Blu-ray vs HD DVD: State of the Division

Well, as far as HD DVD vs. Blu-ray goes, it looks like we've pretty much passed the point of no return now; with each passing day it seems less and less likely that a compromise will be reached on a next-gen format. The ongoing peace talks between the two camps, which have been on-again, off-again for months now, seem to have finally dissolved. It's disappointing, but however you feel about the fact that the HD DVD and Blu-ray factions squandered countless chances to make it right and come together, it looks like in just a few short months they're going to be duking it out mano a mano right in our livingrooms. There may not be a lot we can do to fight back - apart from refusing to adopt either format out of sheer spite of their pigheadedness - but no matter what we might as well at least arm ourselves with the knowledge necessary to understand the nature of the situation at hand.

Here's the background:

Philips's development of the Laserdisc in 1969 yielded many of the technologies Sony carried over and adopted when they eventually partnered with way back in '79 Philips to create a little something called the CD. Both companies were hard at work together once again in the early 1990s on a new high-density disc called the MultiMedia Compact Disc (MMCD -- original name, guys), but their format was more or less abandoned in favor of Toshiba's competing Super Density Disc (SD), which had the vast majority of backers at the time, such as Hitachi, Matsushita (Panasonic), Mitsubishi, Pioneer, Thomson, and Time Warner.

The two factions cut a deal, brokered by IBM president Lou Gerstner, on a new format: DVD. Toshiba wound up on top after the dust settled in 1995/1996, and Sony and Philips, who weren't cut in on the standard (and royalties) nearly as much as they'd have liked, immediately started work on a next gen system. The Professional Disc for DATA (aka PDD or ProDATA), which was based on an optical disc system Sony had already been developing in the side, would eventually become the Blu-ray disc. Toshiba, not to be outdone by its rivals Sony and Philips, also started work on a next gen system, the Advanced Optical Disc, which eventually evolved into the HD DVD. But after thirty-five years of optical audio/video disc development we're back where we were years ago: two money-grubbing would-be standards bearers swiping at one another, threatening to wreak havoc on the consumer electronics industry. Apparently history really does repeat itself.

So here's the technical nitty gritty before we drop the graphs n' charts on you. Both Blu-ray and HD DVD use the same kind of 405nm wavelength blue-violet laser, but their optics differ in two ways. Since the Blu-ray disc has a tighter track pitch (the single thread of data that spirals from the inside of the disc all the way out -- think: grooves on a 12-inch vinyl single vs. an Elvis Costello full-length album with 40 songs), it can hold more pits -- information -- on the same size disc as HD DVD even with a laser of the same wavelength.

The differing track pitch of the Blu-ray disc makes its pickup apertures differ, however -- 0.65 for HD DVD vs. 0.85 for Blu-ray -- thus also making the two pickups technically incompatible despite using the same type of lasers. HD DVD discs also have a different surface layer (the clear plastic layer on the surface of the data -- the part that collects all your fingerprints and scratches) from Blu-ray discs. HD DVD use a 0.6 mm-thick surface layer, the same as DVD, while Blu-ray has a much smaller 0.1mm layer, which enables the laser to focus at that 0.85 aperture.

Herein lies the issues associated with the higher cost of Blu-ray discs. This thinner surface layer is what makes the discs cost more; because Blu-ray discs do not share the same surface layer thickness of DVDs, costly production facilities must be modified or replaced in order to produce the discs. A special hard coating (Durabis) must also be applied to Blu-ray discs to ensure they're sufficiently resilient to protect the data that's a mere 0.1mm beneath the surface -- this also drives the cost up. The added benefit of keeping the data layer closer to the surface, however, is more room for extra layers, and way more potential data than HD DVD.

Still with us? No? Blu-ray discs are more expensive, but hold more data -- there, that's all.

So now that you know why Blu-ray discs cost more and why Sony / Philips and Toshiba are all harshing on one another so much, we can get to the really important stuff: the numbers and who's supporting who.

