HD-DVD and Blu-ray: Do you know the difference?
Posted on 09/03/05 04:25 by Dan Bell                             
HD-DVD and Blu-ray: Do you know the difference?

Everyone knows that the DVD is undoubtedly the most popular and quickly accepted optical storage format of all time. First replacing the Compact Disc as the recording and playback apparatus du jour in our computers, it wasn't long after that, it displaced even the venerable VHS tapes from our living rooms and entertainment areas. But due to it's rapid success, coupled with an incredible rate of innovation, could the end of the line for the red laser based, optical storage be nearing?

We realize that the DVD is not going away any time soon, but we also know that there are new demands on the horizon. Demands for instance, such as high definition video that we will want to watch and record. This type of data will outstrip even dual layer media and will call for capacities of at least two or three times greater than we can now process or store on these 12cm discs. So, the leaders in the industry have already been looking ahead and have come up with what they hope will be the next big thing, the blue laser strategy.

 

 

These two formats are heralded as the successor to the current DVD technology. Blu-ray and HD-DVD have both been developed to enable recording, playback and rewriting of high definition video and data. The key to these technologies is the blue-violet laser that is used to write the data to the disc. This blue laser has a much shorter wavelength than the current red laser DVD system, which makes it possible to read and write smaller pits, as a result, these discs can hold up to 15 GB (HD-DVD) and 25 GB (Blu-ray) of data on a single sided single layer 12cm disc.

This additional storage capacity will be essential when HDTV becomes mainstream, in order to allow storage of HD TV shows or movies on an optical disc in the same high quality. You can record about 13 hours of standard TV but only a bit more than 2 hours of uncompressed high definition TV on a 25GB disc.

When we take a closer look at the two competing formats, we can quickly see that the dimensions of the discs and the use of a blue laser are about the only similarities the two formats share.

CD Freaks is especially proud to bring you this excellent article written by two of our own in-house staff, along with a wonderful input and cooperation from the companies behind these two new, fascinating blue laser technologies. We truly feel that this paper can satisfy the experts out there and yet at the same time, help an enthusiast to understand exactly what is going on "under the hood" with these two awesome formats.

We invite you to read about the HD-DVD and Blu-ray techniques and you will surely be as excited as we are about the great new family of products, soon to be available for the consumer!  We have just added a forum thread and welcome any discussion there! If you would like to know anything not covered in this article, both of the CD Freaks members involved will be at CeBIT and of course will be meeting with both camps. Now is the time to ask those important questions! Either here or in this thread.

