And on this corner, storing 25 gigs, the BBBBBlllluuuu-rrrrrrrrrrrrrayyy Disc!
To my right, storing 15 gigabytes, is the HD-DVDDD!
(applause)
Let's get rrrrreaady to rrrrrummmmbbbbllle!

It seems that the HD-DVD is more than ready to fight, with its VC1 compression better than the Blu-ray's MPEG2/AVC scheme. It boasts of less polarization and posterization of images, but with its single-layer HD-15 disc, will it be able to emerge as the winner?

According to Peter M. Bracke, it seems so. His reviews on the Blu-ray and HD-DVD show that the Blu-ray has a narrower aspect ratio (the images were cropped on the side), darker colors, slower menu access, and as mentioned earlier, has more posterized images and polarized backgrounds. It also makes use of Dolby Digital, which is a step lower than HD-DVD's Dolby Digital Plus. However, the Blu-ray boots faster and has bigger storage capacity than the HD-DVD.

The HD-DVD on the other hand, has a slight brightness shift, also has posterization but not as severe as Blu-ray's, and has better sound quality than the Blu-ray due to the Dolby Digital Plus.

Bracke adds that both have sharp images and vibrant colors. Grainy images aren't a problem for both discs as well. But it seems that Bracke's conclusion tilts more into HD DVD's favor. However, it's just from his point of view. We could expect more improvements on both discs in the future, so this isn't a closed case just yet. Read the entire comparison between the HD-DVD and the Blu-Ray and tell us about your take on this.

Toshiba is one of the advocates when it comes to HD DVD, along with NEC, Sanyo, Microsoft and Intel. HD DVD (High Density Digital Video Disc) is considered as the direct competition to Blu-ray disc that uses the same CD size and 405nm wavelength blue laser.

Their good-looking product has backward compatibility for older versions, supports disc playback for  HD-DVD, HD DVD-R, DVD, DVD-R, DVD-RAM, DVD RW, CD, CD-R and CD-RW. It's also packed with an HD content output via HDMI and video up-conversion for SD DVD (720p/1080I).

This product, isn't exactly a bed of roses. If you're on the busy or on the impatient side, the sluggish startup time could be a turn-off for you. But you can always have breakfast or read a news or two in the papers while waiting. Toshiba execs, explain that this is because it loads and operating system first and then the OS loads the rest.

If you have some serious cash to burn, why not invest in a reliable home entertainment system? It offers excellent picture quality, exceptional sound and comes with an HDMI cable, all yours if you can forget about the slow startup time, that it doesn't support 1080p, the limited array of choices for HD DVD movies (HD DVD is currently exclusively backed by Universal Studios, and is non-exclusively backed by Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros. Studio Canal, and The Weinstein Company), and its hefty price tag in the neighborhood of $735-$800.

Billy Talent from our forums has discovered that the local Wal-Mart in Middletown, NY has started selling HD-DVD and Blu-Ray movies. The price tags on these movies are... very interesting and can be a factor in decisions regarding which player to buy.

Although it might be good that these movies are already on sale (take a look at the prices under the titles) - "The Fifth Element" in Blu-Ray format sells for $19.96 while "The Fugitive" in HD-DVD format sells for $24.96 - they're still too costly.

I'm still wondering though what the latest from the war front between HD-DVD and Blu-Ray might be. You might remember that we reported about Pioneer's statement regarding the launch delay of its Blu-Ray players, which Toshiba can take (or perhaps has already taken) advantage of.

If until now you still haven't figured out which of these two next-gen DVD players you would want to get (assuming, of course, you still haven't gotten hold of one), maybe the price of the movies released in Blu-Ray and HD-DVD formats might help you decide. After all, you'd want to invest in something that won't be a pain in the... cause you financial strain in the future.

Only 4 days after Ricoh announced the world's first hybrid HD-DVD and Blu-ray lens comes another ground-braking announcement from the Japanese company. Ricoh are going to release their own HD-DVD and Blu-ray hybrid player by late 2007/early 2008 onto the electronics market instead of selling their lens to larger manufacturers.

