What's up with these new High Def Disc Formats - Which is better?

That's the question that a lot of people are asking. Why are the new technologies so expensive?Well a typical DVD disc can only hold 4.7 GB of information, which is why there are so many movies that offer special editions utilizing a second disc - there's not enough information to keep the resolution of the movie, and high fidelity sound at their highest output, so a second disc is required. But you can hook a DVD to practically any television.

When it comes to Blu-Ray and HD DVD players they are similar in that they will both output a High Definition image from a disc, but differ in many other ways. Blu-Ray and HD DVD discs first off can hold up to 10 times more information that a typical DVD so now you can have tons of extras on a disc (commentaries, deleted scenes, games, behind the scenes, easter eggs, etc), while having up to 1080p lines of resolution and up to 8 channels of surround sound - a typical DVD can not do this.

Between the two formats you will hear many people picking one over the other, I personally prefer Blu-Ray because more movie studios are backing it, and the disc has more capacity (Blu-Ray up to 50GB, HD DVD up to 25/30 GB). There will be more Blu-Ray movies, and more Blu-Ray compatible players, as well as the Playstation 3 that offers Blu-Ray as well.The price is high at the moment because it is new, as was DVD. I paid $600 for my first DVD player, and now I could walk in and get the current generation unit for $120, and other brands for $40 - $70. Blu-Ray and HD DVD will drop, technology always does. First thing you should do is get an HDTV, then decide which of the High Definition Disc formats is right for you.

I hope this helped.