HD-DVD - High Density Digital Versatile Disc

The New HD-DVD

The Best In High Density Digital Versatile Disc

HD-DVD The New and Improved DVD?

The standard DVD is now available in a better quality format, HD DVD (High Density Digital Versatile Disc). Offering an astounding 15 GB - 30 GB of storage capacity for single sided or double sided usage, respectively.

Optical media format is being introduced as the standard for the high definition DVDs. The video format for high definition maintains at least 720 scan lines to a probable 1080 scan lines in the most preferred 1080p (progressive scan format) as opposed to 1080i (interlaced format).

One essential asset of the HD DVD is due to its usage of corresponding analogous format of the customary CD, the same equipment is able to be used for producing both the CD and HD DVD, however, it is unable to offer a storage capacity, equivalent to that of the Blu Ray. The Blu Ray disc can hold from 27 GB to 50 GB, whereas the rewritable HD DVD is only capable of 20 GB of data on a single-layer disc, and 30 GB of data on a double-layer disc.

As the level of technology increases, the level of competition between manufacturers increases as well. The driving influence being, to find the highest quality format possible. Both HD DVD discs and Blu Ray discs are good quality, yet they both have pros and cons. The Blu Ray offers an extremely large storage capacity (only slightly less on the read-only version ), and interactive capable. These features alone will, more likely than not, raise the purchase price compared to that of the HD DVD.

Four major manufacturing companies of discs, Memory-Tech, Sanyo, Toshiba, and NEC propose the promotion of the HD DVD format. Sanyo has stated they will produce the players and essential parts for HD DVDs. Sanyo also agrees that the convenience of producing the HD DVD is an advantage.

The cover layer on the HD DVD is the same (0.6mm) as the DVD, meaning the HD DVD does not need a cartridge or an encasement. With the numerical aperture of the optical pick-up head being identical to the DVD player, the result is a lower expenditure for producing the HD DVD, as opposed to the Blu Ray.

By encoding video with MPEG-2, Video Codec 1 (VC1 -Windows Media 9 format as the platform) and H. 264/MPEG-4 AVC, onto HD DVD media, the audio format basically remains the same. Both Dolby DigitalR and DTS Digital Surround have the potential to expand to 10.2 channels. DTS has recommended its audio codec as a standard feature for the advanced format.

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