Why BluRay?
Why BluRay has WON the format war...
You have probably heard about the Blu-Ray and HD-DVD format battle,
and waited to see if it was just another Beta vs. VHS fiasco. Now that it's over, you may be wondering why? and whether Bluray is still worth the investment?
Well, this battle was much different.
This time, Blu-Ray has the support of the biggest and most electronics manufacturers, movie, music and gaming producers, as well as the computer manufacturers all on board.
It is basically a story about content.
Ah, but what about Microsoft you say...They have joined forces with the HD-DVD format!
Well that is true, but do they make Drives for HD-DVD? Do they make content for HD-DVD?
NO, they make software applications and programs.
IN FACT.. The DVD player in your computer is not Microsoft!
Most likely it is Pioneer or Toshiba-which is another funny story to see at the bottom-
and the software to run it is not even Microsoft in most cases. The eyes are starting to open now...
SO why is Blu-Ray better than HD-DVD?
Why BluRay won the format war...
There are several reasons why Blu-Ray was the victor and a viable investment in your entertainment future.
But think of the obvious one:
Content producers make their money on sales of the content!
I know that sounds simple, but the challenge is how many times they can sell
the same content to the same people-think of it as residuals.
That's why they come up with "Special Editions" and "Director's Cuts".
I'm not bashing this, it's just basic marketing-sort of like "New and Improved".
So if you think of the Movie industry, we went from Book to Film to VHS to DVD to....What's next?
This is where the battle ended. Once Warner Brothers announced they would support Bluray only, the rest fell in line. NetFlix, Walmart, BestBuy, Blockbuster , Amazon all announced shortly thereafter, and then Toshiba recognized the answer.
HD-DVD might have been the best short term solution because the replication houses that master them won't have to change their equipment too much as the specs to DVD are similar.
But on paper, HD-DVD seems like the same experience you get with DVD,
just in High Definition resolution (1920 x 1080).
It looks fabulous, but will that be the only reason to buy it.
The Blu-Ray studio supporters are looking for a long term solution,
and they saw more promise with Blu-Ray for the following reasons.
They are:
1. STORAGE CAPACITY
HD-DVD currently delivers 30Gb on a dual layer disc. The future potential tops out at 45Gb on a Triple Layer Disc.
By comparison, Blu-Ray is currently offering 50Gb on a dual layer disc (almost double the information) and has the potential to grow to 100 and even 200Gb on a 4 or 8 layer disc
WHY?
Because of how the disc is constructed. Like I said, HD-DVD is similar to DVD, but with a smaller pitch between grooves as it were. Blu-Ray requires a change in mastering equipment, but has much more room to grow.
2. DATA TRANSFER SPEEDS
Because of the extra capacity, Blu-Ray actually will look better than HD-DVD as master equipment gets better. Let me explain...The common DVD's you buy now are mastered at around 5 Mega Bits Per Second (Mbps). This is the rate at which content is copied from the Original Master Print of the Film.
SuperBit DVD's are mastered at around 8-9Mbps with 9.8 being the maximum for the DVD format. HD-DVD will give you around 28Mbps, but...
Blu-Ray is capable of doing 40Mbps, again almost double the capability.
So again, Blu-Ray has the potential, once the equipment is developed, to give YOU a better copy of the original master.
3. ADVANCED INTERACTIVITY
Both HD-DVD and Blu-Ray offer more interactivity with the content-this means multitasking within the movie (Easter Eggs, Online Updates etc...), but again, due to the capacity and Java language (which is why Microsoft might not support it aside from X-box), with Blu-Ray, you could actually surf the internet for items in the movie (Think clothes, electronics, cars) that have been tagged with a link during production.
How about having read alongs of the script to help kids learn to read, or getting historical information on a biographical movie--WHILE YOU ARE STILL WATCHING THE MOVIE ON THE SAME SCREEN!!!
How about package a PS3 game with it's movie counterpart on the same disc...The possibilities are endless, and that's just the beginning...
4. ONE COMMON FORMAT
I just mentioned a video game being on the same disc as a movie..
Well, PS3 IS BLU-RAY!!!
The platform is designed for Gaming(PS3), Computing(APPLE, DELL, HP), Data Backup(DISASTERS, HR INFO), Security, Music (Think of putting an entire artists collection with videos and concerts in uncompressed audio on one disc), and obviously Movies.
HD-DVD is just a Movie format!
XBox360 is still using the same DVD-Rom format and have no plans to use HD-DVD as the gaming platform.
Oh you can play an HD-DVD with an XBox360: IF you buy the adaptor book!
Which combined is the same price as the PS3
and it doesn't even have HDMI, which all current HDTV's have!!!
You now have to buy another add-on adaptor.
Microsoft didn't bother asking the CEA what they were doing with HD content,
they wanted to create their own world and control all aspects of it.
Understandable, but not Practical.
SO KEEP IN MIND, BOTH FORMATS LOOK BETTER NOW...
BUT BLU-RAY HAS MORE POTENTIAL TO GROW, IT IS A LONG TERM FORMAT, NOT A SHORT TERM SOLUTION!!!
Now Here's the funny part: the largest supporter of HD-DVD is also one of the largest disc drive manufacturers in the world, but is also making Blu-Ray drives as well for Blu-Ray supporters. Need I say more
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