Both formats achieve these feats by squeezing vastly more data onto those little plastic discs. The Blu-ray standard holds more data than HD-DVD, a good reason for tech-heads to favor it — though given the different ways data is encoded, that advantage may not be as straightforward as it sounds. Home theater enthusiasts will argue all day over each format’s virtues (the same way they obsess over what kind of audio cables should connect your stereo to your speakers), but in discs released so far, both formats appear capable of equally impressive detail. (For readers familiar with HDTV specs, both can deliver up to 1080p resolution.)

If the formats appear nearly interchangeable quality-wise, the first obvious issue for consumers to raise is price. When players were first introduced, Blu-ray was substantially more expensive than HD-DVD, but prices for both devices have dropped rapidly (the least expensive players are still HD-DVD); complicating that comparison is the fact that the latest version of PlayStation can read Blu-ray movies, giving PS3 owners both a gaming console and a movie player.

More important for hardcore movie buffs is what titles are (and will be) available on each format — and this is where it gets ugly. Most of the major movie studios have picked sides in this format war, deciding to release their films only on one format. The studios have substantial clout here; earlier in the year, when it seemed like Blu-ray was on track to put HD-DVD out of business, Paramount reignited the race by unexpectedly announcing it would no longer release Blu-ray versions of its movies. (Conspiracy theories zipped around the Internet, with speculation that the HD-DVD camp had offered the studio a vast sum for its exclusive support.)

As things stood going into the holiday shopping season, Warner Brothers was the only major studio that had refused to pick sides. That means that the “Harry Potter” series, Warner classics like “Rio Bravo,” and new hits like “The Departed” are currently available on both HD-DVD and Blu-ray.

Parents wanting to treat their kids to Pixar gems like “Ratatouille,” though, will have to buy Blu-ray, and the same goes for all Disney movies. This will likely be a deal-breaker for Moms and Dads considering making the high-def leap; knowing that the studio behind Mickey Mouse and Captain Jack Sparrow has picked Blu-ray may be the deciding factor. (Disney hasn’t yet issued its animation classics on high-def disc, but it’s hard to imagine they’ll wait very long.) Spiderman? He swings on a Blu-ray web.

Pages: 1 2 3