International Law

The history of HD DVD and Blu-Ray

PC World charts the history of the format battle between HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc:

The high-definition movie disc battle between HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc can be traced all the way back to 2000, when companies began experimenting with using new blue lasers in optical disc systems.

Because the wavelength of blue light is shorter than that of the red lasers used in DVD, less physical space is needed to record each bit of data and so more information can be crammed onto a DVD-sized disc. This extra space was needed to store the new high-definition video and TV services that were starting to be commercialized around that time.

But what started in 2000 as technical research became a battle between the world's largest electronics companies and movie studios, with the consumer caught in the middle.

Here's a look at the major milestones from the first research ...

Read it here.

Full post as published by Freedom to Differ on February 20, 2008 (boomark / email).