WesleyTech.com: HD DVD, Blu-ray, DVD info and more

Hello everyone, I was struck with a very bad illness on Sunday, which is why the site has not been updated the past couple of days. I hope to resume posting new articles in the near future. I am still resting and trying to get better, so until then you might want to check out the following optical storage websites.

http://CDRLabs.com
http://CDFreaks.com

Blu-ray outselling HD DVD
Preliminary data from Nielson VideoScan research group suggests that the total Blu-ray Disc units sold has surpassed the total HD DVD units sold as of the week ending February 18th. There are not any exact quantities or hard data provided, but instead a rough ratio has been published that states that the Blu-ray format has sold 100 units to every 98.71 HD DVD units sold.

No surprise here
This really isn’t that surprising considering that Blu-ray now has more total movie titles available than HD DVD, the Sony PS3 was launched a few months ago and Hollywood studios have released more new titles onto the market on the Blu-ray format than HD DVD in the first couple months of 2007.

What’s coming next?
As the format battles continue, it will be interesting to see how the HD DVD camp responds to the latest flurry of Blu-ray “wins”. I expect to see some type of aggressive response from the HD DVD camp in the near future. Will HD DVD respond with a surprising move? If you have any predictions, let us know what you think will happen next…

The WesleyTech.com Speedlinks section provide links and summaries to news and articles on other sites that cover interesting Blu-ray, HD DVD, DVD, CD or other related topics.

Blu-ray ISO editing
New free utility BRDGEN provides Blu-ray image (ISO) editing capabilities. Found via CDFreaks.

Blu-ray heads to Russia
Samsungs’ BDP-1000 Blu-ray player heads for Russia, even though Russia won’t have Blu-ray movie titles available for awhile.

Blu-ray patent licensing negotiations
Blu-ray patent pool holders battle out joint Blu-ray technology licensing, the press release claims “significant progress”, but the various patent holders are still currently licensing out their technologies separately. Not big news really, just “continued meetings”. If an agreement is formed, it would make it easier for Consumer Electronics and other device makers to license Blu-ray technologies and create Blu-ray products.

10x Blu-ray DL and HD DVD DL under development
Nichia announces new blue laser diode capable of 10x DL recording on Blu-ray and HD DVD. Production of the diodes is slated for the second half of 2008, which means that consumers won’t see them until 2009.

National Geographic goes High Def
Relentless Enemies film planned for both HD DVD and Blu-ray releases planned. This is the top selling National Geographic title on DVD.

Any comments or opinion on these stories? Let me know by replying below.

HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc Reviews Compared

Mark Wilson over at Gizmodo took the initiative to grab all of the HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc review data from HighDefDigest, one of the best HD DVD / Blu-ray Disc movie review websites on the net. HighDefDigest creates detailed reviews on most Blu-ray or HD DVD movie releases. They rate video quality, audio quality, Standard Definition (SD) Extras, High Definition (HD) Extras and include commentary and opinion. Gizmodo snagged data from approximately 300 different HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc movie reviews on HighDefDigest and averaged the ratings for each format.

HD DVD vs Blu-ray Disc Rating Averages
Here are the results of the ratings averages (0-5 points possible).

Average Video Rating HD DVD 3.95
Average Video Rating Blu-ray 3.86

Average Audio Rating Blu-ray 3.88
Average Audio Rating HD DVD 3.73

Average SD Extras Rating HD DVD 2.52
Average SD Extras Rating Blu-ray 1.78

Average HD Extras Rating HD DVD 0.5
Average HD Extras Rating Blu-ray 0.28

Gizmodo then threw out the video ratings average, claiming that a “statistics-savvy” friend had stated that the video average comparison could be statistically irrelevant. The audio rating was also very close, but they didn’t “throw out” that rating. I am curious to know what the “statistics-savvy” friend of Gizmodo actually said about the average video ratings data. I decided to include the video averages in this article because it is still an interesting contrast.

Gizmodos’ take on the review data
Studios are using better audio compression on Blu-ray.
Studios are not getting enough development support for the interactive programming language BD-J, which has led to a lack of disc extras on Blu-ray.
The current HighDef adopter Question: Do you prefer slightly better audio or more features?

