Advantages of Blu-Ray and HD-DVD?

Question

What are the advantages for each of these formats? I don't want to hear which one is better but just want to know the definable differences (Pro's/Con's) of each.

Answer 1

Blu-ray supports higher resolutions and holds far more data, which will allow for more enhanced features, multiple movies on discs, and great data storage.  More major studios have gone with blu-ray so your selection is better.

HD-DVD is cheaper.  that's really all it has going for it.

Answer 2

Blu-ray advantages:

-Support from more movie studios

-Uncompressed sound

HD DVD advantages:

-Cheaper players

-Fully compatible with all features

-More user/consumer friendly

Blu-Ray disadvantages:

-Unless you own a PS3, you will need to buy a new player for profile 1.1 or 2.0 compatibility

-More expensive

HD DVD disadvantages:

-Less support for 7.1 surround, no uncompressed soundtracks

-Less studio support

(In the beginning HD DVD had better video quality since blu-ray initially used MPEG-2 to encode their movies, a good example of this is The Fifth Element which was given horrible reviews on its first release due to poor picture quality which prompted the studio that released it to release a remastered version with better video quality using the AVC MPEG-4 format. MPEG-4 is now more commonly used with blu-ray and the picture quality now matches that of HD DVD)

Answer 3

I am surprised no one mentioned this, but do not under any circumstances buy a blu ray player right now.  Current models have just conformed to profile 1.1 (the current standard for discs) and version 2.0 player won't be out until years end.  All discs after that point will be made for 2.0 machines and will not fully play on 1.1 machines.  (Some discs by sony's own admission may not even play the movie on profile 1.0 players, they've said "the consumers knew what they were getting into".  Blu ray is also substantially more expensive (the most expensive high end HD DVD player goes for the same as the cheapest bluray player) and are much more prone to scratching due to a shallower burning depth.  The only thing in my opinion that bluray has going for it is studio support (which they, by payoff, have decided is best... not the consumer).  The data amounts are negligible because the additional content put on the discs won't play on the current players.  This negates the disc size advantage and HD DVD has a triple layer 50 gb disc in the works anyway, as well as 2 disc editions, one for extra features.  

Both bluray and HDDVD play at the same quality... it is indistinguishible.  

HD DVD has had a set profile from day one, its cheaper, only requires a modification to current dvd production facilities to produce (instead of whole new production factories as bluray does) thereby keeping future costs down... all players are already functional, did I mention that?  And HD DVD players are all ethernet equipped meaning that they will ALWAYS BE UPDATABLE.

I feel it is also important to mention that bluray does not even use the 50 gb discs at all frequently, and instead use their lower capacity disc of 25 gb for most releases as there is not enough content to fill their 50 gb discs, and as such that they do not have interactive menus (as HD DVD does) nor PIP commentary (machines can't handle this and profile 2.0 machines are being made to reconcile this as HD DVD has had this tech from day one).  Storage capacity is mute even without the fact that HD DVD has 50 gb capacity discs already designed.

Answer 4

Blu-ray:

Advantages:  Greater storage space allows for greater amounts of information on one disc this results in the ability to carry 7.1 surround.  They are also created to last longer and resist scratching.  Many major labels have or will soon sign exclusive contracts with Blu-ray.

Disadvantages:  A bit more expensive than HD-DVD.  It takes a while longer, 3-4 minutes in some cases for the disc to load.

HD-DVD:

Advantages:  Priced cheaper than blu-ray players, full support of Microsoft

Disadvantages:  Not as much storage resulting in many more two disc editions costing more money.  Limited number of studios producing them.

Answer 5

Blu-Ray Advantages

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Blu-Ray double layer discs can hold 50gb of data as compared to 25gb by HD-DVD. (Result of this has been Uncompressed PCM audio tracks included on some Blu-ray movies. None have been included on HD-DVD due to space requirements - Note: this could change in the future.)

While both support 1080p, early cheaper HD-DVD players only supported 1080i, so all Blu-ray players would have an advantage over these early players.

Was developed by a company that produces movies (Sony) -HD-DVD was developed by Toshiba, I am only listing this as an advantage because it is an advantage in experience in the industry of movie production and special effects (Which goes into deciding what formats would bring out the best qualities of the media that is going to be released). -This can not technically be measured.

Blu-Ray is supported by (70% of movies are released by these studios)

Warner Bros. (includes New Line Cinema, Castle Rock,  and HBO)

Disney (includes Buena Vista, Touchstone, Miramax, Dimension Films, Pixar, etc...)

Fox

Sony Pictures (includes Columbia Pictures)

Lionsgate

MGM

Consumer perception -- while this does not affect which is better from a technological standpoint, consumer perception can be instrumental in sales and generating revenue. If you read any articles regarding the 2008 Consumer Electronics Show (If you go to YAHOO->TECH->CES you will find a bunch), you will find that Blu-Ray has a definate advantage here.  Toshiba cancelling their press conferance has not helped customers gain faith in them. The fact that there is a SAVE HD-DVD petition which zienzman posted in this article further highlights the customer perception problem of HD-DVD ----As a consumer from scratch-Would you want to invest your money in a technology proclaimed as needing "saving" by individuals that have already invested in it?  This has nothing to do with which is technologically better, but does influence sales as people want to be confident that they are purchasing a product that can be used for a long time to come.

HD-DVD Advantages

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HD-DVD is supported by (30% of movies are released by these studios, but you may really like these studios)

Paramount (includes Dreamworks SKG)

Universal Studios

HD-DVD players are much cheaper for a consumer to purchase than Blu-ray players.

HD-DVD discs are cheaper to produce than Blu-Ray Discs (Note: consumer prices on the discs have been similar, so this just amounts to more profit for the movie studios).

Manufacturing of HD-DVD discs is easier, which would allow companies to get discs onto store shelves faster. (Not sure how much of an advantage this is, because I have yet to see either format sell out of movies at stores.)

Not Included

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Note, I am not including video encoding specs, or Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD support because both formats support the same, and individual movies designate what encoding is used and what audio formats are included.  While Sony has announced that there will be changes with the profile 2.0 players, most players are upgradable (including the most common player the PS3), so I wouldn't really consider this an advantage for HD-DVD.  And most of the changes with regards to profile 2.0 Discs have to do with interactive menus and bonus features, so this really isn't worth adding as a Sony advantage either.

Answer 6

blu ray supports mpeg 4,mp4, avc formats, of upto 20hours of high defination< 50gb.

hd dvd supports mpeg4,mp4 formats, of upto 10 hours of high defination<25gb.

& blu ray supports 7.1 dts hd, true dolby digital, & is far advanced than conventional dvd or even hd dvd.