Deciding which high definition video player to purchase has just become a little bit easier.On February 19, 2008, Toshiba announced that they were abandoning their HD-DVD format.Prior to this announcement, two competing high definition disc formats, Sony’s Blu-Ray and Toshiba’s HD-DVD, were locked in a seemingly endless battle that left many customers mystified.Predictably, soon after Toshiba’s announcement, Paramount and Universal, the last remaining movie studios to support HD-DVD, announced their switch to Blu-ray as their high definition format of choice.Yet, even after Blu-Ray’s apparent victory, many still wonder whether Sony’s format is truly superior.

An in-depth analysis of the two formats reveals no clear winner.HD-DVDs, for example, are much easier to manufacture than Bly-ray discs, resulting in lower costs for customers, and higher profits for distributors.HD-DVD discs can also contain a “hybrid” feature, which allows them to be played on both standard DVD players, as well as HD-DVD players.From storage perspective, Blu-ray is the clear winner.Their single-layer discs have a capacity of around 25 GB, while their double-layer discs can hold up to 50 GB of content.HD-DVD’s storage capacity, on the other hand, clocks in at 15 GB and 30 GB for their single- and double-layer discs, respectively.Yet, despite this additional storage space, many believe that Blu-ray suffers from inferior picture quality.

Blue-ray’s quality issues stem from Sony’s initial adoption of the MPEG-2 video compression codec, which is somewhat less efficient and more space-hungry than HD-DVD’s VC-1 compression algorithm.Moreover, many of the first generation Blu-ray discs were single layer (25 GB), while most of the first generation HD-DVD discs were double layer (30 GB).By coupling an efficient codec with a larger storage capacity, HD-DVD was able to create disks with better picture quality.Recently, however, Blue-ray discs have begun to switch to VC-1.As a result, the picture quality of Blue-ray is now on par with HD-DVD.

Toshiba conceded defeat following Wal-Mart’s announcement that they were no longer going to carry HD-DVD players or movies in their stores.In addition, previously, many influential corporations had thrown their support behind Blu-ray, including Blockbuster, Amazon.com, Best Buy, Netflix, and Apple.Blu-ray has also always had support from a majority of Hollywood’s major movie studios.In the end, however, the declaration of a winner in the HD format wars seems somewhat arbitrary.Both systems had clear advantages in some areas, and disadvantages in others.Fortunately, HD-DVD’s admission of defeat has effectively resolved the issue, and it is now only a matter of time before Sony’s Blu-ray format is widely adopted.For the many consumers who were delaying their decision to purchase a next generation player, the choice of format is no longer a cause for concern.