Analyzing the video rating averages
A slight win in average video quality is still a win. HD DVD has the advantage in video quality on average, with the currently available released titles. BUT! This could change VERY soon. BD-50 is starting to pick up steam and I expect to see many Blu-ray titles released on dual layer Blu-ray Disc this year, which packs in 50GB worth of storage capacity. With the extra 20GB of storage (Blu-ray DL 50GB vs HD DVD DL 30GB), Blu-ray Discs should have absolutely no problem packing in the highest possible video quality. I’ve also read that some of the initial Blu-ray Disc authoring jobs did not result in the best video, and some of these discs are being redone by some studios to correct for quality problems. Due to these reasons and more, I predict that Blu-ray Disc average video quality will surpass HD DVD average video quality by the end of 2007.

Analyzing the audio rating averages
HD DVD already has a slight disadvantage in the audio arena. I expect this to continue as Blu-ray movie releases transition to DL and continue to maximize the audio quality on each release. I believe that this rating isn’t that big of a deal though because the average values are so close and it is typical for much more consideration to be placed upon video quality, rather than audio quality.

Analyzing the extras rating averages
In the average extras ratings battle, the competition isn’t even close. HD DVD titles are whooping Blu-ray when looking at both Standard Definition and High Definition extras. Again, this is most likely caused by difficulties that the studios are having with the interactive layer of the Blu-ray format, BD-J. Allegedly this has also led to some neutral studios postponing Blu-ray releases, opting to produce HD DVD movies instead where the interactivity and inclusion of extras is a task that actually can be accomplished. This could wind up being a major thorn for the Blu-ray camp, as the fence sitters could opt for HD DVD adoption due to the higher level of interactivity and bonus features on current available HD DVD titles.

Perspective
All in all, this is only a quick snapshot in time at an early point in the life of both formats. It is also worth mentioning that the HighDefDigest ratings data is completely subjective and is based on OPINION, therefore it can not be considered as an absolute determination of precise quality ratings. Both formats will improve with time as authoring methods are improved and studios become more familiar with each format. If you have any comments or opinion on these ratings, please let me know in the comments section below. If you’d like to check out the sources for this data, visit Gizmodo and HighDefDigest.

GameDaily is reporting that the NPD group has released a gaming console sales report for January 2007. This NPD data covers sales figures in the North American region. The report indicates that the Nintendo Wii continued to sell strong in January, outpacing the Sony PS3 and the Microsoft Xbox 360.

Game consoles January 2007 sales figures
Nintendo Wii — 436,000
Microsoft Xbox 360 — 294,000
Sony PS3 — 244,000

Total Game console sales figures (all time)
Microsoft Xbox 360 — 4,800,000
Nintendo Wii — 1,516,000
Sony PS3 — 933,000

These figures are actually very impressive for a January time-frame, as this part of the year is generally regarded as a slower sales period. Game console sales are definitely up much higher than last year. But the jump in sales activity really comes at no surprise either, as the latter part of 2006 ushered in two new highly anticipated gaming console systems, the Wii and the PS3. Looking at these figures, we can see that the Nintendo Wii takes the “rookie of the year” award, scooping up the number 1 spot for January of 2007. The Sony PS3 is lagging behind both the Wii and the Xbox 360 in January sales and cumulative sales figures. This lower than expected sales performance could be due to the higher system price, shortage of blockbuster games for the platform or other competitor factors, such as the surprise success of the Wii and its’ immensely popular Wiimote.

PS3 aches and pains
With continued competition from the Nintendo Wii and the Xbox 360, could Sony be starting to feel the pains of the PS3? Sony takes a loss on every PS3 sold and is expected to cut the console pricing again later this year, possibly taking an even larger loss on each unit. This type of strategy is used in hopes that the profit on sales of software (games) will make up for the losses on the base console. The problem is, if Sony does not recruit enough users on to the PS3 gaming wagon, they could be hurting in the long run due to a lower than expected installed user base. A small user base would lead to a lower volume of software (game) sales, minimizing the potential for Sony to turn a profit. For now, many people regard the PS3 as just an “inexpensive Blu-ray player” due to the lack of exciting games available on the platform. At $499 minimum, they must be using the word “inexpensive” very loosely. But there is definitely hope on the horizon for the PS3. Sony needs to pump out some ground-breaking games in order to sell more consoles and start catching up to the Xbox 360 and the Wii. As always, I will be paying close attention as the console wars continue along side the Blu-ray / HD DVD wars.

