Just as movie and video lovers were getting used to talking about the latest DVD releases, the technological community threw consumers a curve. To match television’s jump to high definition, a format war emerged in the world of recorded video media. Blu-Ray Discs and HD-DVD’s battled each other as the heir apparent to the DVD video market. That struggle ended with Blu-Ray coming out on top.

On Feb. 19, Toshiba announced that it would no longer manufacture the HD-DVD players in response to lagging sales compared to its Blu-Ray counterpart. In a similar move, Microsoft discontinued production of their Xbox 360 HD-DVD add-on drives.

Best Buy offered jilted customers somewhat of a break. Those who purchased qualifying HD-DVD players before February 22 are eligible for $50 gift cards to help offset some of the cost of a Blu-Ray player. The move is estimated to cost the retailer approximately $10 million.

For more patient consumers, the news of HD-DVD’s demise comes as somewhat good news. Not since the days of the VHS/Betamax video tape format war has studios, consumers and the industry as a whole been so divided through incompatibility agreements. Now that further development is refocused exclusively into the Blu-Ray technology, consumers can become further educated and reap the benefits of an inevitable price drop.

“The timing is good. Now people have a year before TV sets and broadcasts go totally digital to learn about what they are buying and benefit from the price drops and better selections associated with mass production,� said Alicia David, Assistant Professor of Information Technology.

More biased Blu-Ray supporters have earned their bragging rights. “HDDVD was harder to come by anyway, and Blu-Ray was the better format with more menu options all along,� argued Trent Mosely, Business Administration sophomore.

Blu-Ray’s specifications include up to 50 GB of storage capacity on a dual-layer disc that has the same physical dimensions of CDs and DVDs. The name comes from its use of blue-violet lasers used to read and write the discs which are shorter in wavelength than standard DVDs to allow more content. HD-DVD also incorporates a shorter blue laser to compress content, but its dual-layer storage capacity is only about 30 GB.

written by John Musick