HD DVD vs. Blu-Ray

Source: Technology Digital

Date :04/12/2007 10:51:51

The battle of the formats has begun. Here’s ExecUK’s five minute guide to three of the best

Much has been written about the battle between these two formats, ?most of it spurred on by memories of the VHS/Betamax war of the ?70s and 80s. Sony’s Blu-Ray and Toshiba’s HD DVD are unlikely to ?be a feature of marketing textbooks in quite the same way, but there’s ?still a substantial amount of mileage left in the debate.

HD DVD - Toshiba HD-XE1 (pictured)

At £450 this is substantially cheaper than Sony’s offering, and unfortunately it looks it too. But despite being visually dull, it’s a formidable machine, if not quite matching the punch of the BDP-S500. The upscaling of standard DVDs possibly outperforms the S500 and the 1080p output will certainly grab the headlines, but sluggish load times make it a little more frustrating to use than you would expect with this level of product.

If you’ve got a 1080p TV, however it’s well worth it, especially at this price.

Blu-Ray - Sony BDP-S500

This summer, Sony finally stopped ignoring those of us in Europe and released the BDP-S1E, the first player built by the Japanese giant available this side of the Atlantic. Now, it has decided to push the boat out with the BDP-S300 and S500 models. The latter, Sony’s flagship high-end Blu-Ray player (priced at £599) is the one worthy of the fullest attention. It boasts the usual features such as backwards compatibility and up-converting regular DVDs to near HD standard, but it’s the quality of the Blu-Ray visuals themselves that really impresses. The motorised door is beautiful, too.

Or… LG BH100

Still worried about making the wrong decision? Then thank LG. The BH100, or Super Multi Blue, is the first and so far only dual format HD DVD and Blu-Ray player on the market, until Samsung’s much anticipated hybrid makes an appearance at least. At £1,000, it’s certainly not cheap - the price conscious would be better off buying a lower end player in both formats – but it performs both functions with style.

‘Quirky’ seems to be the general consensus on this piece of kit, although top-mounted controls and an unusual remote control design couldn’t stop it from walking away with the ‘Most Innovative Gadget of the Year’ prize at the T3 Gadget Awards this year.

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