Blue-ray vs HD DVD Format war move closer to an end

Blue-ray and HD DVD are two divergent high-density optical disc formats for the storage of digital information, including high-definition video. For a couple of years now there has been a war of sorts going on between the Blue-Ray and HD DVD camps to gain dominance over how people would view future digital entertainment.

Of late, the HD DVD format has taken a beating with Warner Bros. deciding to release all its movies exclusively in Blue-ray format. Now only Universal, Paramount Pictures and a few minor ones from the movie industry are still in the HD DVD camp with 20th Century Fox,New line, Sony Pictures, Buena Vista and of course Warner Bros firmly entrenched in the Blue-ray camp. This means that over 70% of Hollywood's movie output will be released in Blue-ray discs.

Fig: Industry support for HD DVD and Blue-ray formats

Blue-ray discs sales in the US is ahead enjoying 65% of the market over HD-DVD's 35% which is another factor which pushes Blue-ray closer to becoming the industry standard.

Fig: Blue-ray enjoys a 65% market share at present

HD DVD specifications

• Capacity : 15 GB (Single layer), 30 GB (Dual layer) and 51GB (Triple layer)
• File systems supported : ISO9660, Universal Disc Format (UDF)
• Region encoding : None
• Backward compatible : Yes
• DRM : Optional but can be incorporated.
  

Blue-ray specifications

• Capacity : 25 GB (Single layer), 50 GB (Dual layer)
• Region encoding : Yes (Divided into three regions)
• Backward compatible : Optional. Left to the manufacturers.
• DRM : Support for several layers of DRM
  

As you can see, Blue-ray has a clear advantage as far as the specifications are concerned. As an end note, here is a funny video clip featuring none other than Hitler ranting over the imminent demise of HD-DVD format.