Since the PS3's launch Sony has caught up in the next gen DVD format wars and as of last month has surpassed HD-DVD in sales. Sony managed to sign 5 out of 7 movie studios to exclusively release their content on Blu-ray, HD-DVD signed 1 studio exclusively. FYI, Sony helped create the CD Red Book standard as well as the DVD standard so if you hate Sony's tried-and-failed-miserably formats you'd best rid yourself of every cd & dvd you own.
For a quick comparison, here are some specs on Blu-ray vs HD-DVD, Blu-ray(BD), HD-DVD(HD), Single Layer(SL), Dual Layer(DL)
BD-SL = 25GBS HD-SL = 15GBS
BD-DL = 50GBS HD-DL = 30GBS
BD-DL = max up to 22.2 hrs of video
HD-DL = max up to 13.3 hrs of video
Max data transfer rate BD = 54MB/s HD = 36.55MB/s
Max Video rate BD = 40MB/s HD = 29.4MD/s
While no one has clearly won the DVD war, Blu-ray does seem to have more going for it then HD does at this point.
There's absolutely no reason to buy Blu-ray at this point, considering the price of the reader in itself, and the fact that the DVD scene hasn't even existed any longer than the VHS scene has. I see no reason to immediately jump-ship to another format, especially if most of the consumers themselves refuse to even bother with the switch. Even if Blu-ray's storage capacity is very impressive compared to what HD-DVD has to offer, it still doesn't change the fact that it's a bigger version (storage-wise) of the compact disc. Assuming that you're a complete technical junkie, most consumers won't even give a damn over the next format wars. As long as there is continuing support for the DVD format, as well as low prices supporting it, we won't see the jump to Blu-ray within the next 5 to 10 years or so.
And I don't give a rat's ass as to who created the optical disc format. Just because Sony had a major hand in researching and developing the compact disc (along with Phillips and a slew of other electronic giants), it doesn't change the fact that I'm supposed to feel obligated in supporting every new format Sony tries to set as standard, especially when the price of these new formats are more of a burden than the benefits themselves. I already have a steady load of (both old and new) DVD's in my game room, and I don't feel like wasting my time buying all of my movies again in a different format, just because Sony themselves aren't already making enough money from them. The DVD's that I own are only 3 to 4 years old, which is far less compared to some of the VHS tapes I still have sitting around my home.
And if you want to throw around a bunch of statistics of Blu-ray and HD-DVD, then let me show you a little something called Holographic Versatile Disc (HVD):
BRD: Maximum capacity of 50 GB dual-layered, 25 GB single-layered
BRD: Max data transfer rate of 54 Mega Bits
BRD: Max amount of video storage is 22.2 hours in SD, 5.5-8.5 hours in HD with MPEG-4 or VC-1 encoding
HVD: Maximum capacity of 3.9 TB (terabytes) 160x more than the capacity of a single-layered Blu-ray disc
HVD: Max data transfer rate of 1 Giga Bit or 1,024 Mega Bits
HVD: Max amount of video storage is between 4,600–11,900 hours of video using MPEG-4 encoding
Cost of HVD player/HVD disk: $15,000/$120-180
Cost of BRD player/BRD disk: $600/$12
Yeah, I think that the holographic disk format has a hell of a lot more going for it, than Blu-ray does. Never mind the fact that HVD is only useful for large enterprises with very huge storage needs and not for the common consumer. Initially this might the case, but in due time, its' price will fall steadily to the point where us normal folk can afford it.
