News and Reviews....

    HD DVD vs. Blu-ray Disc  April 2006        

    The storage medium for personal home viewing of movies and the like, took what seems like a step forward at this years'  2006 CES (Consumer Electronic Show) held in Las Vegas this past January. The two competing formats being BLUE RAY and HIGH DEFINITION (DMD) Disc were displayed and working. HD-DVD is to be offered first in this Spring with Blue-ray in October - November of 2006  (*See the supplemental articles listed below.) 

    The two formats are not yet fully to market, nor has the winner in the two formats emerged. A winner might not ever emerge for manufactures of hardware are perplexed on which way to go, remembering the Beta vs VHS wars of the 80's. But to clarify what the two formats can do or will be able to accomplish, please view the chart below.

Storage Capacity  -   HD-DVD   30 GB          Blue-Ray -  50 GB with plans for 8 Layer 200 GB Disc

Backwards Compatibility   -   HD-DVD can be mastered with a 14 GB Layer and a 4 GB standard DVD Layer making it playable on a standard DVD   players, or Blue Ray player and a standard DVD can be played in a HD-DVD Player

                                                Blue-Ray disc cannot be played in a standard DVD player or on a HD-DVD Player. If a second optical pickup is added to a Blue-Ray Player it will be capable of playing standard DVD.

Durability / Protection  -  HD-DVD is the same as standard DVD. The data layer is buried in the middle of the disc, halfway through a chunk of plastic 1.2 microns thick.

                                    Blue-Ray has its data layer behind only 0.01 microns of plastic and a protective coating. The total disc thickness is slightly thicker then existing DVD discs.

Copy Protection - HD-DVD's encryption has not yet been determined. manufactures are working on a "invisible dye"  to trace pirated copies back to the manufacture.

                          Blue Ray encryption prevents bit-by-bit copy. They too are working on a "invisible dye" to trace pirated copies back to manufacture.

Comment .....  While all of us at Custom Audio-Video Systems feel that new technology is always good for everyone, the timing of two different and non-capable disc types just leads to confusion and stall for a needed format to support HDTV. We will just have to wait and see what shakes out.

UPDATE (February 2008)   Blue Ray Disc becomes the only contender after Paramount Studios announced their support at CES 2008 *See "Blue Ray Takes All (March 2008)

UPDATE: (November 2006) Just announced in a prominent trade magazines that chip maker Broadcom will be manufacturing a chip set that will take the consumer to a combination player due in 1st Quarter 2007 that will play both the HD-DVD and Blue Ray Disc at a very reasonable price. At this point the Samsung Blue-Ray DVD players are selling for roughly $900 - $1000.00 with the Sony PS3 player at $500 and $600 US Dollars while the Toshiba HD machine is selling for $399.00 - $499.00

For information leading up to this article see:

    Beyond the Blue Ray   February 2005

    Blue Laser vs DMD     July 2004

    Battle Lines are Formed    February 2004

    Birth of the Blues    February 2002

    DVD - Blue/Out - Red/IN    March 2002

    DVD - New Standard    May 2002

    Next Generation DVD    December 2002

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