 Introduction
Over the past couple of years, a battle has been brewing between the Blu-ray and HD DVD formats, to determine which one will become the defacto standard format for high capacity disks. For those who remember, it is reminiscent of the battle a couple of decades ago between the VHS and Beta video tapes. Just as it was then, today many people are struggling trying to understand what the format war is about, and just as many don't know enough about the benefits of each format to take sides. The purpose of this article is to try to clear away some of the fog, and bring some clarity to this debate. This article will be discussing the following five key factors to consider. when These are: Disc Capacity, Bit rate, Disc Protection, Region coding and copy protection, and last but not least Studio support.
Disc Capacity
The base Standard for HD-DVD is 15 Gigabytes per layer and 25 Gigabytes per layer for Blu-ray. Almost half of all Blu-ray movies are dual layer and almost 75% of HD-DVD movies are dual layer, giving HD-DVD 30 GB and Blu-ray gets 50 GB. That's a 20 GB difference, When Paramount released Transformers on HD-DVD, they didn't put lossless audio for the movie on the disc. When Paramount was asked about this “The studio's answer was that due to space limitations on the disc, the decision was made to limit the audio to Dolby Digital-Plus 5.1 Surround only “ ( Source <http://hddvd.highdefdigest.com/1110/transformers.html>). As Lossless audio is one of the big selling points for High Definition Media, this does begin to show the limitations of HD-DVD. The extra 20 GB that Blu-ray has could be put to use for more content, and better video quality as they take up more space.
To be fair HD-DVD has approved a new technology known as Triple Layer 51 or TL51. TL51 is an alteration of the base standard for HD-DVD instead of 15 GB per layer it's now 17 GB per layer, at the time of the writing of this article there is no word yet on if this technology will work with all HD-DVD players or not. Some say all it needs is a firmware update, but unfortunately I can't say one way or the other. While we are looking at the hypothetical expansions of the 2 formats, Blu-ray has a 100 GB version that again is not known if it'll work on all players but is said to require only a firmware update to work with current players. This 100 GB disc doesn't alter the base standard. It simply provides 4 layers instead of 2.
Bit rate
When it comes to Audio/Video/Subtitles, the max bit rate for Blu-ray is 48 Mbit/s while HD-DVD is limited to 30.24 Mbit/s (Source <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_high_definition_optical_disc_formats>) the faster the bit rate can indicate how sharp and well defined the image will be or what quality the sound will have, if you have a video with a low bit rate you'll notice the picture will be softer or blurrier, I'm not saying HD-DVD doesn't look good, but the potential for Blu-ray with the extra bit rate, if done properly, can be the difference between good video quality and great video quality.
Disc Protection
Blu-ray has the data placed into the disc less than 0.1 mm from the surface, and as a result was more easily damaged. The solution was to put a scratch resistant coating on Blu-ray discs, so out of necessity came discs that can last longer. It has been said that this protective coating can stand up against Steel wool. After searching Youtube for “Blu-ray stress test” I found a delightful video showing someone torturing a blu-ray disc and showing it still working.
Region coding and copy protection
Region coding (sometimes refered to as Regional Lockout) is defined by Wikipedia as “...the programming practice, code, chip, or physical barrier used to prevent the playing of media designed for a device from the country where it is marketed on the version of the same device marketed in another country. “
This is one area where some HD-DVD supporters say their format has Blu-ray beat, because HD-DVD has no region coding (Blu-ray has 3 regions and DVD has 7 regions). The HD-DVD users look at the lack of region coding as a sign that they have more freedom. For example, someone in the United States could buy a movie from Europe, or anywhere for that matter and not worry about “will this play in my player?”. But since most people go to a local store to purchase a movie, this region free issue doesn't offer that much of a benefit. New Line Cinema released the movie Hairspray on DVD and Blu-ray, however HD-DVD has to wait for it due to lack of region coding (Source <http://www.engadgethd.com/2007/09/14/new-line-to-delay-hd-dvd-release-due-to-lack-of-region-coding/>).
Copy Protection is another hot issue. HD-DVD uses AACS (Advanced Access Content System) for copy protection, while Blu-ray uses AACS, BD+, and ROM-mark. These features shouldn't affect the consumer during playback, but it's a feature that is aimed more at the studios. Studios want to make money by selling more discs and if they can cut down on piracy, the more likely they are to sells discs.
Studio Support
At the time of writing this article Paramount and Universal are the 2 major studios actively releasing movies on the HD-DVD format exclusively. The Weinstein Company is officially HD-DVD but haven't released movies for several months now on that format. 20th Century Fox, Disney, Sony, and Lionsgate are the major studios actively release on Blu-ray exclusively. Warner is the only Neutral studio releasing on both HD-DVD and Blu-ray.
Summary
Blu-ray has more space per layer, faster bit rate, these 2 things allow for better picture/sound quality. The protective coating will decrease the chances of getting scratches thus keeping your disc playable.
Region coding can be a bit of an issue to users who travel a lot, I believe that DVD had the worst of it by having 7 regions and users who were not previously limited by region codes, Blu-ray has users that were already use to region codes thanks to DVD, and with fewer regions there is no less of a hassle.
Copy protection, again should not be a problem to people who are just trying to watch the movie, DVD had copy protection and I haven't heard people having issues regarding playback, if there were they were simply isolated incidents.
As far studio Support goes, Blu-ray has the advantage here.
I hope this article has helped you in regards to selecting a format or at least better understand the format war.
Ralf Schwäcke
Blu Ray Forum
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