Source: CD Freaks.com

Reactions
Discuss this article with your fellow community members! We appreciate your valuable input, but please keep the reaction policy in mind and make sure your reaction is constructive.
By beaker75, Wednesday 09 March 2005 05:48
Great article. One thing that concerns me is the key revocation scheme. I hope the manufactures have a method for updating their players as well as handling lots of complants. I would be pissed if my new $500-$1000 player stop playing media and there was no way to "quickly" fix it. There are going to be a lot of pissed of people if every few weeks you have to download an update. Also, what about the people who don't know a Burner from a Toaster? Are they going to have to wait for an update through the mail or even worse send there player in for maintaince (probably at the owners expence)? Also, are the manufactures prepaired for the flood of support calls and the staff maintaince needed to keep track of all of the broken keys (you just know there will be steady stream of broken keys) and the associated updates?
By Hypnosis4U2NV, Wednesday 09 March 2005 07:27
Hypnosis4U2NVMy concern with these formats is the write speeds.. 25Gigs is alot of data to be written with even the current maximum DVD write speeds.. CPU's, Systemboards, Memory and Hard Drives will all need to support much faster data transfers to allow for a decent write speed..
By Crabbyappleton, Wednesday 09 March 2005 14:12
CrabbyappletonThese are great comments. We just added some links to a couple threads in the forum. If you want to have your questions answered by the reps at CeBIT this is the time to say something. There will be many from our staff at this show and we are glad to take your questions.
By Cubeman42, Wednesday 09 March 2005 18:49
Cubeman42With the onset of SATA 2 and PCI-Express bus transfer speeds will be plenty fast enough to support moving 25 gigs through optical but most people wont be adopting either of the formetioned technologies for several years so there will be problems with people try to integrate these with older PCI standards.
By BitRate, Thursday 10 March 2005 04:15
Sounds all very interesting but I seriously don't want to be persuaded into upgrading my DVD video collection to HD-DVD/Blu-Ray formats if DVD is eventually phased out. It will be the same upgrade circus all over again - movie studios releasing bare-bones films, then the "Special Editions"; next the "Extra Special Limited Editons" and so on. It's just a cash cow for the dumb masses. High definition picture quality offers little or no obvious improvement over standard definition yet mindless lemmings will "go with the flow" and shell out dough on this supposedly "innovative" technology. IMO, DVD should have a long lifespan yet it has reach market maturity much quicker than anticipated and manufacturers will now try to force consumers on to the next big "thing" which offers little or no improvement over what they already have.
By japroach, Thursday 10 March 2005 05:21
High definition offers little or no improvement over standard? Go see your optometrist your eyes must be messed up buddy.
By Moonwalker, Thursday 10 March 2005 07:20
Problem is a lot of people probably won't see the big difference in quality, hd panel adoption is still too low and most panels aren't true 1080p native but somewhere in between. Only the picky types will appreciate the difference, most of the masses probably won't even notice. Could be like DVD-A all over again.
By MATA7, Thursday 10 March 2005 11:16
MATA7ahaha even Whit 720p, you will see a big different at least i do when i wacht movies on HD Channels
By Crabbyappleton, Thursday 10 March 2005 16:05
CrabbyappletonThere is definately a difference between 480i and 720p. 720p is quite watchable. As one commenter said 1080p displays are not really out yet. But I got to see some at CES and they are just awesome! We also got to see 1080p TV broadcasts of a football game from a projection unit and it was as if you were standing on the field. Your eyes became the bottleneck. When the new content comes around and the hardware to display it, I will be there. I think though that you will not have to throw out your DVD collection and will be able to display them at 720p and 1080i on the new HD players as we already see tri mode burners out there. These DVDs when upscaled look great as I already have that ability with my present player and display.
By rdgrimes, Thursday 10 March 2005 16:11
"Problem is a lot of people probably won't see the big difference in quality" Nonsense. I've yet to have a single person look at HD content on my monitor and not be amazed at the difference between true HD and DVD or DTV content. The question isn't whether they can see the difference, but whether they care. Many are content to listen to mono soundtracks too, but that doesn't mean that DD 5:1 shouldn;t be available.
By FL4K, Thursday 10 March 2005 17:18
It's largely placebo effect. Just like everyone who claims they can tell the difference between an mp3 at aps and the original wav No-one has 'golden ears', and the same applies to peoples eyes.
By rdgrimes, Thursday 10 March 2005 19:45
Another poster who has never seen true HDTV in action on a large screen. Your analogy does not apply here, not even close.
By Crabbyappleton, Thursday 10 March 2005 23:43
CrabbyappletonFL4K I know what you mean - but you can obviously tell and it is not placebo. I have direcTV and the difference between standard Def broadcasts and the HD channels is real easy to see. I don't know where you live but if is the US you can make the sales people at Best Buy cringe by asking them to put the sets on Standard Def channels so you can see how well they handle 480i. As soon as you are done they bust ass and put the Discovery Channnel or ESPN back on! LOOL
By DeadMan, Monday 14 March 2005 23:45
DeadManI saw a demo on a huge plasma screen of standard definition and high definition displayed side by side. It was a pretty awesome demo. HD is like having the mist removed from your vision.
By DeadMan, Monday 14 March 2005 23:50
DeadManThe biggest problem is not the disc formats anyhow it's the broadcasting and TV screen upgrade/adoption. Especially so here in the UK. HDTV is only just on the horizon with Sky+ being the only broadcasting satellite network to say they will begin limited broadcasting in 2006. Terrestrial is not even on the map. The UK is still struggling with getting everyone onto Freeview digital terrestrial which is not even HD ready and the spectrum is not there to support HD broadcasting. They will need to switch off all analogue before there is even a remote possibility of it happening. More likely the government will see it as another means to make money and sell it off to mobile phone operators etc. It's difficult and expensive to get truly HD capable TV's over here too. Some manu's are claiming HDTV ready when in fact they are not (Like only being 720p and not 1080i etc). It's a mess...
By polos (guest), Thursday 01 May 2008 04:19
YOU H=GUYS ARE A BUNCH OF LONELY NERDS GET A LIFE BUDDY
Name: Email:



Your comment:

Receive notification on new comments?