It still isn’t cheap at 600 bucks, but hey it just means other companies will make cheaper ones .

And even though blu-ray’s backing companies list is much bigger, and this is a huge advantage for it, but who knows maybe people will like what HD DVD has and blu-ray doesn’t.

Now what is you guy’s opinions on which is the better format, and why?

HD DVD player pic source

Blu-ray player pic source

Resource

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 19th, 2007 at 8:12 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.