Update (2.15.2008): Obviously a lot's gone down in the past couple of years, specifically with regard to format support. Granted, both Blu and Red have gotten a vast number of bit players to join up as members of their respective consortiums, but content is where it counts, and as of early 2008 HD DVD is officially on the ropes.

Capacity
Blu-Ray		HD DVD
ROM single layer: ROM dual layer: RW single layer: RW dual layer: Highest test: Theoretical limit:	23.3 / 25GB 46.6 / 50GB 23.3 / 25 / 27GB 46.6 / 50 / 54GB 100GB 200GB	Single layer: Dual layer: - - Highest test: Theoretical limit:	15GB 30GB - - 45GB 60GB

Codecs
Blu-Ray	HD DVD
MPEG-2 Microsoft Video Codec 1 (aka VC1, WMV HD, etc.) H.264 / MPEG-4 AVC Dolby Digital AC-3, DTS, linear PCM Optional: Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, DTS HD	MPEG-2 Microsoft Video Codec 1 (aka VC1, WMV HD, etc.) H.264 / MPEG-4 AVC Dolby Digital AC-3, DTS, linear PCM, Dolby Digital EX, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD Optional: DTS HD

Security
Blu-Ray	HD DVD
Mandatory HDCP encrypted output ROM-Mark watermarking technology BD+ dynamic crypto (physical layer) Advanced Access Content System (AACS)	Mandatory HDCP encrypted output (for HD) Volume identifier (physical layer) Advanced Access Content System (AACS)

Movie studio support
Blu-Ray	HD DVD
20th Century Fox Buena Vista Home Entertainment Hollywood Pictures Lions Gate Miramax Entertainment MGM Studios New Line Cinema Sony Pictures Entertainment Touchstone Entertainment The Walt Disney Company Vivendi Universal Games Warner Bros.	Dreamworks Paramount Pictures Universal Studios

Major movie rental outlets *Still awaiting final confirmation
Blu-Ray	HD DVD
Blockbuster Netflix Movie Gallery / Hollywood Video*	Movie Gallery / Hollywood Video*

Nationwide retail and major online support
Blu-Ray	HD DVD
Amazon Best Buy Circuit City Costco K-Mart Target (said to be mostly Blu) Wal-Mart	Amazon Circuit City Costco K-Mart Target

Format founders
Blu-Ray	HD DVD
Sony Corporation Royal Philips Electronics	Toshiba Corporation Hitachi Corporation

Companies listed as Members of the Board or Managing Members
Blu-Ray	HD DVD
Apple, Inc. Dell, Inc. Hewlett Packard Company Hitachi, Ltd. LG Electronics Inc. Mitsubishi Electric Corporation Panasonic (Matsushita Electric) Pioneer Corporation Royal Philips Electronics Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. Sharp Corporation Sony Corporation Sun Microsystems TDK Corporation Thomson Twentieth Century Fox Walt Disney Pictures and Television Warner Bros.	Memory-Tech Corporation NEC Corporation Sanyo Electric Co. Toshiba Corporation

