Blu-ray vs HD-DVD

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Blu-ray vs HD-DVD

9/03/2006 posted by Kevin S

Blu-ray the facts:

1. What is it ?
Similar to a DVD or compact disc, the blu-ray Disc(BD) is capable of storing up to 25GB on Single layer and 50Gb on dual layer as opposed to 4/8GB for DVD and 700Mb for a CD.

2. Why is it called Blu-ray ?
Because the laser used to read the data from the disc is blue-violet in colour.

3. How much Video can fit on a BD ?
Around 23 hours of Standard definition(SD) video on a dual layer 50GB disc or 9 hours of High definition(HD) video.

4. What video formats will BD use ?
MPEG2 and MPEG4, with SMPTE VC-1 which is based on Microsoft WMV format.

5. Blu-ray and PS3

The new Playstation 3 (PS3) from Sony will utilise the Blu-ray format. This will mean much greater storage capacity for games.

HD-DVD the facts:

1. What it stands for ?
High Definition DVD.

2. What is it ?
A digitial optical media simliar in size to a DVD or CD. Each HD-DVD disc can contain 15GB in a single layer or 30GB in a dual layer. A blue laser is used, similar to the the blu-ray format.

3. What video formats will DB use ?
The HD-DVD system, wil support MPEG2, MPEG4 and the Microsoft VC1 format( WM9 WMV).

4. Blu-ray and the XBox 360
The new Xbox 360 from Microsoft will most likely gain an external HD-DVD disc module so that it can compete effectively with the Sony PS3 Blu-ray based console.