Audio Vision Review

After nearly 3 years of fierce debate and glossy hype, the foremost epic battle between competing home-electronics technologies – Blu-ray and HD-DVD – seems to be at risk of locking in a stalemate. While most experts agree that one technology will inevitably dominate the other and render it obsolete, that moment is yet to come, leaving countless expectant enthusiasts holding their wallets tightly and waiting cautiously for a sign.

But what are the details of this war being played out in labs, corporate offices, and the living rooms and dens of the curious few who have ventured to take a chance and buy a technology that may soon be obsolete? What are the differences between the competing technologies, and which of these differences will slowly lead one product to utterly dominate the home entertainment market?

It isn’t as though we haven’t seen this type of situation before. For those who stayed current with the technology trends in the 80’s, who had the best cassette player with the newest Marky Mark or George Michael tape spinning round and round in the deck, this scenario is disconcertingly familiar. Back then, Beta and VHS vied bitterly for the greatest chunk of the consumer market, and VHS surprised many by winning out, though it was technically the inferior technology. What consumers and experts learned from the 80’s was that “better” is in the eye of the beholder. While Beta had an image quality that was vastly superior to VHS, VHS was capable of containing a greater volume of data content, thus securing it a spot as the more attractive choice to corporate movie studios and consumers alike.

This example from two decades past carries with it some themes that are not so different to the competition we see playing out between Blu-ray and HD-DVD. Blu-ray wins undisputedly in the data capacity category. Because Blu-ray uses a narrower track pitch (the single thread of data that winds around from the inside out across the disc surface), its discs are able to hold more content. Supporters of Blu-ray have boasted of its double-layer disc’s capability of holding 50 gigabytes of content. The HD-DVD disc holds 15 gigabytes at most. Some consumers worry that the lesser data capacity of the HD-DVD would limit what movies could be released for this technology. Experts say a three-hour movie could easily exceed this size.

From the issue of disc capacity emerges the next major factor in the battle of technologies: the almighty dollar. In order to manufacture a disc with such tremendous storage capability, the makers of Blu-ray have strayed far from the manufacturing technologies that have been used for years in the production of standard-definition DVDs. And that means added cost. Factories have been built or modified, adding considerable overhead cost to their production. HD-DVD, on the other hand, uses a very similar manufacturing process to that of traditional standard-definition DVDs. Thus the old factories can be recycled for the new technology, saving the companies who produce these discs an enormous sum of money. This savings is passed on to the consumer.

With huge differences in manufacture and storage capability, it may surprise you to hear that any difference in image-quality between the technologies is negligible. A sales-expert at a popular electronics super-chain put it well when he said, “I don’t know which one is better, and 99% of people out there will see no difference.” As a testament to this statement, even the fiercest supporters of either technology have had little to say about difference in image quality. The most we can get out of either camp on this is a purported 5-second advantage in disc-loading time from the Blu-ray.

So where do the Blu-ray and HD-DVD stand today? According to the latest sales numbers from Nielsen Videoscan, Blu-ray discs recently passed HD-DVD in sales by 24%. Twentieth Century Fox said at the 2007 Consumer Electronics Show that it expects to launch 10 Blu-ray titles per month this year. Lionsgate has released 10 titles so far and has another 40 or 50 titles in the works for the coming year. Sony, who is quite possibly Blu-ray’s greatest corporate ally, has a whopping 100 titles planned for this year. Representatives for Sony said at CES 2007 that they have seen a 700% increase in software sales thanks to BD players like the Playstation 3.

It is too soon, though, to make any strong prediction. Numbers have not been made available concerning hardware high-def players, and most experts are willing to admit that the game is too close to call. Until the day of comes when one technology rules the market, it will be a hard-fought battle between storage capability, price, and the strength of corporate alliances.