What is the difference between Blu-Ray and HD-DVDs?

Question

Which is better? Why? Also, I am trying to distinguish whether or not i should get the xBox 360 or Playstation 3. I know that the 360 has HD-DVD compatibility and the Playstation 3 has Blu-Ray. Which is better?

Answer 1

First off, it doesn't matter which is better.  Blu-Ray officially won the format war in January, and HD-DVD has been discontinued.  If movies are that important to you, get a PS3.

The 360 does NOT have HD-DVD playback capability out of the box - it never did.  You had to purchase a separate drive for it to play HD-DVDs.  The drive has been discontinued and stores have long since liquidated their HD-DVD inventories.  You might find a few on eBay, but that's about it.  There have been rumors about Microsoft releasing a blu-ray drive for the 360 - maybe even including the drive inside the 360 - but so far Microsoft has refuted this.  So, again, if watching movies in native HD is that important, get a PS3.

As for which was better, it didn't matter.  They both provided enough storage to hold a feature length movie in 1080p with various digital surround sound standards up to 7.1.  They were incompatible with each other, but otherwise provided nearly identical features.  The fact that the electronics industry decided to foist their bickering upon the general market was just a stupid move which only ended up slowing the adoption of HD video discs in a market that still  bears the scars from VHS vs. Beta, not to mention other higher-end format wars and false starts.

Answer 2

HD-DVD lost the war.  The final blow:  Japan ceased production of HD-DVD players and went exclusively to producing Blu-ray.  There aren't many companies making HD-DVD and the rest have switched to Blu-ray.  

Your video playback isn't the only thing that improves with Blu-ray.  Blu-ray has much better audio quality and most Blu-ray movies have either uncompressed audio or higher at levels that a regular DVD could NEVER achieve.  

I LOVE my PS3!

Answer 3

HD DVD is dead, so if you want HD disks the only option is Blu-ray.

That said, Blu-ray is not yet ready for mainstream adoption. Player prices are still double what they will be a year or so from now, player choice is still poor, numbers of movies available are still low, prices of disks are too high (a recent survey showed they are on average $11 more expensive than DVD). Furthermore, there is a high threshold for equipment needed to fully benefit (40"+ HDTV (preferably 1080p), A/V receiver with HDMI, surround sound speaker system).

Blu-ray MAY eventually replace DVD (maybe in 5 years or so), but for now it is a niche premium priced alternative to DVD.

Don't buy without seeing on equipment as similar as possible to what you have. The hype says results are spectacular, but with rare exception upconverted DVD is pretty darn close ... and much less expensive.

Answer 4

well blu ray is from sony mainly, and HD-DVd is from toshiba,microsoft and several other companies. blu ray has more memory room so you can put bigger movies and extra stuff. but blu ray is more expensive.blu ray players are very expensive.($400) and HD DVD is around $200.blu ray has won toshiba got rid of the HD-DVD players and DVDs. Personaly though the 360 is the better console.

Answer 5

BLU-RAY! hd is no longer being made! blu-ray is much better..basically to read a dvd, the player needs a laser..usually the laser is a red color (i'm sure you've seen at some point) but the blu-ray is blue and much much smaller than the regular dvd or hd laser..this means the blu-ray dvd can hold 10x more material and in much finer detail. hd will still have channels, but they are no longer making dvd's in hd format, so i'd say blu-ray is a much wiser choice..microsoft chalked up its losses and will not be making any more..

Answer 6

Below is a link that breaks down the differences.

I know from experience you have to buy an extra part to play high definition dvds on xbox..your best bet is playstation which has it built in.

Answer 7

Go with the Playstation.  I have read a number of articles that have talked abou the HD-DVD format going away and the Blu-Ray becoming the standard.

Of course that is if your only concern is the movie playback.  But as far as game systems go, that is more a question of the games that area available that you are most interested in.