Ricoh's optical reader/writer that will be installed in the hybrid player works by using a new diffraction plate. The diffraction component adjusts the laser beam with its diffraction grating for each format and passes it to the objective lens. The lens then forms a beam spot at the appropriate depth for each disk format.

Before the announcement of their hybrid optical lens, I didn't even know who Ricoh were, but now it seems they may become a big player in the digital media market. Originally I thought their optical lens would be sold to established manufacturers such as Sony, Samsung etc and they would make money this way. However, it appears that Ricoh are taking their idea and going for the win by making their own player. They'll probably sell on the optical lens after the release of their own player to the big guns, giving their own player a head start. Good for them!

Professor V Renugopalakrishnan of the Harvard Medical School in Boston claims to have developed a layer of protein made from genetically altered, light-sensitive microbe proteins which could store up to 50K GB or 50 terabytes. The light-activated protein, found in Halobacterium salinarum membrane, is also known as bacteriorhodopsin (bR). It captures and stores sunlight and converts it to chemical energy. When light shines on bR, it is converted to a series of intermediate molecules each with a unique shape and colour before returning to its 'ground state'.

By modifying the DNA that produces the bR protein, Prof Renugopalakrishnan and his colleagues were able to produce an intermediate that normally last for a few days to lasts for more than several years. They also engineered the bR protein to be more stable at the high temperatures generated by storing terabytes of data. They said the new technology will ultimately pave the way for a binary system to store data. "What this will do eventually is eliminate the need for hard drive memory completely," said Renugopalakrishnan.

Prof Renugopalakrishnan believes the protein layer could allow DVDs and other external devices to store terabytes of information.The new protein-based DVD will have advantages over current optical storage devices including next-gen DVD wannabe Bluray and HD-DVD because the information is stored in proteins that are only a few nanometres across.

"The protein-based DVDs will be able to store at least 20 times more than the Blue-ray and eventually even up to 50,000 gigabytes (about 50 terabytes) of information. You can pack literally thousands and thousands of those proteins on a media like a DVD, a CD or a film or whatever," he said at the International Conference on Nanoscience and Nanotechnology in Brisbane.

In the battle of next-generation DVD players, Blu-ray isn't quite ready for Europe.

The Taipei Times reports that Pioneer admitted this week it would not be ready to launch its Blu-ray players by the time of the Sept. 1 trade fair IFA in Berlin, which is the main consumer electronics show in Europe.

However, this opens the door for HD-DVD to get a stronger foothold there. Toshiba, which makes Blu-ray's rival standard HD-DVD, says it will be ready when the Berlin show begins.

At a briefing in Germany, Pioneer added though it has no "concrete" plans for its European launch, they believe the January 2007 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, where Blu-ray movie-players may be available in bulk, could lay the groundwork for Europe.

A HD-DVD player for European shoppers will be available in a Toshiba-designed case at IFA, but Toshiba hasn't disclosed the cost or what components will be inside.

Ricoh is developing an optical device capable of reading and writing on Blu-ray and HD DVD disk formats. Those who are stuck with DVD and CD technology should have no reason to worry as the device works on those "current-generation" disk formats as well. The unnamed device is set to debut at the International Optoelectronics Exhibition '06 outside Tokyo on July 12-14.

The optical component measures 3.5mm in diameter and has a 1mm-thick round diffraction plate with minute concentric groves on both sides which function as a diffraction grating. It's designed to adjust a light beam to an "optimum incident ray relative to the objective lens so that light focuses on the proper position for each disk format."

A Blu-ray Disc's data layer resides 0.1mm from the disk's surface, while the HD-DVD and DVD data layer is 0.6mm deep from the disk surface. CDs have a data layer depth of 1.1mm. Given all these data layer depths, Ricoh's optical diffraction component adjusts the laser beam for each disk format and passes it to the objective lens. Consequently, the lens forms a beam spot at the appropriate depth for each disk format.

A Ricoh spokesman claimed, "This diffraction device is the first one that is ready for four formats, including BD and HD-DVD. It will make it possible to build players and recorders ready for all formats, which will benefit consumers."

