The contest for the next generation optical disk is well on the way. The two competing standards are: HD-DVD and Blu-Ray. Let’s quickly look at the specs for each.

Blu-Ray:

Support:
Hardware – Hitachi, LG, Matsushita (Panasonic), Pioneer, Philips, Samsung, Sharp, Sony, HP, Dell, Apple, TDK, and Thomson.

Software – Twentieth Century Fox, Walt Disney Studios, and Apple Computer.

Pre-recorded Storage Capacity – (BD-ROM): Single-layer (25GB) – Dual-layer (50GB)

Home-recorded Storage Capacity – (BD-R/BD-RE): Single-layer (25GB) – Dual-layer (50GB)

Data Transfer Rate – 36 MBPS

Disc Properties – New format requiring retooling and/or construction of new disc manufacturing and replication plants.

Video Specifications – Compatible with full MPEG2 Encoding, as well as MPEG4.

Audio Specifications – Incorporation of both Dolby Digital Plus and DTS-HD.

HD-DVD:

Support:

Hardware – Toshiba, NEC, Sanyo, Thomson.

Software – Warner Bros., New Line Cinema, Paramount Pictures, and Universal Pictures. Microsoft has also added its support to HD-DVD.

Pre-recorded Storage Capacity – (HD-DVD-ROM): Single-layer (15GB) – Dual-layer (30GB)

Home-recorded Storage Capacity – (HD-DVD-R/HD-DVD-Rewritable): Single-layer (20GB) – Dual-Sided Disc (40GB) – Dual Layer (35GB – proposed).

Data Transfer Rate: 36 MBPS

Disc Properties – Format similar to existing DVD disc structure, requiring minimal upgrading and retooling of existing DVD disc manufacturing and replication plants.

Video Specifications – Compatible with MPEG2 and MPEG4 Encoding.

Audio Specifications – Incorporation of both Dolby Digital Plus and DTS-HD.

(Source: Robert Silva, Home Theatre Guide)

Both standards are awaiting the new AACS (Advanced Access Control System, ie – piracy protection) Standard. Founding members of AACS are: IBM, Intel, Microsoft, Panasonic, Sony, Toshiba, Walt Disney, and WB. Once that standard is developed, both formats will go to market in an attempt to dominate it. Blu Ray has been available in Japan for a while now, but US release has been stunted by Hollywood. They want protection in place before it is released. HD-DVD had wanted a strong release for the Christmas holiday, 2005. But that is looking more and more doubtful. You can probably expect to start seeing them in 2006. Who will win the battle of the standards? Time will tell. But while HD-DVD and Blu-Ray are waiting for AACS, a new challenger has arrived on the scene – HVD, or Holographic Versatile Disk. HVD promises to deliver a terabyte (1000GB) of storage for consumers. Toshiba recently poured a ton of cash into Optware for its development of the product. How long will it take for Sony to pour a ton of cash into competitor InPhase? And, by the way, HVD’s don’t spin – they use the lasers to do the work. And because of that, read and writes are very fast. It can also do it in parallel, which traditional DVD’s, HD-DVD, and Blu-Ray can’t do. Since the media doesn’t need to revolve, the shape can be changed to support things like cards. You will be hearing more about HVD, I’m sure.

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