Blu-ray Digs HD-DVD's Grave

There is now one less decision consumers must make when starting/upgrading their home theater.  Blu-ray Disc or HD-DVD?  The answer?  Blu-ray Disc.

Retail giant, Walmart, may have put the last nails in HD-DVD’s coffin as they announced Friday, February 15, 2008 that they would be fully supporting Blu-ray Disc, phasing out their HD-DVD stock in 4,000 of their Sam’s Club and Walmart US stores.  This news follows that of other retail giants Target, Blockbuster, Netflix, and Best Buy, who have also announced their preference for Sony’s Blu-ray Disc over Toshiba’s HD-DVD.

HD-DVD
Toshiba’s HD-DVD, or High Definition DVD, arrived to US markets on April 18, 2006 as the direct competitor to Sony’s Blu-ray Disc.  HD-DVDs are capable of holding up to 30GB of information, or 15GB per layer.

HD-DVDs offer up to 1080p resolutions, but some players and media are limited to 720p or 1080i resolutions.  An HD-DVD player or an Xbox 360 accompanied by an HD-DVD Drive is required to play HD-DVD media.  Standard DVD’s are also capable of being played on HD-DVD players and able to be upconverted to the highest resolution the player supports.  HD-DVD players range in price from $149 - $799 USD.

HD-DVD has 386 titles available as of February 12, 2008, and is currently supported by Paramount Pictures, Universal, and Warner Bros.; although Warner Bros. currently supports both formats, their HD-DVD support will discontinue in favor of Blu-ray in May, 2008.  The MSRP of a new release on HD-DVD is $30 USD.

Blu-ray Disc
Sony’s Blu-ray Disc (BD) is a high-definition optical disc, released into US markets on June 20, 2006.  Standard BD’s are capable of holding up to 50GB of information, or 25GB per layer.  However, 8-layer prototype discs demonstrate that Blu-ray Discs have the potential to hold up to 200GB of data.

Blu-ray Discs offer full HD, or 1080p, resolutions and are able to be played back using a Blu-ray Disc compatible player or Sony’s own PlayStation 3 gaming console.  Blu-ray disc players are not only capable of playing all current DVD media, but they are able to upconvert DVD’s to full 1080p resolutions as well.  Blu-ray Disc players ranging in price from $349 - $999 USD.  

As of Feb 12, 2008, 493 titles have been released on Blu-ray Disc and all but four major motion picture studios have agreed to publish their content on the new format.  The MSRP of a new release on Blu-ray Disc is $30 USD.