Why Do We Fight?
Why is there still a format war between HD DVDs and Blu-ray?
Say it with me everyone: Blu-ray holds 50 GB, HD DVD holds 30 GB!
Apart from better Dolby surround codecs on the HD DVD discs, and the fact that some early Blu-ray titles chose to use single-layer discs – I have yet to hear a good argument for HD DVD.
Note: I do not think “HD DVD is easier to remember
” “I don’t like Sony!
” nor “I'll say HD-DVD just because I love my 360.:D
” are great arguments…
Let’s see some numbers:
Storage
| HD DVD Single layer | Blu-ray Single layer | HD DVD Double layer | Blu-ray Double layer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15 GB | 25 GB | 30 GB | 50 GB |
Audio and Video
Both formats use MPEG 2, H.264, and VC 1. The maximum resolution on both is 1920×1080.
Audio however is a sometimes bit better on the HD DVD side:
| HD DVD | Blu-ray | |
|---|---|---|
| Dolby Digital | 504 Kbit/s | 640 Kbit/s |
| Dolby Digital Plus | 3.0 Mbit/s | 1.7 Mbit/s |
| DTS HD High Res | 3.0 Mbit/s | 6.0 Mbit/s |
Note, again, that this is only showing the formats where there are a difference. On all other formats, such as regular DTS and lossless audo, there is no difference in quality.
The problem with HD DVD is, though, that it’s much more fixed. There are so many features that are mandatory (Internet support being one of them, which I see as a big problem) and it also means that the already smaller capacity will fill up much more quickly, and that again means less extra content.
Now, we just need Apple to get a Blu-ray mac out there, and get this war out of the way. Clearly Sony and Apple should beat Microsoft and the porn industry in a game of high tech?!
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