Choosing Which Format in the HD Vs Blue Ray War

Most next generation formats come with some “format war” or another (the notable exception was DVD where the opposition to DVD was invited on board to create a single format), the biggest one in recent times being VHS against Betamax, where the former won for a variety of reasons. With the rise in sales of high definition television sets and content, two new home video formats have recently been released against one another in a new format war. Below are some points that may help you decide which format to upgrade to in the HD vs Blue ray format war.

High Def on the Rise

High definition content has been greatly rising in popularity, especially over the past two or three years as LCD and plasma television sales have absolutely skyrocketed, vastly increasing the demand for 720p and 1080p content. In the HD vs Blue ray format war, both formats are capable of displaying 1080p video. Also, they both offer many special features and bonuses, such as directly connecting to the Internet to find out more information about the movie and what went into making it. In the past in the HD vs Blue ray war, HD-DVD's were capable of displaying more special features, but recent updates to the Blue ray format have leveled the playing field in that regard.

However, HD-DVD's use technology which is slightly easier to produce (the equipment and the lasers don't have to be as small), resulting in originally cheaper prices, although Blue ray has also made great strides in that department as well. In the HD vs Blue ray war, Blue ray has two aspects definitely going in its favor. First off, every Sony PS3 comes with support for playing Blue ray discs. What is considered the direct competitor for that gamer market segment, the X-Box 360, only has an addition HD-DVD player which is not required to play X-Box 360 games but costs additional money. With built in support, the PS3 has helped Blue ray climb out on top over HD-DVD. Also, Blue ray discs can hold 50 Gb of data as opposed to 30 Gb for HD-DVD's. While Blue ray has most of the exclusive titles from major studios, HD-DVD still has about 30% of the exclusive titles, making people cautious about upgrading and slowing down adoption rates. However, the HD vs Blue ray war is expected to be finished over the next year or two.