LETTER TO THE EDITOR: HD DVD vs. Blu-ray

[teamerickson]

LETTER TO THE EDITOR: HD DVD vs. Blu-ray

By Steve Bliss -- Video Business, 1/11/2008

I was a little surprised by Warner’s decision to abandon HD DVD in favor of Blu-ray Disc, but there is no question about its motives.

Ten years ago, WHV led the charge to launch the DVD format, advancing an aggressive release schedule while its other major studio counterparts were dragging their heels and hedging their bets.

Fast-forward to 2007, and it’s the same story, as Warner is releasing the most titles on both Blu-ray and HD DVD while its competition once again shuffles its feet and spends most of its time bickering in the trade press.

WHV even went so far as to begin development on a “Total HD” format that would work on all players, in the process so horrifying boosters in both high-def DVD camps that they convinced major retailers to shun this notion.

Finally, Warner threw up its hands and said OK, we’ll go exclusive with Blu-ray if that’s what it takes to keep both formats from becoming the next laserdisc.

So let’s review the history of this “format war”:

1. HD DVD players have been cheaper than Blu-ray players since launch, by a wide margin until recently.
2. All HD DVD discs have worked on all HD DVD players since launch, in stark contrast to a dismal record of bugginess and incompatibility with Blu-ray discs.
3. Only HD DVD offers the benefit of HD DVD on one side of a disc and standard DVD on the other side, meaning consumers can play the same DVD on different DVD players in their homes without having to purchase the same movie twice.
4. HD DVD has offered picture-in-picture special features and Web-enabled special features since launch, while Blu-ray owners who wish to enjoy these features on future Blu-ray discs will have to scrap the player they already own and buy a new one.
5. HD DVD is far less expensive to produce than Blu-ray, making it economically feasible for smaller and independent labels to release on HD DVD and ensuring a wider variety and selection of titles.

Gosh, it seems pretty obvious that the big winner for consumers is . . . BLU-RAY???

Our industry better be careful about ignoring the needs of its consumers.

That can get to be a bad habit.

We might want to ask our friends in the recorded music industry how that worked out for them.

Steve Bliss

LETTER TO THE EDITOR: HD DVD vs. Blu-ray - 1/11/2008 - Video Business

 

[MagicNinja17]

I had hd dvd I think blue sounds way better picture is better to!

 

[Ronnie-]

I had hd dvd I think blue sounds way better picture is better to!

I have both right now, and I (am nearly everyone else) can tell you that there is no measurable difference in the picture or sound quality between the two. but you are entitled to your opinion

 

[vurbano]

I had hd dvd I think blue sounds way better picture is better to!

not sure how the picture can be any different since the past movies use the same VC-1 encodes for studios that release in both formats.

 

[Grandpa J]

I have both formats using a PS3 and a A20. I see no difference in PQ, however the HD disk loading is a bit slower.

 

[JonUrban]

Great letter!

 

[JamesJ]

oh look another bash Blu ray thread.

 

[jokeworm]

oh look another bash Blu ray thread.

Oh look - another "another bash blue-ray thread" comment.



Isn't that what the war zone is all about ?

If we came here to say how great each format was it would be called the blue-ray HD-DVD love-in forum.

 

[1080iBeVuMin]

.... 5. HD DVD is far less expensive to produce than Blu-ray, making it economically feasible for smaller and independent labels to release on HD DVD and ensuring a wider variety and selection of titles.....

That's one way to say it.

But doesn't that also mean that HD DVD is far less expensive to *PIRATE* than Blu-Ray? Making HD DVD economically feasible for "smaller and independent" pirates to copy and sell a wider variety of titles?

Could this be one big reason why the "powers that be" prefer Blu-Ray and its more expensive and more difficult format? The greater cost being a barrier to entry for smaller and not-so-legitimate labels?

I am just wondering out loud here. Yeah I own Blu-Ray, but I am not a Blu patriot because I can easily switch to HD DVD for a couple hundred bucks. I don't care who wins, just so I get my high def.

 

[diogen]

But doesn't that also mean that HD DVD is far less expensive to *PIRATE* than Blu-Ray?

The only one component present in BD specs and absent in HD that makes pirate's job harder is BD+.
The are about a dozen movies using it (only from FOX) and there is a good reason to expect this protection to be hacked in the near future.

After the copy protection is circumvented there is no difference between the formats from the pirate's point of view: most audio and all video codecs used on them are well understood and can be easily manipulated. Some very good and free compression codecs - e.g. VC-1 and x264 - can convert/compress those movies to any size/resolution for your particular TV/projector in a very reasonable amount of time. Same about audio tracks.

The dark horse in this race in watermarking that was mentioned to be coming with the final AACS spec.

Diogen.

 

[charper1]

STUPID LETTER; seems to shoot self in foot by listing all the ways HD DVD is better to him, but then fails to follow up with WHY Blu-ray sells better in all areas.