Ricoh will initially offer the device for disk players only.

The Toshiba-Samsung hybrid Blu-ray/HD-DVD player could help see an end to the Blu-ray and HD-DVD format war, but Japanese company Ricoh have come up with an even better solution. Instead of combining two different lens' under one player housing to read Blu-ray and HD-DVDs like the Toshiba-Samsung hybrid player, Ricoh's revolutionary optical component that reads and writes all disk formats—Blu-ray Disc and HD-DVD, as well as older formats such as DVD and CD using just one pickup and objective lens; which has never been achieved before.

Ricoh are scheduled to show off the new technology at the Optoelectronics Exhibition '06 in Tokyo, Japan on July 12-14. The company has plans to sell the component to manufacturers by the end of th year, potentially ending the format war before it even starts. Ricoh's optical reader/writer works by using a new diffraction plate. The diffraction component adjusts the laser beam with its diffraction grating for each format and passes it to the objective lens. The lens then forms a beam spot at the appropriate depth for each disk format.

You have been warned! Don't rush out and get those Blu-ray or HD-DVD players too soon, as there could be something much more worth your while on the market by the end of this year that'll read new HiDef formats as well as your old DVDs. If the Ricoh optical device is this good, filling the space of just 1 lens, we should even see Blu-ray, HD-DVD, DVD, CD and VCR recorders by early 2007. Lets just hope all goes to plan.

Visit: [Ricoh website]

In a recent shareholders' meeting, Toshiba President Atsutoshi Nishida has said that they have not given up on a "unified" format for advanced DVD discs, stating that the HD-DVD/Blu-ray war will go on for a long time 'fighting for consumers' as both are incompatible with each other. In a neutral stance, Nishida said "We have not given up on a unified format. We would like to seek ways for unifying the standards if opportunities arise".

Currently, Toshiba supports the HD-DVD format rather than Blu-ray, and rolled out their first HD-DVD players in Japan last March. This message from Toshiba top-dog Nishida is pretty clear - sooner or later, we need a unified next-generation media disc. The battle between Blu-ray and HD-DVD has been going on for years before the launch, and the failure of the two groups to settle on a unified format could result in something close to what we saw in the 1970s/1980s in the VHS-Betamax war.

Those that can remember the war will know that it caused huge consumer confusion, and both formats took a beating, with VHS coming out on top. Personally, I hope that we do not see a repeat of the VHS-Betamax war. I would like to see a more 'universal' format that everyone can agree on. Technically, Blu-ray is the stronger format as it stores more data, however, HD-DVDs are cheaper to manufacture. Surely, a hybrid of these two strong points would emerge to be the best for all parties?

Hopefully, with more encouragement and pressure by large company bosses like Nishida we could see a move towards a united format. However, that is only a hope - or more accurately, wishful thinking. Many people have been trying to stop this 'war' before it started, but now with both Blu-ray and HD-DVD discs and players on the market...it's hard to see an outcome that doesn't involve one format lying in ruins.

It's about time! Toshiba has finally heeded the calls of retailers to start replenishing the supplies of HD-DVD players by shipping new players to an increasingly larger pool of retailers on a weekly basis. Currently available in 3,000 storefronts, the Toshiba HD-DVD players will be sold in more than 5,000 outlets by year end. Toshiba has been steering its HD DVD quantities to those stores with hefty consumer electronics departments.

For the past weeks, retailers including Abt Electronics, Best Buy, and even Amazon.com have been coming up short on HD-DVD player supply, making it even harder to show off and sell HD DVD titles in-store.

Best Buy spokesman Brian Lucas says it best: No one has figured out the best way to do this. It’s hard when there aren’t that many titles and the players are in tight supply. You don’t want to confuse consumers needlessly. If you give everything too much play and there aren’t the players, that’s confusing.

Retailers also feel that HD DVD merchandising is crimped by studios switching street dates and/or providing short notice of official title bows. Stores just can't put too much effort in promoting the HD-DVD players and the titles if the studios themselves can't get their acts together and put more products out in the market.