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DVD on the Edge

We test double-layer burners designed to pack twice as much content onto a disc.

Jon L. Jacobi

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Blue-Laser DVD: High-Def Recording Format Wars

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Photograph: Marc Simon
The next generation of DVD drives is just around the corner, and the first drives could begin appearing in as little as six months. Based on blue lasers instead of the red lasers that today's models use, these drives promise to deliver faster write speeds and dramatically more storage.

So who needs all that additional speed and storage? Aficionados of high-definition recording, for one. HD video requires more storage capacity than a red-laser DVD can easily provide in the current MPEG-2 compression scheme. As a result, the industry is positioning blue-laser DVD as the logical companion recording technology for snazzy HDTVs.

Every big consumer electronics company supports the blue movement. Two major high-definition, blue-laser DVD formats will be competing to become the prominent standard: HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc. Backers developed the HD DVD standard with an eye toward ease of implementation and speed to market. But at only 15GB per layer, HD DVD is a bit light in the capacity department for HDTV, which tops out at a rate of 19.4 mbps or about 17.4GB per 2-hour movie. HD DVD's developers do have plans to increase the technology's capacity, but the format's spokespeople are less concrete than their Blu-ray Disc counterparts about how high the capacity will go.

Blu-ray Disc has considerably greater capacity at 25GB per layer; that's sufficient storage space to accommodate a 2-hour movie, with plenty to spare for a slew of extras. And Blu-ray's backers have already begun discussing implementing up to eight layers for a gigantic 200GB disc.

Since both HD DVD and Blu-ray use the same compression schemes (MPEG-2, AVC MPEG-4, and VC-1), there will likely be no discernable difference in picture quality to tilt consumer opinion one way or the other.

In the end, it may come down to which standard gets to the public first with content, in which case HD DVD has a clear advantage. HD DVD recorders and players are set to hit store shelves by fall 2005. Blu-ray recorders and players won't arrive until the end of 2005, or early 2006.

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