A Blu-ray and HD DVD Shotgun Wedding?

Soon, It Might Not Matter.

Originally, this was going to be a simple article about the High-definition DVD formats but after yesterdays announcements . . . well, my task gets that much easier!

***** Before we continue, please note that since this technology is always evolving, this article will continue to evolve. I will post a revision date at the end of this article. - Janaki *****

By now all of you have heard about the two HD DVD formats fighting each other for your almighty consumer dollar. Both promise stunning quality with gads of features like interactivity, huge storage space, etc. So, which one is better? I guess the more appropriate question is, which one will win the war? It doesn’t really matter which one is better, the best one doesn’t always win. In fact, one of the main players, Sony had waged a format war before. Back in the 70’s Sony came out with a very cool technology that promised to bring movies into every home. It was very compact (about the size of an 8-Track), and had great resolution. It was called “Betamax” but the problem was that Sony didn’t like to license their proprietary technology to anyone else. Sony's arrogance in its ability to dictate an industry standard backfired and even though they had a superior product they lost the war. Their stubbornness in the HD arena is reminiscent of the Betamax war and only time will tell if they win this war. Needless to say, the competing factions of Blu-ray and HD DVD have all the makings for the first big technology war of the century.

The Blu-ray Disc is Sony’s HD format, and is backed by Apple, Philips, HP, Samsung, Sharp, Dell, Hitachi, Panasonic, LG, TDK, and Pioneer. Studios such as Disney, Warner Brothers, 20th Century Fox, Sony Pictures (of course) and Paramount have already pledged support for Blu-ray Discs. A single layer Blu-ray disc can hold 25 GB, while a dual layer disc can hold 50 GB, or over 9 hours of HD content (23 hours of SD content). By adding additional layers, Sony says it can hold up to 200 GB. But making Blu-ray discs requires an expensive new manufacturing process, driving costs up.

The other format is the HD DVD lead by Toshiba whose backers include Intel, Microsoft, Sanyo, NEC, and RCA. Studios include HBO, New Line Cinema and Universal Pictures. HD DVD shares supporters with Blu-ray Discs such as Warner Brothers, Paramount and HP. One huge benefit of HD DVD is the ability to make HD DVD’s using a simpler manufacturing process, very similar to making current DVD’s, keeping the costs down. Another plus is that HD DVD’s use the new MPEG-4 compression which allows high quality HD video to be written to the discs (in smaller files). One drawback is that HD DVD capacity is less than Blu-ray. A single layer HD DVD can hold 15 GB, a dual layer disc can hold 30 GB, and the theoretical maximum capacity is 90 GB. But a single HD DVD disc can also contain a movie in the current DVD format as well as in the new high-def format, which is definitely a plus in this format war.

Both Blu-ray and HD DVD players are backwards compatible and will play current DVD’s. They are both capable of outputting 1080p, the current maximum HDTV resolution, as well as offering multi-channel Dolby Digital TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio sound. In addition both have interactive features and support game play. Sony already put a Blu-ray drive in the PS3 and the XBOX 360 has an HD DVD drive.

Despite Sony announcing their format first, Toshiba has really stepped up to the plate and delivered the first HD DVD players. In fact, not only does Toshiba make them, but so does RCA, Sanyo and NEC with prices as low as $200 dollars. But wouldn’t ya know that Sony was up to their old tricks again by barely being able to release Blu-ray players for Christmas. After many production issues, Pioneer came out with the first Blu-ray player followed by Samsung, Panasonic, and then Sony itself. The price? The average price is hovering around $1,000 bucks and can go as high as $1,500 dollars! To be fair, Samsung’s model retails for $800. Ouch!!! Did Sony learn their lesson or are they doomed to make the same mistakes all over again?? Also, Sony is being heavily criticized for including a first generation Blu-ray drive in their PS3’s as there has already been reported issues with playback and interactivity. Hell, my PS2 still works great!

This week brought some interesting news that will more than likely prolong this turf war into 2008 and possibly beyond. LG Electronics announced that they will be making a Blu-ray and HD DVD combo player to be released in March and if that wasn’t enough they are also releasing a dual format drive for PC’s called “Super Multi Blue” that will playback Blu-ray Discs, DVD’s, CD’s, and HD DVD media, it will also record up to 50 GB of data to a dual-layer Blu-ray disc. Samsung is expected to follow suit early this year as well. So, what’s up with these Korean companies? They are really taking the lead on emerging technology and by the way who even heard of LG Electronics 5 years ago, heck even 2 years ago? But now I have an amazing cell phone and microwave oven that are both made by LG. Cool huh?

There was another very important announcement made yesterday regarding this ongoing format war.

Warner Brothers announced that it has developed a technology they are calling the “Total HD Disc” that will hold not only a Blu-ray and HD DVD version of movies but also the regular DVD standard definition version we now use that can be played in any kind of DVD player. Three versions on the same disc is quite a compromise, but to me it’s still kinda weird that a movie studio would develop something like that, I mean there isn’t exactly Warner Brothers DVD players or TV’s.

While both camps have not said much about these latest developments, the feeling in the industry is that while combo players might be a good idea for the interim, multi format discs bring up all kinds of issues such as royalties and (already) heavy investments made in either format. I for one think that this is only going to prolong this turf war unnecessarily and piss everybody off and can only turn out bad. A lingering format war would also likely create more headaches than normal for consumers. Computer companies are starting to bundle the drives with computers and, predictably, many are taking sides. As a result, some consumers may not want to buy a particular brand of PC (buy an Apple instead) because the manufacturer supports Blu-ray and the consumer owns an HD DVD player, or vice versa. Returns and customer service calls would become inevitable. Glad I’m not in customer service!

So what’s my recommendation on all of this HD player excitement? Just wait baby. If you heed my advice on the HDTV’s then please wait and see who comes out the winner or at least wait until Christmas 2007. If you had to pick something today? The HD DVD format despite it’s storage capacity is the wisest choice because of it’s future proofing (somewhat) technology. Great job Toshiba!

A final word to Sony, stop being a bully and play nice with others don’t you remember the MiniDisc and the UMD format???

Disclaimer: The above mentioned comments were designed to help inform the confused public about Blu-ray and HD DVD and should not be taken as gospel. I reserve the right to be totally wrong about this (but I'm not) and this is by no means a fully detailed and exhaustive explanation on the beautiful technology. Use info at your own peril and fully do research before you buy anything you will be stuck with for a very long time.