HD DVD versus Blu-Ray-Home Theater Room

With the increased availability of HDTV and more consumers buying HD television sets, it was only a matter of time before HD DVD players became available. DVD’s look great on an HDTV, but they could look even better if they were formatted in HD. Last year, we finally saw the first high definition DVD players: The question now is HD DVD versus Blu-Ray - who will ultimately survive?

Maybe you remember the first days of home video and the competition between VHS and BetaMax. This is a re-enactment of the same scenario. HD DVD and Blu-Ray are incompatible, competitive formats. Both deliver video in HD. Each has some pluses and minuses. Some videos are available only in HD DVD; some only in Blu-Ray. Consumers are being forced to either choose between them or buy two different DVD players, one for each format.

HD DVD is a Toshiba product. It has good support from the AV industry and most movie studios. HD DVD is compatible with the newest X Box game system by way of an add-on device.

Blu-Ray is by Sony. It also has good support from the AV industry and all movie studios except Universal. Blu-Ray discs will play on Playstation 3.

There are not all that many differences between the two formats, which makes it frustrating that they are not compatible with each other. The only reason to buy both machines is because of the incompatibility.

HD DVD players are less expensive (currently) than Blu-Ray, running around $500. The disks hold quite a bit more than conventional DVD, but less than Blu-Ray. HD-DVD movies cost around $30.

Blu-Ray players are quite a bit more expensive than HD DVD, starting at around $1000 and going up from there. The disks hold a lot more data, but the movies cost the same. Blu-Ray is the only 1080p player available, and Blu-Ray images are said to be a bit better than HD DVD.

Remember that Sony lost the VHS-BetaMax controversy; they backed BetaMax. They do not want to lose this one. On Feb 28, 2007, they announced that in the next year they will be releasing a Blu-Ray DVD player, the BDP-S300, that is very competitive with HD DVD in every way, including price. It will cost about $600, and will play DVD’s, MPEG2, MPEG-4, AVC and other video formats.

One of the big fears with both HD DVD and Blu-Ray is that the studios are including an Advanced Access Content System to prevent piracy. Some users are concerned that this system will keep the DVD’s from playing in HD on older HDTV’S that aren’t equipped with HDMI inputs. It seems, however, that the code has been thoroughly hacked, and this should not be an issue. Several "fixes" can be found on the internet.

Most of the major AV gurus are recommending that you wait to buy a high definition DVD player. There are several reasons to wait:

If you pick the wrong format, you could be stuck with an elephant like the BetaMax. One format or the other will win out; they are too similar for both to succeed.

There are plenty of other ways to view movies in high-def without using a player, such as pay-per-view and video-on-demand.

DVD’s look pretty good on an HDTV as they are; waiting to see who wins the war won’t mean you have to watch inferior quality movies.

There aren’t a lot of movies available in either format yet.

Prices will come down. (See the note above about the expected Blu-Ray release.)

High definition DVD is the next step in advancing entertainment technology. Whether you choose Blu-Ray or HD DVD, you can watch (some) movies formatted in HD on your HDTV now. Or you can wait a bit and see who wins the HD war.

HD DVD versus Blu-Ray

Who will win the High Definition DVD war?