The one subject I thought I would never discuss! Because we know it will end up in the same circle of arguments of which is better, blah, blah, blah, haven't we heard it all before? Well, no, not really. If I was being honest with you, I personally feel that both camps have done an awful job informing the customer just what the hell each format does and what the benefits of each of them are. Instead they seemed to have got themselves locked into a private war with each other. So, I thought, what the hell, I'll see if I can do better to sum up these two warring formats. I'm taking the same stance as usual, i.e. I am not saying which is better, I'm telling you the facts as they stand, and what it will mean to you in the home as a potential buyer.
What is HD-DVD?
Well, it's just as you would think really, a possible successor to the DVD format, and will be roughly able to store three times as much as a regular DVD (15 GB per disc instead of 4.7 GB). Initially it was developed by Toshiba and NEC and in the early stages of it completion, the DVD Forum voted to support HD DVD as the high definition medium successor of the standard DVD. This was roughly the same time they gave it its official name HD DVD, which stands for 'High Definition Digital Versatile Disc'.
What is Blu-Ray?
And the opposition, Blu-Ray (BR). Now I'm going to keep it real simple, BR uses a smaller laser, and because of this it's able to squeeze a lot more information on to a single disc, so much so that a single BR disc can hold up to 25GB on a single side, with duel layers holding up to 50GB. BR was, as most will know, chiefly developed by Sony but they were really just leaders in a consortium of companies developing it. Other members included Apple, Samsung, Sharp and Dell. Sony's real big push came with the announcement and development of the PS3. Some useless information, but the term 'Blu-Ray' actually came from the blue violet laser that's used to read the disc.
Is that it? Nope, both of these formats are still pretty new to the world and many of their developers and a lot of other third party companies are now pushing these new formats to see what is possible. In fact the true potential for just how much these formats will be able to store is in its early stages.
No matter what now, we are at the point where there will be no compromise, both camps have firmly dug there heels into the ground now and it looks like its going to be us that chooses which one will be the dominant successor. More importantly these two formats have been fighting it out with companies and film studios as to what they are going to use as the standard. So here is a list (though not complete as there are too many to list here) of who is with what:
Film Studios
HD was the only real reason these two formats were needed to store the extra detail found in HD. Certainly there was no real argument made for PC Data use with portable Hard Disks becoming larger, cheaper and certainly faster for moving data.
Siding with the BR camp we have:
20th Century Fox
Buena Vista Home Entertainment
Electronic Arts
MGM Studios
Paramount Pictures
Sony Pictures Entertainment
The Walt Disney Company
Vivendi Universal Games
Warner Bros
And in the HD-DVD corner we have:
Buena Vista Home Entertainment
New Line Cinema
Paramount Pictures
The Walt Disney Company
Universal Studios
Warner Bros
So, I don't know, you might want to see what contracts actors have with who and what films they are releasing. Yea...didn't think you would, really you take your chances with who is going to make what film on that format.
There's a huge list of all the possible manufacturers that are taking sides, and I do have a list, but its ridiculous, and neither you nor I really know what they make, and a lot of them are sub companies from a larger more well known brand. I wont write it out here, but if you're wondering about a particular company (though I doubt it), just ask on the AVMT forums.
Players
I'm not going to spend too much on this. Why? Because it's the same limited mentality of which is selling more, I personally do not know the official figures for who is selling more; I'm not 100% sure anyone does, marketing is varying so much between them its hard to keep track. Officially released figures from both camps I personally never really trust, there will always be spin, though it does appear that a lot of HD-DVD players have the upper hand with being cheaper and falling in price, as is BR, but not at the same rate or to the same extent. What will gain the most momentum in terms of what people are looking for will be the manufacture of dual players, literally a single sized player split in half. On one side you have the HD-DVD tray and on the other you have the BR tray. The best solution? Hard to tell it seems like a bloody stupid position for the consumer to be put, and right now costs are a little high.
Why do you care about the player? Because it will be an expensive mistake if we get the same results as the Betamax v VHS choice we all had in the 1980s. So we shouldn't be surprised as it's not the first time we have been made to choose, though last time as many will argue, the best format didn't win.
Will the player be ok with my current collection? Yes, no worries there, both systems can play back DVDs and CDs as well as its chosen format. However HD-DVD will never be able to play a BR disc or vice versa.
Conclusion
There are however some interesting facts. For example BR movies are currently outselling HD formats 3:1, which looks good, not so in my opinion - and that's all this is. But it strikes me as no real surprise that the sales shot up after the release of the PS3. No doubt a lot of people that have a PS3 got the HD Screen before or during the release, and are now wanting to try out the full HD Playback as they now have it (cause they haven't got any games -ooh sly dig).
- Do you need one now? No.
- You need one at the end of the year? It would be nice but not really.
- How long before we know what's best? ...umm, about 2-3years, possibly around the same time we see an absolute crash in prices like we saw with DVD and its players.
- What about software? ...well what about it? ...don't know much that would need the amount of space found on either of these discs, though software companies are touting who they are going to side with.
If you are thinking about one, you know the risks of buying could be out of date technology for all the wrong reasons. It's great we have a choice - it would be easier if we didn't, but we do! This choice though will be made by the people who splash out first.
...or whoever gets porn onto their format first?!!
This article is continued at Blu-Ray V HD-DVD Continued (January 2008)