So let’s review the history of this “format war”:

1. HD DVD players have been cheaper than Blu-ray players since launch, by a wide margin until recently.
2. All HD DVD discs have worked on all HD DVD players since launch, in stark contrast to a dismal record of bugginess and incompatibility with Blu-ray discs.
3. Only HD DVD offers the benefit of HD DVD on one side of a disc and standard DVD on the other side, meaning consumers can play the same DVD on different DVD players in their homes without having to purchase the same movie twice.
4. HD DVD has offered picture-in-picture special features and Web-enabled special features since launch, while Blu-ray owners who wish to enjoy these features on future Blu-ray discs will have to scrap the player they already own and buy a new one.
5. HD DVD is far less expensive to produce than Blu-ray, making it economically feasible for smaller and independent labels to release on HD DVD and ensuring a wider variety and selection of titles.

Gosh, it seems pretty obvious that the big winner for consumers is . . . BLU-RAY???

 

[1080iBeVuMin]

The only one component present in BD specs and absent in HD that makes pirate's job harder is BD+.....

Thanks. I get that. But then, WHY does everybody keep referring to "much higher production costs" for Blu-Ray over HD DVD ???

If that was the only difference, it would be one tweak!

Seems to me, there is some kind of bigger technological hurdle to jump with Blu-Ray production -- much greater investment I suppose.

If there is a greater expense in producing Blu-Ray DVDs.... I can see that as a disadvantage to smaller and independent labels, but an ADVANTAGE to the big players who paid their dues and already own the necessary equipment.

Is there something to this line of thinking??

 

[mike123abc]

BD secret responses to

#1. More expensive players gives margin to companies that want to make players.
#4. More opportunities to keep selling new players to consumers.
#5. BDs can only be made at special BD factories tightly controlled. For the moment no Chinese factories stamping out a few million extra pirate copies.

Face it BD gives the manufacturers far more chances to make money. They also cut way down on piracy, yes slysoft is working hard for the individual, but they keep millions of extra copies from circulating.

 

[IcEWoLF]

Day 14 of the 14 day mourning period

The mourning period is over.

 

[diogen]

WHY does everybody keep referring to "much higher production costs" for Blu-Ray over HD DVD?

Those numbers (cost of disc production) are not made public often and they certainly have changed over the last year or so, but this is known about HD/BD production:

1. HD in terms of disc manufacturing is the same as DVD but has higher information density since it is using a blue laser diode. Every DVD production line sold over the last year can produce HD DVDs within 15 minutes of re-configuration. BD on the other hand requires completely new lines.

2. The biggest problem with BD production is the 0.1mm coat that has very low tolerance to variations (as opposed to 0.6mm on DVD and HD DVD). Initially this was done with film: very reliable and very expensive. First few months BD50 were of this type. From these times comes the "science fiction" term applied to BD50 (often quoted on AVS).
Spin coat (putting liquid on the disc and spinning it to achieve the desired coating) was slow in development and this is the reason that for a long time Sony was the only manufacturer of BD50s. There are claims that many of the first spin coat BD50s actually have 40-46GB on them loosing some on the outer edge of the disc - the hardest part to keep the thickness uniform. Something similar happened to the Cell chip: it has in theory 8 cores but making them all functional drops the yields dramatically. Hence, PS3 uses 7 core Cell.

According to Amir, Sony's insistence on BD's physical layer ruined unification talks between Sony (BD) and Toshiba (HD) at the 11th hour.

How much of a problem all this is now is not known. But after Warner went BD exclusive Talk admitted on AVS that BD production is the area where BD is behind HD but there are hopes it will improve soon.

Diogen.

 

[teamerickson]

The mourning period is over.

Last day.

 

[JamesJ]

Oh look - another "another bash blue-ray thread" comment.



Isn't that what the war zone is all about ?

If we came here to say how great each format was it would be called the blue-ray HD-DVD love-in forum.

silly me I thought it was about facts.

 

[diogen]

If there is a greater expense in producing Blu-Ray DVDs.... I can see that as a disadvantage to smaller and independent labels...

There are some differences between BD and HD but not in manufacturing...

As of now, BD players won't play BD-ROM without AACS. The players (at least some) will play AACS-less BD-R/RE but not BD-ROM.
That means no matter how small a release, you need an AACS license.

Also, as of now, you can't have BD authoring on DVD media.

Both of those options are available on HD.

Talking about pirates: BD has ROM-Mark that is unique to every production line. Hence, professional pirates' product can be traced where it was produced.
Not much is talked about it nowadays but (in theory at least) a BD-ROM won't be played unless it has ROM-Mark present. Considering how few BD production lines there are today, this is not an issue as of now...

Diogen.

 

[jokeworm]

silly me I thought it was about facts.

Why let the facts get in the way of the discussion
It wouldn't be half as interesting that way

 

[1080iBeVuMin]

Thanks, diogen. Great posts.