Blu-ray vs HD DVD

[Gavin Scott]

Well the battle is over and Blu-Ray has won.

Probably a good outcome, but wouldn't want to be one of the million people who bought HD-DVD.

Am I mistaken in thinking that Blu-Ray discs were supposed to be contained in a protective box (like a floppy disc)? The illustration in this thread makes me think I might be wrong.

[Alexia]

Well the battle is over and Blu-Ray has won.

Probably a good outcome, but wouldn't want to be one of the million people who bought HD-DVD.

Am I mistaken in thinking that Blu-Ray discs were supposed to be contained in a protective box (like a floppy disc)? The illustration in this thread makes me think I might be wrong.

AIUI it's just a normal optical disc.

[Sput]

What worried Toshiba and others was Blu-ray's need for a protective disc caddy, rightly considered to a turn-off for consumers. The BDA's response was to state it would move toward a caddy-free system, but the DVD Forum decided to pursue an alternative technology, thereby declaring the format war.

Then, in October 2005...

Warner would reveal it would support Blu-ray too.

That month, TDK announced a special coating that would - at long last - provide the Blu-ray format with sufficient resilience not to need caddies. The problem had been the decision to place BD's first data storage layer far closer to the disc surface than was the case with DVD. That made the discs prone to data-destroying scratches - hence the caddies. TDK's Durabis coating allowed the BDA to claim its format was as scratch-proof as HD DVD.

[Gavin Scott]

What worried Toshiba and others was Blu-ray's need for a protective disc caddy, rightly considered to a turn-off for consumers. The BDA's response was to state it would move toward a caddy-free system, but the DVD Forum decided to pursue an alternative technology, thereby declaring the format war.

Then, in October 2005...

Warner would reveal it would support Blu-ray too.

That month, TDK announced a special coating that would - at long last - provide the Blu-ray format with sufficient resilience not to need caddies. The problem had been the decision to place BD's first data storage layer far closer to the disc surface than was the case with DVD. That made the discs prone to data-destroying scratches - hence the caddies. TDK's Durabis coating allowed the BDA to claim its format was as scratch-proof as HD DVD.

Oh. Well thanks for that.

I do hope this isn't a similar protective coating to the one demonstrated on CDs on Tomorrow's World years ago.

Howard Stapleford used to be able to smear his disc with strawberry jam and still play Duran Duran on it.

Every disc I've ever owned has been scratched by being in the same room as my acerbic tongue.

*Lame*

[marksi]

We did use Compact DiscCarts in radio for a while, worked quite nicely.

[Reeves]

Does this mean Paramount, Universal and Dreamworks will re-release their titles on Blu-ray?

[Sput]

No. They're going to keep releasing on a dead format until they're driven into the ground by losses.

[Stuart*]

I thought that "Click" on BBC News 24 was rather tactless in their demonstration of the death of HD-DVD

[Sput]

Interestingly (well, we'll see) one of the initial problems to overcome with using blue lasers was their ability to punch through the discs...

[Nini]

I thought that "Click" on BBC News 24 was rather tactless in their demonstration of the death of HD-DVD

But they used a blue laser, a blue ray if you like, to destroy it with! It did ignore that both Blu-ray and HD-DVD use a blue laser to read data but the Belfast Telegraph has nothing on this sort of literal bombast relayed through images.

[Stuart*]

I don't quite follow how this is tactless.

Perhaps unnecessary gloating would have been a better description.