01/28/06

The HD_DVD Format

Image of HD-DVD discs ( obtained from www.maxwell.co.jp )

The HD-DVD format was developed mainly by Toshiba and it is promoted primarily by Toshiba, NEC, Sanyo,  Microsoft and Intel.  In November 2003, the DVD Forum, an international association of companies that regulates the DVD industry, selected the HD-DVD format as the next generation DVD format.  However, the rival, the Blu-ray format, has managed to garner significant support from the industry and the industry seems to be headed for a format war.

Structure of a HD-DVD disc

The HD-DVD format uses a blue laser to read data off the surface of the disc and it has a capacity of 15 Gigabytes on a single layer.  The structure is similar to the current DVD format were it comprises of two 0.6mm thick substrate layers, with the pits (also known as the data layer) residing in between the substrate layers on the bonding layer.