Why blu ray over hd dvd

In another age, one known as , Blu-ray disc defeated a format once known as HD DVD in a battle which still has implications to this very day. Sony's fight with Toshiba over high-definition home video storage media was super interesting and almost entirely one-sided, with a predictable outcome everyone saw years before the conflict's end. However, it was also one of the last meaningful physical format battles in the tech space.

During the late 00s, high definition video was just starting to become a household name. The concept of replacing standard definition TV sets with thinner, wider, panels was finally reaching a point of acceptance around the world, and America was preparing for the switch to digital television broadcasts on a nationwide scale.

DVD was the home video format of choice and, amusingly, still is but its maximum resolution of p wasn't going to cut it without significant upscaling , Sony and Toshiba introduced solutions to the problem of people switching to watching movies p-capable TVs, in the form of Blu-ray discs and HD DVDs, respectively. They were similar concepts, with each offering scratch-resistant discs with improved piracy protection over DVDs.

HD video content meant an opportunity to finally give home movie viewers a widescreen, cinema-quality experience at home, but it also meant discs would need more space. They were determined to make sure that didn't happen again. From the time manufacturers realized that blue lasers could pick up data using a shorter wavelength—allowing more information to be packed into a standard optical disc—the idea of high-definition digital software as an eventual replacement for DVD was a natural fit.

Those discs, introduced in , had only lines of vertical resolution; the newer HD television sets could display up to lines. As many as 16 million U. Toshiba and Sony shortly became polar opposites in the battle for that market share. Each wanted to dominate what they perceived would be a lucrative licensing arrangement with other manufacturers; Sony, in particular, saw the potential for profits in exploiting their own entertainment library by reissuing catalog titles on the new format.

Both announced plans in Talks broke off, and both companies plowed ahead, separately. After delays in getting copy protection issues resolved, neither released a piece of hardware until the spring of As with virtually any new piece of technology, only the most enthusiastic early adopters dove in. Most everyone else waited to see which one held the most promise.

At one stage, 20th Century Fox was reportedly on the verge of switching support to HD DVD, which — assuming others would have followed — may have dealt Blu-ray a fatal blow. After all, Warner Bros. Warner Bros. These amounts have never been confirmed on the record, we should note.

Bottom line: Warner Bros. To all intents and purposes, the format war was done right there. Toshiba would pursue HD DVD for a few more weeks and it had been heavily pushing a free disc promotion over Christmas, hoping to woo more to the format. Yet retailers followed Warner Bros.

The announcements came thick and fast. Thus, after selling nearly one million players and with nearly titles released, Toshiba pulled the plug on the format in February, weeks after Warner Bros had declared its Blu-ray exclusivity.

Was it worth it? It was certainly not a battle that either side could really afford to lose. And lessons have clearly been learned. All investing in it will be sincerely hoping for the former…. Follow our Twitter feed for faster news and bad jokes right here. And be our Facebook chum here.

Simon Brew SimonBrew. Editor, author, writer, broadcaster, Costner fanatic. Now runs Film Stories Magazine. Skip to main content area. Quite the opposite, in fact. HD DVD As high definition televisions started becoming affordable, Hollywood money people firmly had their eyes open as to what possibilities that offered.

Join our mailing list Get the best of Den of Geek delivered right to your inbox! Day One Console launch days were supposed to be about queues of people outside of shops, and stories of machines selling out. Breaking Point With sales of high definition players and discs depressed, however, something ultimately had to give. Yet 20th Century Fox changed its mind at the very last minute.