HD-DVD and BluRay
If you like to have the latest toys, and have an extra $400 -
$1,000 to spend, you may wish to consider one of the new hi-definition
DVD formats. HD-DVD is Toshiba's format, and BluRay was created
by Sony.
The two use slightly different, incompatible technologies which
means you have to choose and hope the one you pick comes out on
top of the 'format war'. New players are coming out now that play
both formats, but at this point they're quite a bit more expensive.
BluRay offers the highest HD resolution (1080P) which outputs
video at 1920 x1080 pixels, while HD-DVD only supports 1080i (at
least for now).
As
far as quality goes, HD-DVD seems to have an early lead. Some
of the initial batch of BluRay discs were plagued by poor compression
which produced video 'artifacts'. Also, the first player to be
released, from Samsung, artificially softened images which made
them far less sharp then those of the competing format. Supposedly,
Samsung has corrected the problem.
Recent sales statistics indicate BluRay disc sales are outpacing
those of HD-DVDs by about 70-30. This statistic is sure to make
Sony happy!
If
you're into gaming, you may want to pick up a Playstation 3 which
uses BluRay as it's native format. For only $600 you get a great
gaming system, PLUS a BluRay player. This makes it several hundred
dollars cheaper than any standalone BluRay player, and on par
with many standalone HD-DVD players.
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