The Past, Present and Future of Blu-ray

For the past couple of years, the recent Hi Def DVD wars looked, on the surface at least, like a tired replay of the original DVD format bake off. But there was much more to this Blockbuster story, as we shall see in a bit.

Setting the Stage
On one Hi Def DVD side stood Sony and Blu-ray and its new format’s supporters, including Philips, Apple, Disney, Warner Brothers, among other heavy hitters. But, making Blu-ray discs requires an expensive new manufacturing process, driving costs up.

Enter the HD DVD crowd, lead by Toshiba, whose numbers included the likes of NEC, Paramount, Intel and Microsoft, along with a slew of others. The HD DVD group loudly touted the ability to make its new discs using a simpler manufacturing process, very similar to making current DVD’s, and keeping costs down.

The competing Blu-ray and HD DVD formats quickly became a major food fight, with the hapless consumer getting a big wet pie in the kisser. Sony quickly attacked, saying a major drawback was that an HD DVD’s capacity was much less than Blu-ray. A single layer HD DVD could hold 15 GB, and a dual layer disc 30 GB, with a theoretical maximum capacity of 90 GB. In contrast, a single layer Blu-ray disc can hold 25 GB, while a dual layer disc can hold 50 GB, or over 9 hours of high def content. By adding additional layers, one Blu-ray disc can hold up to 200 GB.

Toshiba ferociously fought back, asserting that a single HD DVD platter could also contain a movie in the current DVD format as well as in the new high-def format, thereby simplifying player design and also making HD DVD’s easier to stock in stores.



To get around compatibility issues while these two heavyweights slugged it out, some vendors began to sell players that could read Blu-ray and HD DVD discs, as well as standard DVD’s. Their task was made somewhat easier as both Blu-ray and HD DVD are capable of outputting 1080P, currently the maximum HDTV resolution, as well as offering Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio sound via HDMI 1.3. (A gotcha—Many first generation HDMI 1.3 players, e.g., Samsung’s, cannot pass either Dolby TrueHD or DTS-HD Master Audio to an HDMI 1.3 receiver over HDMI in its full resolution bit-stream form).

By way of background, know that this feuding between Sony and Toshiba is as time worn as the Hatfield’s and the McCoy’s. Way back when, when standard DVD’s were being born, it was again Sony vs. Toshiba. On one side was Warner/Toshiba with their SD (SuperDisc) format; and on the other were Philips/Sony and their MMCD (MultiMedia CD). The two feuding formats were both offering DVD storage of approximately 4 to 5 gigabytes per side. Both camps also proposed a dual layer technology that effectively doubled single side capacity. The two opposing factions finally joined forces to come up with a single format, which today we know as DVD. This not so loving marriage probably would never have come about were it not for the intervention of a powerful behind the scenes matchmaker, IBM.

For more, check out
[Link: electronichouse.com]