Highs and Blues of DVDs

We've seen DVDs succeed CDs, but what next? The contenders are HD-DVD and the Blue-Ray Disc. Both use a blue-laser for reading/recording data instead of the traditional red laser. Advantage: violet light has the shortest wavelength amongst all colors of light, so it can pack more data within the same media space.Such high-capacity can be used for High-Definition movies or data storage applications. Both HD-DVD and Blue-Ray use the technology differently, and feel they're more superior. 

Blue-Ray is more efficient with using the blue-laser and can pack at least 25 GB per layer on the media, which can be increased in multiples of 25 as you add more layers and use both sides of the media. The Blue-Ray roadmap says 50 GB by this year's end, and 200 GB by 2007. To achieve this, it uses a completely new technology, which means higher cost of production, eventually leading to higher product costs. To give you an idea, Sony released its 23 GB Blue-Ray drives with SCSI and USB interface, with the cost being well above Rs 1.25 lakh. HD-DVD, on the other hand, starts with 15 GB per layer, and the capacities would therefore increase in multiples of 15. 

Anil Chopra

Blue-Ray is definitely a superior technology, but then technology isn't the only success factor. Strong industry backing/clout, marketing and cost are equally important. HD-DVD gains on several fronts here. It maintains some backward compatibility with the DVD, so the same production facilities can be used to manufacture its products, meaning lower production cost, a faster time to market and lower cost of products-to keep the producer/manufacturer, vendor/marketer and the customer happy. Due to this, it has gained support of several key Hollywood movie studios to bring out their future titles on

HD-DVDs.

There's even news that Microsoft will ship its upcoming Longhorn on HD-DVDs. But that doesn't mean HD-DVD will succeed. 

Blue-Ray has also been very active, launching with a whopping 70 members, and adding more to the list later, thereby carrying more clout. Not only that, but most of its members are fairly active. HP is its member, and has announced to start shipping its PCs with the Blue-Ray disc by the end of this year. JVC introduced a smaller lens for Blue-Ray drives so portable Blue-Ray players can be made. It also introduced a Blue-Ray/DVD combo, which uses the same media to record both DVD and Blue-Ray content. TDK introduced a more scratch-resistant media to eliminate the need for an outer casing for the media, thereby reducing cost.

Singulus Technologies has agreed to manufacture production equipment for pre-recorded Blue-Ray discs. Then, of course, Sony has the backing of its own

Hollywood movie studios and even Walt Disney. 

So what's the verdict? At the moment, the ball seems to be in favor of Blue-Ray, but I wouldn't be surprised if both technologies co-exist. Remember, we've seen such things happen before. Take GSM and CDMA for instance, or the DVD+R/RW format, which co-exists with DVD-R/RW despite opposition from DVD forum.

No matter who wins, you don't have to defer from buying a DVD drive for around two years. Most blue-laser based products won't hit the market before end of this year. Then it should take another six months for things to settle down before a winner finally emerges.