HiDefDisc.com: Blu-ray and DVD format discs and High-Definition Movies
Sony's Blu-ray Hi-Def Disc has won the high definition movie disc war. All major studios have been supporting Sony's Blu-ray Hi-Def Disc format (dubbed Blu-ray Disk and abreviated as BD) when releasing High Definition versions of their consumer DVDs, now.
It appears that because there were two competing formats, everyone was always waiting to see who would win the high definition movie disc format war. As each format used a totally different technology format, this required a separate movie disc player just to watch movies on both formats. This didn't sit right with movie video rental stores, and they simply carried the old DVD format because no one was adopting either of the available high definition disc formats since they were so expensive and no one was sure which would win out.
I personally had my bet on the HD-DVD format because it is cheaper to make these discs, figuring that Blu-ray would be a great tool for professional videographers because of its abundance of storage capactity to archive video.
But don't count HD-DVD out. Although it has lost in the present high definition movie disc war, its technology will be a great adaptation for some other proprietary format because the discs are so much cheaper to produce. In fact, I would venture to guess that it can adopt nicely in the handheld high definition movies and gaming department.
Currently, it seems that the best Blu-ray player out there is the PlayStation 3, which also offers gaming and other multimedia advantages over an ordinary Blu-ray player (of the same or more cost). However, these devices are not only improving, but getting cheaper all the time. You can now pick up a full-featured Blu-ray Disc player for $79.00 and it will play all your old DVDs and JPEG CDs, as well.
The XBOX 360 with an DVD drive is also one of the best bargains for playing high definition games and watching streamed high definition movies, though it has no on-board high-definition format DVD capabilities. This is all delivered on the original DVD format that most of us have come to know. Of course, Microsoft's XBOX 360 isn't just a gaming console, it's also a very sophisticated media center and has even been used as a set-top box for delivering broadcast cable television media.
The Sony gaming console will retain its current Blu-ray format, but Blu-ray discs also read the older DVD, CD and CDROM formats, so it is actually an all-in-one appliance that does more. That said, the XBOX has its own benefits that its users swear by. All this just helps keep the video game industry proprietary, which helps each company control their neck of the gaming industry and prevent piracy in their own ways.
However, now that Blu-ray has won the movie disc war, this may make Microsoft rethink using regular format DVD discs in the next version of the XBOX since it has already been taxing the capabilities of the DVD format.
Sony and Microsoft have always been looking to install the system as a media device which is central to the digital home.
Note that you do have Hi-Def disc capabilities in your older DVDs, you just don't have the phenomenal amount of media storage space available in the newer Blu-ray Disc (BD) format. So your HD home videos and family documentaries are still archivable on the elder DVD format, as it is the video stream that dictates the signal supplied to the television, not the DVD format. This is easily illustrated by how Microsoft used the XBOX 360 as a high-def video delivery device as previously just mentioned. Just make sure that you are watching HD video signals on an HDTV, or you are missing everything.
Add to that the fact that Blu-ray Recordable (BD-R) media is extremely expensive, the edler DVD format makes a sound alternative for HDTV compatible video footage delivery and archival.
That said, the Internet has passed the video disc as a means of video content delivery. This means that BD-R prices may never come down.
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