Home and Business Computer Support - Your Home . Your Business . "Your Solution"
News Updates
HD-DVD vs Blu-ray, the battle begins
Monday, May 07, 2007 - posted by Tom Mohamed
HD-DVD and Blu-ray which one will win?
HD-DVD and Blu-ray are rival incompatible formats, a situation that recalls the Beta vs. VHS battle that stifled the early growth of the VCR and home-video market in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Despite an attempt to unify the two standards in 2005, the corporate godfathers of the two formats - Toshiba for HD-DVD and Sony for Blu-ray -failed to come to an agreement.
Both HD-DVD and Blu-Ray discs enable HDTV reproduction because of their massive storage capacities. Using dual-layer techniques, HD-DVD can store as much as 30 gigabytes of data while a Blu-Ray disc can store as much as 50 gigabytes, however the cost of producing Blu-ray Discs and players are much higher than HD-DVD discs and players.
Companies already are working on several-layered discs that could allow more than 100 gigabytes of storage on one disc. That's enough for several HDTV movies, special features and compelling interactive content. Or a content provider could put more than 100 hours of standard-definition quality programming on one DVD. Imagine you could have all 180 episodes of Seinfeld on one disc.
HD-DVD and Blu-Ray both use blue lasers, which operate at lower wavelengths (405 nanometers) than current red lasers (650 nanometers). That microscopic difference goes a long way. Longer wavelengths suffer more diffraction, which limits their ability to focus tightly on a surface. But a blue laser's shorter wavelength allows it to read and write data over a much tighter surface area, which in turn allows storage of far more data on a disc that's roughly the same diameter of current DVDs.
The benefits for backward compatibility are clear: New players will be able to handle both old and new DVD formats in the same machine (outfitted with both red- and blue-laser diodes)—a major consumer benefit that manufacturers hope will drive unit sales.
The main backer of the HD-DVD format is Toshiba, which by itself has more market dominance than several CE backers on the Blu-Ray side combined, along with smaller players NEC and Sanyo.
An impressive list of entertainment content companies has thrown their weight behind HD-DVD, including Paramount, Universal Studios and Warner Bros. (along with Time Warner-owned New Line Cinema). All of these studios have already announced a significant amount of titles on HD-DVD to be available at the time HD-DVD players are introduced.
On the Blu-Ray side is a large group of CE manufacturers, including Dell, Hewlett Packard, Hitachi, LG Electronics, Mitsubishi Electric, Panasonic (Matsushita Electric), Pioneer, Royal Philips Electronics, Samsung Electronics, Sharp, Sony, TDK and Thomson. Some content providers also are onboard. In addition to obvious backing from Sony-affiliated movie studios Sony Pictures Entertainment and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the Walt Disney Company and its home-video division Buena Vista Entertainment offered its non-exclusive endorsement of Blu-Ray in December.
Consumers may be confused on which format to use as different movies will be produced on different formats, however this confusion may be solved if manufacturer's produce DVD players that can play both formats.
In the meantime, the best option is to refrain from purchasing any new devices until a clear winner emerges.
Login
CALL NOW for onsite support services on 1300 307 369
Search Cart
Vista Media Centre PC's
from $1999
