BLU-RAY vs. HD-DVD

How is a Blu-ray/HD-DVD disc different from a regular DVD?
Blu-ray and HD-DVD drives employ a blue laser instead of a red laser used on CD and DVD players. The color red has a longer wavelength (650 nanometers) than the color blue (405 nanometers). The shorter wavelength allows a Blu-ray disc to store up to 50GB of data, significantly more than the 8.5GB maximum of a DVD-R. Other advantages of the newer discs include support for the 16:9 aspect ratio used in movie theaters and the ability to display more lines per screen (either 720 or 1080, compared to 480). In other words, these high-def discs offer a much wider, crisper picture.

 

Will I need a HDTV to watch Blu-ray/HD-DVD movies?
Yes, you will need to buy an LCD or plasma television that supports HD, but not all Blu-ray/HD-DVD discs will be HD. A 12-volume normal DVD set could be squeezed into two discs in the new formats, so even people with standard-def TVs can take advantage of Blu-ray and HD-DVD.

 

How much will these players cost?
Initially, Blu-ray players and discs are expected to cost more than HD-DVD. Toshiba's first HD-DVD player, the HD-A1, will cost $499, while Samsung's Blu-ray-enabled BD-1000 will cost $1,000. The problem with those numbers is that the Sony PlayStation 3 will include an integrated Blu-ray drive, and price estimates for that machine are in the $499 range. Ultimately, demand and availability will determine prices, but look for Blu-ray to cost more out of the gate.

 

What about capacity?
Blu-ray discs have a theoretical limit of 200GB. HD-DVD's theoretical limit is 60GB, but theoretical is different from practical. To date, Blu-ray has only tested discs with 100GB capacities, while HD-DVD has produced 45GB discs. Neither is likely to launch with discs of those capacities however, and storage remains something of a gray area as vendors search for the sweet spot of cost and capacity.

 

Will I be able to copy Blu-ray or HD-DVD discs?
Both formats rely on several layers of copy protection to prevent unauthorized duplication. Blu-ray's third copy protection layer, BD+, is deployed if a known hack is detected in the system. The HD-DVD camp is touting a feature called Managed Copy. This will allow users to rip a copy of a HD-DVD disc to their computer's hard drive and share that content with other devices on the home network, such as the Xbox 360, as well as approved portable media player devices. HP successfully lobbied the Blu-ray Disc Association to adopt Managed Copy, but it's not clear whether customers will be charged extra for this perk, and if so, how much.

 

When will I be able to watch high-definition movies on my laptop?
The HD-DVD camp has been the first to showcase a notebook with an integrated HD-DVD drive. At January's Consumer Electronics Show, Toshiba said that it would release a Qosmio with an HD-DVD drive (read only) sometime this year, with pricing to be announced this spring. Blu-ray backers like Dell likely won't have notebooks on the market until late spring/early summer.

 

What screen resolution will I need to get native HD playback on my notebook?
WUXGA (1920 x 1200) is the only resolution that can play HD content in its native resolution, and that's only found on very high-end desktop replacement notebooks with 17-inch displays.

 

Who is going to win this format war?
Despite Intel and Microsoft both supporting HD-DVD, Blu-ray looks like it will come out on top for two main reasons. It has locked up seven movie studios compared to six for HD-DVD, and Blu-ray backer Sony will support it on the PlayStation 3 console, which by the looks of things will become both the most popular game console and high-definition DVD player of the year.