The skinny on HD-DVD

Of the two next-generation video formats fighting it out, HD-DVD appears to be less innovative but more affordable and convenient. Like Blu-Ray it’s being developed by a group of electronics companies, this time headed by Toshiba.

HD-DVD uses blue lasers like Blu-Ray but the underlying technology shares some basic features with the DVD. This means that HD-DVD has a simpler manufacturing process which allows for cheaper discs and players though the discs have less capacity per layer (15GB to Blu-Ray’s 25GB). Of course the dual-layer capacity of 30 GB is still massive: more than enough for a full-length movie in high definition along with ample extra features on the same disc. As with Blu-Ray, personal computers are a big, potential market and Toshiba has already released a desktop with an HD-DVD drive.

So far with more than 50 titles, HD-DVD is ahead of Blu-Ray when it comes to video releases. The titles include some fairly popular movies of recent years like the Tom Hanks space epic: “Apollo 13”, “The Last Samurai” with Tom Cruise and the award-winning “Ray”. Trek fans will be pleased to know that the entire Star Trek movie collection will be released on HD-DVD later this year.

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