The next generation of media to eventually replace the DVD movie format is only a few months away with Toshiba’s HD DVD or Sony’s Blu-ray. Two competing formats that for the consumer can only result in a headache of research and possible mistakes. Thankfully Team Xbox has written an article explaining HD DVD in part one of this series, explaining the more technical aspects of this new format:
VHS, Betamax, Laserdisc, iPod, MP3, Mini Disc, JVC, Sony, Philips, Apple.the consumer electronic industry has seen many format wars over the years with clear winners and losers.
Here at TeamXbox.com we actively cover the video game war, but the next big fight for dominance that consumers will soon witness is the one for the successor to the DVD; a war that promises to be bigger in scope than the battle between Microsoft and Sony for the next generation of video games, and could even affect it to the point where proclaiming a winning format could determine if one chooses a PlayStation 3 or an Xbox 360.
I personally hope that HD DVD will be the overall winner here and that is not just because I am a huge fan of the Xbox and Xbox 360 console, but simply as it is the next evolutionary step from CD to DVD, DVD to HD DVD, as they all share the same basic technology for compatibility and hopefully for the consumer, cheaper compared to Blu-ray players and disks.
James is a Freelance Journalist, Copywriter, Author, Blogger & Podcaster specialising in gaming, gadgets and technology, both retro and modern.
Ever since he experienced the first controllable pixel movement on the television screen, he has been entranced by the possibilities and rewarding entertainment value generated from these metal and plastic boxes of delight. Writing hundreds of articles, including commentary and reviews on various gaming platforms, whilst also interviewing well-known industry figures for popular online publications.
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The only reason i want hd-dvd to win is because i’m sick of sony pushing there own standards for higher profits. They did it with minidisc and umd ( though i do have a psp ). From what i hear blue-ray is far superior but until sony don’t ask for a huge cut on every blue-ray disc sold it won’t win. Studios are already stopping umd production because of the huge price they have to pay sony to produce material on sony formats. I hope this mess is sorted before a uk realease of any hd capeable media becasue otherswise alot of people will end up wasting alot of money on the format that ‘fails’!:((
It will be interesting to see over the next few months, what reviews are posted on the internet comparing the two technologies.
Although Blu-ray seems to beat HD DVD on capacity, it isn’t that well documentated if all that space is needed for High Definition Movies, maybe 1080p would require more, but I am looking forward to the results.
From my understanding the blu ray would be cheaper for things such special edition dvds. This is because there will be enough room for all the special features to be added to just the one disc. hd dvd will have the drawbak of the current dvd, in that special features of any size will have to be added to a seperate disc also the compression ratio on a blu ray disc will be lower so supposidly picture will be sharper but i doubt there will be and visable difference.
Good point, although watching 720p video on Windows Media Compression, it looks absolutely stunning! and that is compression meant for really low filesizes in comparison to other formats.
This is making me sound like a geek but i just read that sony is having problems with the “beta ray” disc. It would appear there are problems with the read speed so the only capacity they have got working stabaly is 25gb. This actualy makes it 5 gig less than HD DVD, also that a standard beta ray drive costs over one thousand dollars. I guess sony’s bottomless pockects will sort this out but i’m pretty sure it means that HD DVD will hit the market first. Looks like its game on!:)>-
More to the point, I hope either one technology swiftly defeats the other, or like recordable DVD media, the two can co-exist on the same hardware. Obviously the greater storage capacity of Blu-ray is more attractive for several reasons, but sadly there are many more factors to consider; no matter the outcome, it’s probably safe to say that the consumer is going to lose one way or the other.
this is going to be sweet cant wait
The only reason i want hd-dvd to win is because i’m sick of sony pushing there own standards for higher profits. They did it with minidisc and umd ( though i do have a psp ). From what i hear blue-ray is far superior but until sony don’t ask for a huge cut on every blue-ray disc sold it won’t win. Studios are already stopping umd production because of the huge price they have to pay sony to produce material on sony formats. I hope this mess is sorted before a uk realease of any hd capeable media becasue otherswise alot of people will end up wasting alot of money on the format that ‘fails’!:((
It will be interesting to see over the next few months, what reviews are posted on the internet comparing the two technologies.
Although Blu-ray seems to beat HD DVD on capacity, it isn’t that well documentated if all that space is needed for High Definition Movies, maybe 1080p would require more, but I am looking forward to the results.
From my understanding the blu ray would be cheaper for things such special edition dvds. This is because there will be enough room for all the special features to be added to just the one disc. hd dvd will have the drawbak of the current dvd, in that special features of any size will have to be added to a seperate disc also the compression ratio on a blu ray disc will be lower so supposidly picture will be sharper but i doubt there will be and visable difference.
Good point, although watching 720p video on Windows Media Compression, it looks absolutely stunning! and that is compression meant for really low filesizes in comparison to other formats.
This is making me sound like a geek but i just read that sony is having problems with the “beta ray” disc. It would appear there are problems with the read speed so the only capacity they have got working stabaly is 25gb. This actualy makes it 5 gig less than HD DVD, also that a standard beta ray drive costs over one thousand dollars. I guess sony’s bottomless pockects will sort this out but i’m pretty sure it means that HD DVD will hit the market first. Looks like its game on!:)>-
OOoooh that makes things a little more interesting, thanks for the information.
More to the point, I hope either one technology swiftly defeats the other, or like recordable DVD media, the two can co-exist on the same hardware. Obviously the greater storage capacity of Blu-ray is more attractive for several reasons, but sadly there are many more factors to consider; no matter the outcome, it’s probably safe to say that the consumer is going to lose one way or the other.
Personally, I don’t care, best to buy when the dust has settled and the initial high prices have paid for all the research and the winner is declared.