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General discussion

HD DVD vs Blu-Ray which is better.

Aug 3, 2005 5:07PM PDT

Hi Everyone,

Just thought I might post some basic info and current news about the format war.

There are two new DVD formats that are in the works and competing for market domination. Very similar to the VHS vs Betamax battle way back when.

HD-DVD - Toshiba and a host of other companies are in the processes of selling its HD-DVD which utilizes a red laser for burning DVDs. Currently all DVD burners and players (Except some in Japan) use a red laser. Therefore, companies who are siding with Toshiba would have little expense to incure to produce the HD-DVDs, burners and readers. The problem with the HD-DVD seems to be the amount of info that can be held on one disc. Toshiba is planning on releasing a 3-layer HD-DVD disc that will hold 45GB of info, MP3s movies etc...

While Sony on the other hand with their group of backers will be releasing a 2 layer 50GB Blu-Ray disc. The Blu-Ray disc is a superior product to the HD-DVD in terms of storage. Instead of using a larger red laser for burning information to a disc, the Blu-Ray disc burners, readers and DVDs use a Blue Laser to burn information in a smaller tighter format. TDK who is a backer of Sony's Blu-Ray disc plans on releasing a 4-Layer disc capable of holding 100GB per disc.

What does all this mean?

The more storage available on a disc, the more content. High Definition takes up a ton of space, these two formats will give the average home theater nut HD quality DVDs! Not to mention all the gamers out there that will love better graphics and longer games!

Right now Microsoft is planning on releasing the XBox360 console this holiday with a HD-DVD drive. While Sony is planning on releasing the PS3 next spring with a Blu-Ray drive. With Blu-Ray capable of holding more content on one disc, I'm going with PS3.

Also as a side note: HP, Apple and Dell have aligned themselves with Sony to utilize the Blu-Ray technology.

With HD-DVD coming out first, we may begin finding DVD movies appearing in this format first. Then as Blu-Ray comes out, we will begin to see DVD movies produced with that technology. The question is which will you choose?

Also, if you decide to go with Blu-Ray, might as well figure on replacing your current DVD player and archive your DVD's to a hard drive.

There is a ton of information out there.

Good luck

Shawn Mosqueda
WireSmart LLC

If you would like to contact me, click on the profile link below.

Discussion is locked

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Blu-Ray Reliability....
Aug 4, 2005 5:16AM PDT

...What I mean is that the "pits" it reads are about one third the size of a red laser DVD. I've read that this will almost certainly introduce relaibility/tracking problems at a magnitude far exceeding that of today's DVD's.

Any thoughts on this issue?

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Reliability...
Aug 4, 2005 6:59AM PDT

Hello,

Reliability and playback issues, only time will tell. Unfortunately, attacks from both camps make it hard to determine the truth. But the facts still show Blu-Ray is superior to HD-DVD for storage.

But on the flip side, both products will have reliability and playback issues if the foil that is used for reflectivity on any DVD disc is not made of the highest quality, which has been a problem for a long time and has caused concerns for using DVD for storage.

Bottom line, we won't find out for awhile, but these companies have alot to loose with such a serious problem as the HD-DVD camp has suggested is inherent in the Blu-Ray technology. It would ruin Sony who is using it in the new PS3 console.

Take Care,

Shawn Mosqueda
WireSmart LLC

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HD DVD vs Blu-Ray which is better.
Aug 4, 2005 6:39AM PDT

There are wars and roomers of wars,etc,etc.
A lot of people talk about the VHS-Beta wars, but forget about the videodisk wars that went on in the same time frame. Laser Disk Vrs CED Video Disk and the laser won.

I'm looking at all the VHS tapes I have and thinking about buying a new VHS deck to make sure I can play them in the future.

Now we have this DVD war!! When will it even end!! John

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ha, never...
Aug 4, 2005 2:36PM PDT

... it will never end. The almighty dollar drives these bloodlust companies to "turn the crank" & pop out the next best thing for us materialistic consumers to devour. And devour we will. Who wants to play 'Independence Day' from a VHS tape on a 480i CRT tube with a mono speaker, when we can BLOW our brains out with an all-digital tripped out sound system and a 10 foot HD screen? Happy