The HD Format War

[Cobra!]

During the mid to late 2000s, there was a format war between 2 competing formats to become the standard for HD video: HD-DVD and Blu-Ray.

Both used blue lasers to increase the storage space on a DVD-sized disc necessary to produce HD video. Meaning they're both HD DVDs that used blue rays...

Stop Skeletons From Fighting did a good video on the format war.

Blu-Ray as we all know (or might have guessed) won out in the end.
We went with Blu-Ray in our household. We had a PS3 so it was the easiest one for us to get into, and it seems we bet on the right horse.
I still remember the day the war was won, hearing it in the news, and the PS3 even being cited as what tipped the scales in the war.

For the longest time, that was as far as my interest went with the format war.
I figured that since both used very similar technologies and could have easily been combined to make a standard format similar to what happened to DVD, there isn't much worth exploring. Blu-Ray seemed the objectively better format, with better quality discs, and higher storage space.

Then I got into Laserdisc several years ago, and found many Laserdisc enthusiasts are also into HD-DVD on the side.
I also found out that some people use standard dual-layered DVDs to create bootleg/homebrew HD-DVDs. Turns out there's still a small community format. I figured I might as well as it turns out HD-DVD is very cheap to collect for.

Though there's a reason for this: Laser rot.
Laser rot, or Disc rot, is where the layers that hold the disc start to come apart and the data becomes unreadable. Most of this time this isn't a problem as most discs and formats are made to a standard that ensures this won't happen within our lifetimes.
However, because HD-DVD was rushed to market before Blu-Ray, some corners were cut with production, and as a result, some discs, especially Warner Bros. releases, start to "rot" within a few years of it leaving the factory.

Anyway, I got an Xbox 360 HD-DVD drive with a dozen films. Two of them are from WB, though.


I tried to get the player working on my PC and playing the films on Linux but haven't had any luck. It recognises it as an external drive, and can even open HD-DVD directories, but I can't get the films to play on VLC nor can I get MakeMKV to rip them.

I decided to just use my Xbox 360 ad use some adapters to get it playing on my CRT TV. It still looks great!
I'm watching through Superman Returns, and there is some rot on this title, because the second chapter stutters, but so far it plays just fine.



Although the other WB title I have (Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets) works without any stuttering at all.

It has been fun so far to explore a format I've never used before regardless, and it feels somehow right to watch films from the time on HD-DVD. I guess because even though Blu-Ray was around back then, I don't associate it with the late 2000s in the same way I do with HD-DVD.
There was also a 3rd format that tried to compete, called HD-VMD.
Unlike HD-DVD and Blu-Ray, HD-VMDs used the typical red laser that DVDs use, except it added more layers, giving it space for HD movies, though not as much space as the blue laser formats. (Only 15-20GB compared to 30-50GB with the other 2)
Techmoan has done 2 videos on this format that I would recommend watching.

I'd love to be able to hack the firmware of a DVD drive to play HD-VMDs one day (or even a HD-VMD) but who knows if I'll ever get to.
EDIT: I should mention that Blu-Ray uses Java for it's menus, and Java (Officially called BD-J) being a pretty open and felxable language means you're not so limited by what is advertised by Sony themselves.
People have even taken to make their own games using BD-J. Of course, they ported Doom to this!

HD-DVD by contrast uses HDi, which is a proprietary evironment made by Microsoft. You can execute code and such with it, but it's overall  more closed.
Anyone else remember this format war? What format did you go with?

[Melooon]

Omg, we have the same VHS player 

I don't have a huge amount to add other than at the time I only ever heard about Blue-Ray, however when we did a big home cinema upgrade in 2008 we got our first full HD TV (It was realllly expensive at the time). Along with that upgrade, we got a DVD player that supposedly upscaled movies to HD and added 5.1 surround sound - I remember it seemed to work ok and it was significantly more affordable than buying into a new format - so that's what the shops here were recommending to people. We also got a PS3, but I don't remember playing more than one or two Blue-Rays on it. The reality was that by 2008, HD Sky satellite TV was a thing, and it made more sense to just find movies on that and keep our old DVD collection. In 2011 we got an Apple TV box, cancelled Sky and switched to Netflix. My mum still buys DVDs today when she wants to have a physical copy of a film. She never made the Blue-Ray transition becouse Blue-Rays are too hard to play on a computer and she no longer has a TV.

In reality, though, Blue-Rays were always bound to beat HD-DVD for two simple reasons. A. They were called Blue-Rays and that was cool. B. The box was a futuristic blue, instead of a weird burgundy! 

[Cobra!]

Huh, guess my experience was very different to others'. I don't remember ever considering digital or streaming, and we just went all out with Blu-Ray. Don't really regret it, especially now hearing about the woes that come with streaming services.

I guess I dodged a bullet there! (Well, I kind of predicted it was going to happen. Relying on an off-site server ran by people who prioritise profit over you is never a good idea and I saw that in 2010!)

Omg, we have the same VHS player 

It is a great VCR! Feels pretty much top of the line when it comes to consumer units!

In reality, though, Blue-Rays were always bound to beat HD-DVD for two simple reasons. A. They were called Blue-Rays and that was cool. B. The box was a futuristic blue, instead of a weird burgundy! 

To be fair, many did bet on HD-DVD because of the familiar DVD brand.

HD-DVD did have it's advantages over Blu-Ray. You can bookmark scenes in a film and the menus were more streamlined.
Though I suppose given Blu-Ray uses Java for it's menu, it would be possible to manually code those things yourself. Heck, people have taken to make actual video games using BD-J!