Disney and Fox have gone Blu-ray, and now Paramount and DreamWorks have pledged allegiance to HD DVD. Which of these new formats will come out on top?

HD DVD versus Blu-ray: Fight!

Now that nearly all movie watchers have finally junked their VHS cassettes and players in favour of DVD's, we now turn to the next big technology war: Blu-ray Disc versus HD DVD in the High-Definition DVD grudge match.

Who Likes Blu-ray?

Twentieth Century Fox has decided to promote Blu-ray Disc for their movies, with such classic live action titles as Robocop, 28 Days Later, The Fly, Independence Day, Master & Commander, Ronin and the Die Hard quadrology (Is that a word? It is now).

Disney quickly followed suit by announcing that titles like The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and National Treasure, plus animation flicks like Pixar's Finding Nemo and the classic Sleeping Beauty, will go Blu-ray.

HD Devotees

Both Paramount and DreamWorks have decided that HD DVD is the way to go. The studios have pledged allegiance to the format in yesterday's announcement, saying that "they will exclusively support the next-generation HD DVD format on a worldwide basis. The exclusive HD DVD commitment will include all movies distributed by Paramount Pictures, DreamWorks Pictures, Paramount Vantage, Nickelodeon Movies and MTV Films, as well as movies from DreamWorks Animation, which are distributed exclusively by Paramount Home Entertainment."

Paramount is going large and current with its initial HD DVD offerings, releasing the live-action hits Blades of Glory and Transformers plus Shrek the Third in the new format.

"The combination of Paramount and DreamWorks Animation brings a critical mass of current box office hits to consumers with a line-up of live action and animated films that are perfect for HD DVD," said Brad Grey, Chairman and CEO of Paramount Pictures, about the announcement.

"Part of our vision is to aggressively extend our movies beyond the theater, and deliver the quality and features that appeal to our audience. I believe HD DVD is not only the affordable high quality choice for consumers, but also the smart choice for Paramount."

"We decided to release Shrek the Third and other DreamWorks Animation titles exclusively on HD DVD because we believe it is the best format to bring high quality home entertainment to a key segment of our audience -- families," chimed in DreamWorks Animation CEO, Jeffrey Katzenberg. "We believe the combination of this year's low-priced HD DVD players and the commitment to release a significant number of hit titles in the fall makes HD DVD the best way to view movies at home."

Which format will prevail?

So far, Blu-ray seems to have the upper hand. Blu-rays have accounted for 61% of Hi-Def DVD sales ever since the format's inception. In the last year, that number has risen to 66% of total Hi-Def DVD sales. In June of 2007, DVD rental giant Blockbuster stocked Blu-rays over HD, after discovering that more than 70% of Hi-Def DVD rentals were Blu-ray discs.

Blu-ray discs can be spun on the popular Sony PlayStation 3 players, while HD's are limited to the less-popular Microsoft XBox.

Blu-ray discs contain 10 GigaBytes more memory than their HD DVD counterparts (25GB versus 15GB). On the other hand, Blu-ray discs are more easily damaged than HD DVD discs. To counter this, TDK is marketing the non-scratch coating Durabis, which allegedly withstands direct abrasion by steel wool and marring with markers.

HD players are vastly less expensive than Blu-ray players. HD's currently cost consumers somewhere around the $300 mark (these are street prices, BTW, not MSRP), while Blu-ray players street for somewhere just under $500.

Some companies are trying to hedge their bets with the new technology. South Korean conglomerate LG has marketed the LGBH100, which claims to be able to play both formats. However, the player currently streets for $869. Not only that, it actually favours the Blu-ray format, since it cannot perform some of the HDi interactivity features in HD DVD.

Samsung will release the BD-UP5000 in October of 2007, which it says will be able to fully support both formats. No idea on how much this player will cost but rest assured it won't be cheap.

Ominously, über director Steven Spielberg has decided to stay out of the HD/Blu-ray fray, not letting his movies "be exclusive to either format." Do you think The Beard knows something we don't?

Who Will Go Hi-Def?

That answer is obvious. Technophiles, cinephiles and anyone with too much disposable cash will jump on the Hi-Def DVD bandwagon. The question becomes whether or not middle-income families and casual DVD users will embrace either of the new formats.

At this point, it seems unlikely. Most households have just finished swapping all their favourite movies from VHS to DVD, and now they're being asked to make another jump to High-Definition DVD.

DVD was a massive technological leap over the VHS cassette. Hi-Def DVD is a much smaller progression that doesn't provide casual users with as much reason to switch.

The Blu-ray and HD match is the 21st Century equivalent of the DAT wars of the mid-1990's: a competition over a format that won't provide any significant benefits for the regular consumer.