A few ago years there was this so-called “Next-Generation Format War” between Toshiba and Sony. The war was centered on what was to be called the next format after the DVD, and was fought over two contending formats: the Blu-Ray and the HD-DVD formats. Although Toshiba had officially withdrawn and ceded over to the Blu-Ray format, it would be useful to know what the war was all about.

It began just a few years after the successful introduction of the DVD, which was introduced after the two factions made an agreement. Toshiba was the victor on the previous battle, which led to Sony and Philips partnering to outdo Toshiba on a next-generation format. Toshiba also started work on its own next-gen system.

What resulted were two optical disc systems capable of high-definition video, which would surpass the resolution of the DVD. These systems were the Blu-Ray and the HD-DVD formats. Of course, as it turns out recently, Blu-Ray has won the day much like the VHS defeated the Betamax years ago. So why did people prefer the Blue-ray over the HD-DVD?

Higher Capacity

It is a known fact that both formats utilize blue laser diodes. However, the Blu-ray has different
optics compared to the HD-DVD. For example, it uses different pickup apertures because of its tighter track pitch. This results to an aperture of 0.85, and a higher capacity. The Blu-ray has a theoretical capacity of 200GB, compared to a measly 60GB for HD-DVD.

More Studio Support

Blu-Ray found support from more studios compared to its rival. 12 companies, including 20th Century Fox and Warner Bros. – although the last one stopped its support on January 4, 2008 – supported the format, while its rival only found support from three studios:
Dreamworks, Paramount Pictures, and Universal Studios.

Supposed Advantages of the HD-DVD over the Blu-Ray

During the “war,” the supporters of the rival format had been as confident as the supporters of Blu-ray that their chosen format will be victorious… or would have been victorious by the looks of the events these days.

The HD-DVD, they claimed, would allow for quicker transition in terms of manufacturing because

techniques to make HD-DVD discs and players are formatted after the old DVD format with a few

improvements. This would have translated to lower costs for third-party DVD manufacturers, and allow for marketing of players supporting the format a few months earlier than the Blu-Ray. In other words, plants that make DVDs can make HD-DVDs with the same machines and process.

In comparison, the manufacturing of the Blu-Ray required duplicators to upgrade their equipment significantly in order to keep with the processing requirements of the Blu-Ray DVD players.

Despite all of these cited advantages, the HD-DVD’s fight against its rival officially ended with

Toshiba’s announcement on February 2008 that it will end shipping and production for products that relate to its flagship format. However, the company said, full product support and service will still be extended to those that have purchased the HD-DVD products in the past.

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