Companies listed as Members, Associate Members, or Contributors (may include duplicates and/or subsidiaries)
Blu-Ray	HD DVD
1K Studios, LLC Acer Incorporated Adobe Systems Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. Allion Test Labs, Inc. Almedio Inc. Alpine Electronics Inc. Alticast Aplix Corporation ArcSoft, Inc. Arima Devices Corporation ashampoo GmbH & Co. KG ASV Corp. AudioDev AB Avid Development GmbH B&W Group B.H.A. Corporation BASF AG BluFocus Inc. Bose Corporation Brickbox Digital Media Broadcom Corporation Canon Inc. Cheertek Inc. China Hualu Group Co., Ltd. Cinram Manufacturing Inc. CMC Magnetics Corporation Corel Corporation Cryptography Research Inc. Custom Technology Inc. CustomFlix Labs, Inc. CyberLink Corp. D&M holdings, Inc. D-Box Technologies Inc. Daewoo Electronics Corporation Daikin Industries, Ltd. DATARIUS Technologies GmbH Daxon Technology Inc. DCA Inc. Deluxe Media Services Inc. Dolby Laboratories Inc. Dr. Schwab Inspection Technology GmbH Dreamer Co., Ltd. DTS, Inc. Eclipse Data Technologies Elpida Memory, Inc. Esmertec Expert Magnetics Corp. Falcon Technologies International FUJIFILM Corporation Fujitsu Ltd. Fujitsu Ten Ltd. Funai Electric Co., Ltd. GalleryPlayer Media Networks Gear Software General Members Gibson Guitar Corp. Global Machinery Co., Ltd. Gowell Electronic Limited Hie Electronics, Inc. Hoei Sangyo Co., Ltd Horizon Semiconductor. IMAGICA Corp. Imation Corp. Info Source Multi Media Ltd. INFODISC Technology Co., Ltd. Infomedia Inc. Intersil Corporation Iwatsu Test Instruments Kenwood Corporation Kobe Steel Co. Ltd. Konica Minolta Opto Inc. Lauda Co. Ltd. Lead Data Inc. LEADER ELECTRONICS CORP Lenovo LINTEC Corporation Lionsgate Entertainment LITE-ON IT Corporation Macrovision Corp. Magnum Semiconductor, Inc. MainConcept AG MediaTek Inc. Meridian Audio Ltd. MIT Technology Co., Ltd. Mitsubishi Kagaku Media Co.Ltd. Mitsui Chemicals Inc. Mitsumi Electric Co., Ltd. Monster Cable Products Moser Baer India Limited MoSys Incorporated Must Technology Co., Ltd. MX Production Services NEC Electronics Corporation NEC Personal Products Ltd. Nero Netflix Inc. Newtech Infosystems Inc. NexWave Solutions NHK Technical Services, Inc. Nichia Corporation Nikkatsu Corporation NTT Electronics Corporation nVidia Corporation OC Oerlikon Balzer AG Omnibus Japan Inc. Onkyo Corporation Online Media Technologies Ltd. Ono Sokki Co., Ltd. OPT Corporation Optodisc Technology Corporation Origin Electric Co., Ltd. Osmosys SA Pico House Pixela Corporation Plannet Associates PoINT Software & Systems GmbH Pony Canyon Enterprise Primera Technology, Inc. Prodisc Technology Inc. Pulstec Industrial Co., Ltd. Q-TEC, Inc. Quanta Storage Inc. Quantized Systems Realtek Semiconductors Ricoh Co., Ltd. Rimage Corporation Ritek Corporation Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd. ShibaSoku Co. Ltd. Sigma Designs Inc. Silicon Integrated Systems Corporation Singulus Technologies Sonic Solutions Sony BMG Music Entertainment ST Microelectronics Sunext Taiyo Yuden Co., Ltd., Targray Technology International Inc. TEAC Corporation Teijin Chemicals Ltd. Texas Instruments, Inc. The Cannery THX Ltd. Toei Video Company Ltd. Toho Company, Ltd. Toppan Printing Co., Ltd. TOPTICA Photonics AG Trailer Park UmeDisc Ltd. Universal Music Group, Inc. Victor Company of Japan, Ltd. VideACE Inc. Visionare Corporation Yamaha Corporation Yokogawa Electric Corporation Zentek Technology Japan, Inc. ZOOtech