Until recently, it was difficult to decide which side of the Format Wars to favor. Both HD-DVD and Blu-ray had their advantages and disadvantages. Now, with Blu-ray having won, the question probably seems less important. However, it's still important to know these things: like the Beta vs. VHS debacle, this sort of thing will likely come to your attention again.
High-Definition
High-definition video (HD) offers a much better picture than standard-definition video (SD). In order to effectively use Blu-ray players (or even the now-defunct HD-DVD players), a high-definition television will be necessary, as Blu-ray and HD-DVD offer little advantage besides higher definition. High-definition, in simple terms, means higher image resolution. Image resolution describes how much detail is available on screen. Higher-definition televisions will show more detail.
Format Wars
Both HD-DVD and Blu-ray debuted in 2006. Each company had its own share of supporters. Among others, Sony was notable for pushing the Blu-ray (going so far as to include one in the PlayStation 3). Toshiba was one of the largest supporters of the HD-DVD format. Different studios also favored different iterations of the high-definition disc: Paramount and Warner Bros. (the latter being the largest producers of DVDs) supported HD-DVD, and Disney and 20th Century Fox supported Blu-ray. The format war was decided when Warner Bros. decided to switch to Blu-ray, as it was more popular. Not long after, Toshiba announced in 2008 that it would no longer be making HD-DVD players. With the loss of its biggest supporters, HD-DVD sales dwindled and eventually died.
Blu-ray
Blu-ray's key advantage over HD-DVD was that it offered more storage (25 GB per layer, compared to HD-DVD's 15 GB). While more than half of the Blu-ray DVDs on the market were double-layer (with 50 GB), HD-DVD's smaller amount of space required almost all of those DVDs to be double-layer. With Sony including a Blu-ray player in the PlayStation 3 system, households that purchased one already had a Blu-ray player available. As Sony sold more than 10 million PS3s, the format war went in Blu-ray's favor.
HD-DVD
The key advantage of the HD-DVD player was that it was less expensive than the Blu-ray player. For a while, the cheapest Blu-ray player on the market was the PlayStation 3. Also, it was easier for DVD manufacturers to use the new technology, since it was rather similar to the old DVD technology. As mentioned above, Microsoft favored the HD-DVD format, creating an adapter for the Xbox 360 console. Paramount, Universal and Dreamworks favored HD-DVD (mostly for the lower production costs) early in its lifetime, but eventually, sales of Blu-ray players outstripped sales of HD-DVD players.
HD-DVD Now
Some stores, such as Best Buy, reimbursed those who bought HD-DVD players a portion of their money. HD-DVD players are no longer being manufactured, although they are still being sold at prices much lower than Blu-ray players. HD-DVDs are also still being sold, but since both of these products are extremely finite, this will not be the case indefinitely. Only movies published between the introduction of HD-DVD and its decline are available, but for those who have both Blu-ray and HD-DVD, the small price is worth the hassle of switching to watch a relatively smaller library.
Tags: HD-DVD players, Blu-ray player, Blu-ray players, being sold, Blu-ray HD-DVD, Both HD-DVD, Both HD-DVD Blu-ray
