Many comparisons have been made between the high-definition disc format wars and VHS vs.
ENGADGET: Switched On: Seeking neutrality in the hi-def format war
Blu-ray DiscTM is the next-generation optical disc format for high definition audio-video and high-capacity data software applications.
And everyone--even the ill-fated next-generation video disc format's chief backer--stands to gain.
There's something immediately striking about Nintendo's Wii U proprietary disc format that's hard to notice in photos -- it's got rounded edges, both outside and in.
ENGADGET: Take a very, very close look at the round-edged Wii U proprietary discs
The Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA) is responsible for promoting and developing business opportunities for Blu-ray Disc - the next-generation optical disc format for storing high-definition movies, games, photos and other digital content.
So if you pop in a DVD "infected" with Protect DVD-Video, it can't be read by Windows Media Player, Media Center Edition, or any DirectShow-based software, thanks to a Universal Disc Format that tricks your machine into believing that the IFO file is zero bytes long.
ENGADGET: Protect DVD-Video prevents discs from playing on your PC
Sony and partner Phillips offered the MMCD (Multi-Media Compact Disc) format while the SD (Super Density) format was backed by Toshiba and Matsushita, among others.
That leaves two other precedents, one of which was the dual-format audio disc war fought between SACD and DVD-Audio.
ENGADGET: Switched On: Seeking neutrality in the hi-def format war
That was then burned to either a DVD disc or a VCD disc, a CD format popular in Asia but which has never really taken root in the U.S. From there it was uploaded to the Internet, where it was promulgated.
The carrier is based on the specifications for the digital video disc, the home-movie format introduced last spring.
After The Format's first disc, EP, generated significant music-industry buzz, a major label released Interventions and Lullabies in 2003.
But Verbatim claims the 4420 will completely format a 650MB CD-RW disc in less than 30 seconds.
Nine consumer electronics firm agreed in February to standardize and promote a new format called "Blu-ray Disc" that uses a shortwave blue-violet laser to read more than two hours of high-definition content stored on a DVD-size platter.
It all started when Hasbro released the portable, disc-based VideoNow player, which used a proprietary format to play back grainy low-resolution monochrome video at a low frame rate.
Paramount's recent announcement that it would (again) release future titles only in HD-DVD shifted that format's position in the high-definition disc war.
ENGADGET: Switched On: Seeking neutrality in the hi-def format war
Other than this minor quibble, the disc extras are as comprehensive as you will find in this format and the attention to detail raises the stakes for future DVD releases.
While we hope that the Blu-ray Disc Association can work out the kinks, there is real promise in the format.
Of course, the new format will cost more to produce than your standard next-gen disc, and we're not quite sure this isn't all madness to begin with, but we suppose we'll have to play the game if we don't want to end up buying every title in triplicate.
ENGADGET: Three's company: Warner patents all-in-one hybrid disc HD
The five parts were shot as a movie over 24 days and will be released on Blu-ray disc, but Feldman said they knew they needed break points to fit the series format.
Each team put its own spin on the numbers, with HD DVD-backing Universal pointing out that despite a 5:1 advantage in hardware due to the PS3, disc sales are still nearly even, while Blu-ray supporter 20th Century Fox sees the format war as being in its "final phase, " and fence-straddling Warner merely noting that both formats are "selling well".
ENGADGET: Blu-ray surpasses HD DVD in disc sales for the first time HD
When Sony insisted that its single-sided disc was superior for personal computers, Matsushita came up with a single-sided, dual-layered disc that the Toshiba consortium immediately adopted for computer use. (Matsushita had been working on its own DVD format before joining forces with Toshiba.) At the Berlin Electronics Show last month, executives from Sony and Philips confirmed that they had resumed talks aborted earlier with the Toshiba alliance.
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