HD DVD vs Blu-ray

[glockjs]

oh great, neither is backing down. this is gonna be fun

CNN -- The electronics and entertainment industries are shaping up for the biggest format battle since the "video wars" between VHS and Betamax to decide the future of DVD.

Two rival "next generation" DVD formats look set to be launched onto the marketplace next year.

Both are backed by powerful and well-known Japanese manufacturers, with each staking their claim to an industry worth billions of dollars.

And with the DVD market unlikely to support parallel formats, the loser faces the prospect of squandering millions spent on research, development and marketing costs.

Both "Blu-ray", principally backed by Sony, and "HD DVD", which has been developed by Toshiba, are based on the same basic technology.

Both replace the red lasers found in current DVD machines with blue lasers, utilizing their shorter wavelength to store data at the higher densities needed to record high-definition movies and television.

But with both parties determined to prove the superiority of their product, a protracted dispute could be damaging to the industry as a whole, increasing production costs for DVD manufacturers and making buyers nervous about investing in a format that could quickly become obsolete.

Buena Vista Home Entertainment president Bob Chaprek recently told the DVD Forum, an industry association of 220 electronics and media companies, that launching two formats simultaneously risked "potentially crippling the next generation format" and "utterly confusing or aggravating the customer."

With Blu-ray recorders already on sale in Japan, Toshiba looks set to enter the fray with HD DVD models early in 2005.

But the real battle looks set for next Christmas, when both major players plan to have DVD players in the shops.

By that point the entertainment industry, and particularly Hollywood, will likely have chosen sides; and history suggests that the format with the greater selection of movies will prevail.

Sony has been stung before by that scenario, having seen its groundbreaking Betamax format starved out of the video market by the wider selection of titles made available in VHS format.

This time, however, Sony seems to have learnt its lesson. Not only does it now have VHS pioneers Matsushita, better known for its Panasonic brand, on side but its success with the Playstation games console provides a template for a successful marketing campaign.

Despite its limited previous experience in the gaming industry, Sony was able to corner the market despite competition from Sega and Nintendo because of the depth and quality of its games range.

Sony is already maneuvering for the fight. In September it announced that it was adopting Blu-ray as the format for Playstation 3, currently scheduled for release in 2006.

And with Sony Pictures already in the Blu-ray camp, a Sony-led consortium also recently acquired MGM, along with their back catalogue.

Furthermore, Blu-ray has the backing of Hewlett Packard and Dell, which together control around 30 percent of the global PC market.

"In terms of technology, we have no weak points. Our format is superior on all counts," Sony executive officer Kiyoshi Nishitani said recently.

Toshiba however has not been cowered by Sony's efforts, retaliating to Sony's Playstation-Blu-ray collaboration by announcing that it would introduce notebook computers with HD DVD in the last quarter of 2005.

HD DVD is also backed by rival manufacturers Sanyo and NEC while last year it was also approved by the influential DVD Forum, which has said it will finally endorse just one format.

Toshiba also claims the support of Time Warner, in which it owns a small stake and with which it worked closely to establish the current DVD standard in the mid-1990s.

It has also had senior engineer Hisashi Yamada commuting between Japan and the U.S. in an effort to court the support of undecided studios such as Paramount, Disney and Universal.

"If Sony is so sure it is winning the battle, it wouldn't have felt the need to buy MGM," says Yamada.

Toshiba claims HD DVD's biggest advantage is the format's low transitional costs. Because the discs are physically the same as existing DVDs many of the existing components used by DVD manufacturers will still function.

But the monumental task faced by Toshiba and its allies was summed up by the gadgets weblog Gizmodo, which declared in a recent feature that "Blu-ray has already won."

"Blu-ray is not only technically superior to HD DVD, it has a far stronger corporate backing, and has demonstrated the ability to have more content available to push the format," said Gizmodo.

While a dual layer HD DVD can hold 30GB, a dual layer Blu-ray disc already has a 50GB capacity, and Sony claim the format could eventually hold as much as 200GB on an eight-layered disc.

Sony is also working hard to bring costs down, announcing earlier this year that it had developed paper Blu-ray discs.

"I don't think Toshiba will back down," says analyst Carlos Dimas. "Sony is unlikely to give up either. Inevitably there is going to be some confusion in the market and there's going to be another standard war.

"In the initial phase the consumer will probably lose. It is a big risk for people who actually buy products for either format without knowing who the winner is."

