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High Definition DVD Recorders
The common characteristic for both these formats is that they're based on blue-light laser technology (the old DVD technology uses red-light laser). The next generation blue-light laser discs offer more disc capacity, allowing one 5-inch DVD to hold hours of HDTV-quality video. Manufacturers of High Definition DVD Recorders The first products based on blue-light laser technology are already in the market, but thus far only in Japan (at least from Sony and Matsushita). Of the competing formats, Blu-ray technology is supported by Sony, Pioneer, Panasonic, Hewlett-Packard, and other computer and consumer electronics companies. The other format, HD-DVD, is backed by Toshiba and NEC. The DVD Forum, an industry association that promotes the acceptance of DVD products on a worldwide basis, across entertainment, consumer electronics and IT industries, started officially supporting the HD-DVD format in 2004. High Definition DVD Recorders - Blu-Ray vs HD-DVD Unlike HD-DVD, the Blu-ray format has been developed to maximise capacity: one Blu-ray disc can hold about 50GB on a two-layer disc. Beating the HD-DVD manufacturers to the market, there are already existing products for Blu-ray format, available in Japan. These existing Blu-ray devices cost in the range of $2,000-$3,000. The available models include Sony BDZ-S77 high definition Blu-ray DVD recorder and Panasonic DMR-E700BD. In comparison to Blu-ray, the HD-DVD discs hold much less capacity, at 30GB on a two-layer disc. The benefits of HD-DVD, however, are on its compatibility. The HD-DVD disc is physically closer to today's DVDs, which will make it easier to manufacture discs in existing DVD factories and to make drives that can also read and write today's DVD and CD formats. Based on these HD-DVD qualities, Microsoft has announced that the the company's next-generation operating system, Longhorn, will be compatible with HD-DVD. Unlike for DVD+R/+RW and DVD-R/-RW drives and recorders, it's less likely that there will be combo drives with both HD-DVD and Blu-ray, as both need different sets of technologies and (at least the initial) cost of such a combo drive would be too high.
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