Blu-ray DVD vs HD DVD blank media costs
Today, I decided to take a quick look at the current difference in pricing and costs between blank Blu-ray DVD media (BD-R, BD-RE) and blank HD DVD media (HD DVD-R). The pricing information gathered here should serve as a baseline and help to provide historical comparisons and reference data as these “high definition” optical media costs continue to drop in price as time goes on. As with most products, pricing for Blu-ray and HD DVD recordable media will decline as demand increases, manufacturered quantities increase and competition increases between different brands.

HD DVD-R vs BD-R pricing estimates
Currently, the street price for both formats are pretty similar. Here is an approximate Manufactured Suggested Retail Price (MSRP) range for the various Verbatim Blu-ray DVD and HD DVD recordable formats.
BD-R $20-25
BD-R DL $35-40
BD-RE $25-30
HD DVD-R $20-25

Now let’s look at some actual pricing data from one popular online media retailer. I’ll stick with Verbatim brand media to keep a more accurate comparison of quality optical media products.

BD-R vs HD DVD-R real world costs
Supermediastore
Verbatim 1x HD DVD-R (15GB) $14.99
Verbatim 2x BD-R (25GB) $16.99
Verbatim 2x BD-RE (25GB) $19.99

After a couple of quick searches on the web, I couldn’t find any other stores that are stocking both HD DVD-R and BD-R Verbatim media. This is not really a major surprise though because HD DVD burners are not yet available to consumers. With no burners available, not many retailers are stocking the recordable HD DVD blank media. Recordable HD DVD drives are suspiciously absent form the retail market at the current time, but a LiteOn manufactured HD DVD burner is expected sometime mid-year. HD DVD-R media might drop in pricing even more as the burners become available and more recordable media manufacturing plants convert their DVD-R lines to HD DVD-R.

End of year Blu-ray and HD DVD pricing predictions
So what will the Blu-ray DVD and HD DVD blank media costs look like by the end of the year? I am predicting that we will see both both BD-R and HD DVD-R at around $10 per disc near years end, with HD DVD-R at a slightly lower price. The Blu-ray 50GB (BD-R DL) product will probably stick at around $30 per unit as it is tough to manufacture and will continue to remain in limited supplies through mid next year. Either way, Blu-ray has the advantage in the PC and high definition burner market as they already have multiple Blu-ray burners available and their format has the layer advantage. This gives me yet another opportunity to ask, HD DVD burners, where art thou?

The first 3X DVD-ROM has been successfully produced
DCA (Doug Carson & Associates, Inc.) announced that the first 3X DVD-ROM was successfully mastered and replicated at a North Carolina facility on Saturday, January 17, 2007 using MIS 8.5 DVD formatter software.

So what the heck is 3X DVD-ROM?
A dual layer, pressed, DVD-ROM variant.
Total capacity ~8.5GB.
UDF 2.5 file structure.
HD video using AVC or VC-1 codecs.
720p resolution.
Supports AACS.
Must be played in an HD DVD player.

3X DVD-ROM was dead before it was born
This has to be one of the most useless formats I have seen in a long time. This format is going no where fast. It can NOT be played back on standard DVD players, yet they are calling it a “DVD-ROM variant”. Due to the limited capacity, it will be limited to lower resolutions such as 720p. It will cost more to author compared to a standard DVD. It will have to compete with HD DVD, can only be played on HD DVD players and will be much less attractive than real HD DVD media. Say hello and goodbye to 3X DVD-ROM, because we won’t be seeing much of it ever again…

Update: I fixed some incorrect details in the article.
Update2: Apparently 3X DVD-ROM is an official DVD Forum format. I removed sentences from the original article that suggested otherwise.