But, in case you've only recently made the switch from video to DVD and are already sweating over the cost of replacing all your favorite films, don't worry. Both Blu-ray and HD DVD will still play your old DVDs.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/11/11/spark.dvd/index.html

[BetaMaster]

Oh listen to me my bretheren. I still own a Betamax and I'm busy transfering everything to DVD or replacing the tape with a commercial DVD. I owned a Commodore Amiga (my mom still uses it). I have repented and don't buy "off" technology just because it's "better".

I can tell you right now who will win the format war - the one that doesn't try to keep it proprietary.
Apple - proprietary, Windows - anybody
Beta - Sony, VHS - anybody

The reason we now have -+R drives - neither is proprietary.

Either new HD DVD players will be able to play both formats (as well at old DVDs and CDs) or one will be available from every manufacturer under the sun and the other one won't be.

[glockjs]

but it's still going to hurt the consumer(me and you) in the mean time. these companys dont care about anything but their pockets

[offline]

Sony always charge massive license fees and want
dibs on technological improvements made by licensees.
So do other companies but they are willing to lose
market share (see JVC) in a competitive environment.

With Beta max Sony was truly the One and Only.
With MiniCD and Memory STik it will be the same.
Blu Ray? Who knows. HD DVD @ 15 / 25 gig is not enough. Compare with Sony at 25 / 50 gig. What
about EVD2?

Another format war this way comes

[yoda313]

Hello,

Yep..... It never ends does it???????

Kevin

[tommyoz]

I'm beginning to think just how important is all this. It appears to very important for those companies. I've already spent all my money, I think it's time to just say enough is enough and stick with what I have.

[dvdguy4]

Its Divx all over again. Wonder if Circuit City has an interest in this one.LOL

[yoda313]

Its Divx all over again. Wonder if Circuit City has an interest in this one.LOL

Hello,

No I don't think so.... Both of these are viable media....

Divx was a rental option for the dvd itself.... Nobody wanted to do that so it bombed....

This is a capacity war it seems to me.... Which can store more and which can get the backing of the most movie studios for distribuition....

Kevin

[tommyoz]

Question, will you be able to record anything in your collection to HD resolution onto these discs? Wouldn't you lose quality if you did?
or is this just to record HD content? I'm trying to understand this and have read some articles to no avail.

[yoda313]

Question, will you be able to record anything in your collection to HD resolution onto these discs? Wouldn't you lose quality if you did?
or is this just to record HD content? I'm trying to understand this and have read some articles to no avail.

Hello,

It probably would have to UPCODE them..... Kinda like encoding a vcd or svcd to dvd format...

It doesn't really improve the quality just makes it compatible with the format.

Or it would let you author in dvd format and squeeze more on the disc. Like putting vcd in vcd mode on a dvd You won't gain quality but you gain space

Kevin

[tommyoz]

yoda313, making it compatible with the format does that mean HD resolution? in other words will I be looking at widescreen with a resolution of someting like 480i, 720P, or 1080i from my recording? Whether it was recorded from a DVD or VHS?

[lenti_75]

it never ends.....

the same as the most recent + vs - dvd format....

[handyguy]

glockjs, it would be better to post a paragraph & link to the rest, this protects intellectual copyright of the article.

[Savant]

Update on this story, Toshibe scores a huge win after four movie studios back HD-DVD format for movies.

"Toshiba is getting support from four Hollywood studios for its next-generation DVD format" ... "Having an extensive movie lineup in the right format is considered crucial to selling electronic products. In separate statements Paramount Pictures, Universal Studios, Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema said they will offer titles in the Toshiba HD DVD format but did not say which titles or give other details." (story here)

Interesting development indeed. Who wants to bet that Toshiba perhaps included some advanced anti-piracy inititatives in their format to help sweeten the deal...

Regards,

Savant

[glockjs]

looks like the underdog just shot ahead...but thats no gonna stop sony

[Skoorb]

Clearly the more heated this fight is, and the harder it is to identify a winner, the slower the general populous will choose either one, because nobody likes to buy a format that's going to die.

No matter though. I still believe that either format offers little to most consumers at this time and within the next few years that even if there was a clear and dominant format, it would still get picked up fairly slowly.

You know, it would be fun if each group hired people to try and crack the other's security. Then, if the security to one is broken before speed is really picked up in this next gen, I bet you'd see the studios jump ship and head over to the more secure format.