Ltd. Zoran Corporation	Acer Inc. ACSES Co.,Ltd. Ad Seeds Co.,Ltd Allion Test Labs, Inc. Almedio Inc. Alpine Electronics, Inc. Altech Ads Co. ArcSoft, Inc AudioDev AB B.H.A Corporation Bandai Visual Co. BEKO Elektronik Broadcom Corporation Canon Inc. CDN Corporation Clariant Japan CMC Magnetics Corporation Corel Corporation CyberLink Corp D&M Holdings Inc. Daikin Industries Daiko.co,ltd. Daxon Technology Inc. Dedicated Devices, Inc. DigiOn, Inc. Digital Site Corporation Disc Labo Corp. Dolby Labs, Japan Dr. Schwab Inspection Technology GmbH DT Japan, Inc. DTS, Inc. Ebistrade, Inc. Entertainment Network Inc. Exa International Expert Magnetics Corp. Finepack . Co.,LTD Flag,Inc. Fuji Photo Film Co. Fuji Plastic Co. Fuji Seiki Co. Fujitsu Limited. Funai Electric Co. Gear Software, Inc Gibson Musical Instruments GM Records Hamamatsu Metrix co.,ltd. Hitachi Corporation Hitachi Maxell, Ltd. Hoei Sangyo Co. IDE-AVA IMAGICA Corp. Imation Corp Info Source Multi Media Korea Ltd. Infodisc Technology Co. Intel Corporation Itri Jp Co., Ltd Justsystem Corporation Kadokawa Holdings, Inc. Kaleidescape, Inc. Kenwood Corporation Kinyosha Printing Co. Konica Minolta Opto, Inc. Lenovo Japan McRay Corporation Megan Media Holdings Bhd Microsoft Corporation Mitomo Co., Ltd Mitsubishi Kagaku Media Co., Ltd. / Verbatim Mitsui Chemicals, Inc. Moser Baer India Ltd MPO INTERNATIONAL Nero AG NetBlender, Inc. NHK Technical Services, INC. Nichia Corporation Nihonvtr Inc. Nikkatsu Corporation nixbu Entertainment GmbH & Co. KG Oerlikon Japan Co., Ltd. Omnibus Japan Onken Corporation Onkyo Corporation Online Media Technologies Ltd. Origin Electric Co. Outpost FX (AB) International Paramount Home Entertainment Pegasys, Inc. Pico House Co.,Ltd Pixela Corporation Plasmon OMS Sarl Pony Canyon Inc. PonyCanyon Enterprise INC. Proboxx, Inc Prodisc Technology Inc. Protron Digital Inc. Pryaid Records Inc. Pulstec Industrial Co. Q-Tec,Inc. Query inc Ricoh Co. Ritek Corporation Sanken Media Product Co., Ltd. Shibaura Mechatronics Corporation Sonic Solutions Sonopress GmbH Sumitomo Heavy Industries. Ltd Super Vision, Inc. Taiyo Yuden Co. Teac Corporation Teijin Chemicals Ltd. Toei Video Co. Toemi Media Solutions Limited Toho Company, Limited. tokyo laboratory ltd. Toppan Printing Co. Toptica Photonics AG Toyo Recording Co. Transmix Co. Trendy Corporation U-Tech Media Corp. Ulead Systems, Inc. Universal Pictures Vap Inc. Visionare Corporation Warner Home Video Inc.

Other interesting facts:

• The Nichi Corporation, who holds the design patents to the Blu-ray's laser system, sits as an associate member of the HD DVD Promotion Group.
• Even though Apple sits on the Blu-ray Board of Directors, its DVD Studio Pro software supports authoring HD DVD media.
• Blu-ray, unlike HD DVD, requires a hard coating on its discs because it's 0.5m closer to the surface. The polymer coating it uses, called Durabis, was developed by TDK and is supposedly extremely resilient and fingerprint resistant.
• The Java platform is mandatory on Blu-ray as it's the standard for menus/multimedia (i.e. all Blu-ray systems must support JVM).
• Microsoft, of course, did eventually side with HD DVD -- not surprising, given its number of long-standing IP cross-licensing deals with Toshiba. HD DVD systems continue to run Windows CE.
• The first consumer Blu-ray device in the US market wound up being the Samsung BD-P1000, and not the PlayStation 3 as expected.