Back in the early 1980s, VHS and Betamax were battling it out to be the number one product in home video entertainment.
Movie studios continued to support VHS and eventually Beta became obsolete.
Nowadays, a similar battle seems to be brewing between Blu-Ray and HD DVD in the race to replace the DVD as the must-have technology. It's still early, but it seems Blu-Ray is winning that battle.
"Right now, most of the movie studios are opting to go with Blu-Ray as opposed to High Definition DVD," says Shawn Heighton, a sales associate at The Source at Highland Square Mall.
Warner Brothers, for instance, recently announced that from now on they will only be releasing Blu-Ray DVDs and not HD DVDs. That kind of support will only serve to boost Blu-Ray sales, agrees Wayne Frazee, a sales associate at Zellers. "Ultimately, it will come down to what technology the movie studios will choose to support to decide which one will be the eventual winner."
Perhaps not surprisingly, Blu-Ray DVD sales seem to be out-pacing sales of HD DVDs. At Wal-Mart in New Glasgow, Blu-Ray DVDs are outselling HD DVDs eight-to-one, says Gordon Malcolm, a sales associate.
So what, exactly, is the difference between Blu-Ray and HD DVD? Here are the facts.
HD DVD is being released by Toshiba, Intel and Microsoft, the latter of which offers an HD Player with its Xbox 360 game console. Blu-Ray, on the other hand, is a product of Samsung, Pioneer and Sony, which has a Blu-Ray drive built into its PlayStation 3 game console. (Currently, Wal-Mart is the only store in town that sells one of the systems - HD DVD players are in stock for $199 each. Wal-Mart, The Source and Zellers have PlayStation 3 in stock, however, which costs anywhere from $400 to $500.)
A main difference between the two systems is the picture quality, Frazee says.
"The biggest difference, from a consumer's standpoint, is that Blu-Ray will support full 1080Progressive while the HD DVD only supports 1080Interlace," Frazee says.
"The Progressive signal is a better quality signal; it gives you a sharper image."
Blu-Ray DVDs also store 25GB on a single-sided disc while HD DVDs only stores 10 to 15 GB. However, HD DVD players are considerably cheaper than Blu-Ray DVD players, which can cost between $400 and $1,000.
Blu-Ray and HD players are both backwards compatible, which means they play regular DVDs as well. However, Blu-Ray players will not play HD DVDs and vice versa. Anyone who purchases a Blu-Ray or HD player must have a high definition television. It's not just DVD players that are being upgraded, however. Frazee notes it's just a matter of time before computers come with built-in Blu-Ray or HD DVD players.
Sales associates from Zellers, Wal-Mart and The Source all recommend people purchase Blu-Ray technology and not HD.
Chris Oakes, a sales associate at Wal-Mart, says HD looks destined to become a dead technology in a few years. "Right now, it looks like Blu-Ray is in the lead," he says.
In any case, they say regular DVDs are about to become as passÉ as VHS tapes.
"Either way, (Blu-Ray or HD DVDs) will eventually replace regular DVDs in every way," Frazee says.
Are your DVDs going the way of Beta tapes?
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- Published on Febuary 5th, 2008
- Published on December 30th, 2009
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Cait MacIntyre
- Number of views : 935
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Comments
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- Jay
- - January 18th, 2010 at 13:36:28
Dale, there is a big difference between bluray and hd dvd. First off, I have both so i'm not playing favorites.
I prefer bluray because of the audio. Bluray offers loseless audio, PCM, TrueHD, DTS HD Master Audio on 99% of their movies while HD DVD usually only gives dolby digital which is DVD quality. They rarely even give TrueHD audio tracks.
People don't realize this is not only about High Def picture but high def audio. People will say it's no big deal until they experience it. High Def audio, and having the equipment to play it will knock your socks off. It's just amazing.
HD DVD is dead in the water. Not saying I don't like it, but Bluray has way more movies and there is no comparison in audio options between the two. Blyray all the way. Also, bluray uses higher bit rates for their video, so in theory video quality is better on bluray even if the eye can't see the difference between HD DVD and Bluray.
Also, DVD will not die. All the new Bluray and HD DVD players will play DVDs. The title of this article is misleading. -
- dale
- - January 18th, 2010 at 13:26:15
the sales clerk was wrong on the interview. picture quality and sound have both been tested by professionals and with professional equipment. there is no discernable difference in either one. although blu-ray fans want you to believe they have a superior product it isn't. at least not in picture and sound. about the only advantage is disk capacity. when hd-dvd can no longer get a movie on a 30 gig disk-then there is a problem but so far it is a moot point. hd-dvd is delivering a great value in their stand alone players as opposed to the blu-ray players with incomplete hardware profiles which will need to be replaced to achieve the same functions as the hd-dvd players make sure you do research before you buy.
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- Chad
- - January 18th, 2010 at 13:15:01
I care.
The new discs are amazing. You haven't seen a movie until you have seen a Bluray or HD DVD on a big screen.
Way better than the theatre, and no annoying ppl sitting behind you.
It's evolution in movie media. DVD is ok, the quality really isn't that great on a bigger TV. Infact on a big HDTV, DVDs look horrible. Bluray and hd dvds are the way to go and good to see we can rent them in town now. -
- Jay
- - January 18th, 2010 at 13:12:31
Holy mistakes in this article. Please interview ppl who know stuff next time please.
Wayne Frazee's comment on the picture quality is false.
HD DVD and Bluray support 1080P. He said that HD DVD was only 1080i which is false.
HD DVD is still dead but come on, these sources don't know anything at all. -
- Jay
- - January 18th, 2010 at 13:03:33
Hi James.
No you are wrong but I know what you mean. All HD DVD players must be able to decode High Def audio such as TrueHD BUT not all HD DVD titles come with High Def audio tracks. Many come with Dolby Digital Plus only.
Apology accepted.
For example see The Kingdome on HD DVD. Brand new movie... pathetic Dolby Digital Plus sound, no TrueHD.
Dolby Digital is DVD calibur. This is because of the size limitation on the HD DVD. Paramount even admitted this when Transformers came out, they had no room for TrueHD sound, only Dolby Digital Plus. -
- Brad
- - January 18th, 2010 at 12:22:22
I really don't care about picture quality, and I don't know why people are paying $500 just to get so called Better picture quality, I don't know why people arnt just satisfied with good ol' DVDs and VHSs, some people are lucky to get a darn DVD!! stop making fancy DVDs because they are too expencive!
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- James
- - January 18th, 2010 at 12:17:59
Jay... what are you talking about!!! since the release of HD DVD it has been a standard that every DVD must have HD Audio or it will not be released on their formatt. BluRay on the other hand do not have that rule so many Bluray titles do not have HD Audio.
I think you better do your research before saying things like that.
