Blu–Ray Wins High Def War! By Michael Diz Much like the VHS vs. Betamax format war during the late 1970s and early 1980s, HD DVD was in a “format war” with rival format Blu-ray Disc to determine which would become the leading format for high-definition content to consumers. On February 19, 2008, HD-DVD apparently lost that war, when Toshiba made an official announcement that it would no longer develop, manufacture, and market HD DVD players and recorders. Microsoft followed suit by saying it would stop making HD DVD players for its Xbox 360 video game system, although it would continue to provide standard warranty support for its HD DVD players.

Microsoft, Intel and NEC Corporation were three of HD DVD’s main backers, and their support was critical to the success of Toshiba’s HD-DVD format. Just recently, Toshiba President Atsutoshi Nishida estimated that around 300,000 people own the Microsoft video player, sold as a separate $130 add-on for the Xbox 360. In a written statement, Blair Westlake, corporate vice president of Microsoft’s media and entertainment group, said, “HD DVD is one of the several ways we offer a high definition experience to consumers, and we will continue to give consumers the choice to enjoy digital distribution of high definition movies and TV shows directly to their living room, along with playback of the DVD movies they already own,”

I believe this untimely end to the format wars will leave consumers worse off, because at this time, HD-DVD offers a superior feature set on its players, along with lower price points. Corporate data centers, as well, will need to consider Blu-ray’s impact on their backup and storage operations.

One Last Look at Blu-ray versus HD-DVD Blu-ray and HD-DVD both deliver a sharply detailed, color-rich picture and audio capable of making home theater sound like being there. Both have extra storage space for features such as multi-language broadcasts, directors’ cuts, and interactive menus (though Blu-ray has more storage capacity).

Some companies, such as LG Electronics and Warner Brothers, proposed strategies for making players and discs that would support both formats. This hybrid approach might have ultimately won—if the companies supporting it could have developed compatible players and discs for a sufficiently low price.

HD-DVD’s main advantage was that it was cheaper and thus more accessible to consumers. However, Blu-Ray had advantages, too: Blu-ray’s PS3 (PlayStation 3) guaranteed a very large installed base, and Sony’s ownership of several movie studios guaranteed that these studios would be Blu-Ray by default. The big question was: did PS3s count as market share? PS3s were game machines, and would PS3 owners actually buy Blu-Ray movies to play on their PS3? A lot of these users didn’t even realize they could play movies, which was why Sony started bundling Spider-man.

Technical factors like disc size, CODEC choices, capabilities like PinP and Internet are similar between HD DVD and Blu-ray, but HD DVD uses the Microsoft HDi system for interactive software, which is currently superior to Blu-ray’s BD-Java system. The less expensive HD-DVD players also support more advanced features than many older and current Blu-ray players do. These are all reasons why I feel that HD-DVD technology actually was out in front.

Recordable High Capacity discs and IT managers

What does the end of the Blu-ray-HD-DVD war mean for IT?

Computer data storage and backup will need to be positioned for Blu-ray. This means looking at the amounts of data that can be stored on a single Blu-ray disc, and understanding the features that come along with Blu-ray technology that can aid storage and backup.

A single-layer Blu-ray disc can hold 25GB, and a dual-layer disc can hold 50GB. The Blu-ray disc format is easily extendable (i.e. future-proof) because it supports multi-layer discs, which allow storage capacity to be increased to 100GB-200GB (25GB per layer) simply by adding more layers to the discs.

Data reads will also be rapid with Blu-ray, which defines its 1x speed as 36Mbps. However, since BD-ROM movies will require a 54Mbps data transfer rate, the minimum speed we’re expecting to see is 2x (72Mbps). Blu-ray also has the potential for much higher speeds, as a result of the larger numerical aperture (NA) adopted by Blu-ray Disc. The large NA value effectively means that Blu-ray will require less recording power and lower disc rotation speed than DVD and HD-DVD to achieve the same data transfer rate. This is important because the media limited the recording speed in the past. In contrast, the only limiting factor for Blu-ray is the capacity of the hardware. To illustrate, if we assume a maximum disc rotation speed of 10,000 RPM, then 12x at the outer diameter of the disc (about 400Mbps) should be possible. This is why the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA) already has plans to raise the speed to 8x (288Mbps) or more in the future.

Blu-ray discs also take advantage of new, low cost hard-coating technologies that have made cartridges obsolete. Blu-ray will rely on hard-coating for protection, which when applied, will make the discs even more resistant to scratches and fingerprints than today’s DVDs, while still preserving the same look and feel. Blu-ray also adopts a new error correction system which is more robust and efficient than the one used for DVDs.

Conclusion
It is now clear that Blu-ray will be the DVD standard of choice. Large retailers like Best Buy and Netflix have thrown their support behind Blu-ray in the consumer market, and we can expect similar endorsement on the business side.

The time is now for IT managers to begin its evaluation of Blu-ray technology, and how Blu-ray discs will fit in corporate data centers.

About The Author

Michael Diz is head of a west coast computer accessories company. He regularly contributes articles and commentaries for trade journals, magazines, and newspapers like "Storage and Entertainment" magazine and "NewsAsia". He oversees strategic marketing, sales and product marketing for his company. When he⿿s not developing and selling technology products, he writes and develops film and television projects; a craft which he has developed under the mentorship of UCLA screenwriting chairman, Lew Hunter. He has worked on 3 continents in film production, entertainment and technology. He holds a Bachelors degree in Business and a post-graduate degree in Marketing Management.

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