Apple did more than just affiliate with a trade radical looking to rise and promote a raw applied science when it harbinger programme last week to join the Blu - Ray Disc Association ’s board of directors . The troupe also enclose itself correctly into the middle of a battle over gamey - definition DVD .

The Battleground

Unless you ’re on the bleeding sharpness of home video , you may not realize that HDTV hashigher resolutionthan DVD . HDTV ’s two main resolutions are the progressive 720P format ( 1,280 - by-720 without interlace ) and 1080i ( 1,920 - by-1,080 with interlacing ) . A widescreen DVD utilize 852 - by-480 solvent . Satellite and cable companies are already pack together these figure of speech and bring down resoluteness to fit more of them in a stream , but if you could view a movie in HDTV from an antenna ( that is , over the zephyr ) , you may be surprised to see a importantly better picture than even a “ special edition ” videodisc of the same statute title .

Apple has already bought into the HD gyration , with even the incoming - level iMovie now supporting HD TV in iLife ’ 05 , even though the least expensive camcorder you could get to make the stuff cost about $ 3,500 .

All this HD picture content needs a better storage method acting than the now ten - previous DVD . Today ’s undivided - layer 4.7 GB DVD discs can hold nearly two hours of MPEG-2 compressed video , but the same disc would take hold less than 20 minutes of HD video . Even using dual - layer discs , no one really wants a Lord of the Rings : issue of the King HD special edition that requires 13 DVDs just for the feature . More capacity is required .

Blu - Ray Versus HD - DVD

That , of path , startedhorrible war . The Blu - Ray Disc Association ( BDA ) promotes a new high - content standard based on a patrician laser , compared to the ruby-red optical maser used to read today ’s optical medial . Blu - Ray discs , known by the BD abbreviation ( as in BD - ROM and BD - Video ) , tamp up to 25 GB on a undivided stratum , and 50 GB on dual - layer disk , in the same frame component as the familiar CD and DVD . That ’s enough for two hours of HD television on a single - level saucer . Blu - Ray has an telling list of angel that admit Sony , Disney , Dell , HP , Hitachi , LG Electronics ( Goldstar ) , Matsushita ( Panasonic ) , Mitsubishi , Pioneer , Philips , Samsung , TDK , Thomson , Vivendi Universal ( games ) , and Electronic Arts .

The crucial names missing from that list are Toshiba , NEC , Viacom , NBC Universal , and Time Warner . They back the competingHD - DVD formatthat ’s also based on a blue laser , but use similar manufacturing techniques to DVD . The result disc are supposed to be less expensive , but they definitely hold less—15 GB per layer instead of Blu - Ray ’s 25 GB per layer .

Although each data format ’s players will be backward compatible with today ’s DVD disk , no participant is expected to read both Blu - Ray and HD - videodisk platter , nor are content providers expected to produce discs in both format .

That draws the battle line of reasoning — whichever format does the most for consumer will believably win . Sony invented Blu - Ray and supports it not only in electronics but through Sony Pictures , Sony Television , and other properties it owns ( including Columbia , Tri - Star , and now MGM Studios ) . Dell , HP , and now Apple have all shed their support behind Blu - Ray , and you ’ll be able to buy drives not only from Sony but also from a sort of other manufacturers listed above .

HD - DVD has only Toshiba and NEC on its ironware side at present tense , but it has already received commitments from Paramount ( presumably admit other Viacom property like CBS , MTV , and Nickelodeon ) , NBC Universal , and Time Warner ( presumably including not only Warner Bros. but also any title from cable attribute like CNN , TNT , or Cartoon internet ) . Fox has joined the governing bodies of both competing standard , but joined Blu - Ray most recently and is presume to favor Blu - Ray at this point .

In brusque , many more companies are behind Blu - Ray , but three of the biggest movie and television production companies ( Paramount , Universal , and Warner Bros. ) have committed to HD - DVD .

Apple ’s Role

According toCNet News , Apple ’s commitment to Blu - Ray stand for the company will “ take part in the furtherance and marketing ” of the format , and the BDA hopes to “ tap [ Apple ’s ] marketing and creative ace ” as well .

In all likelihood , Apple ’s commitment also imply that Apple will eventually replace SuperDrives with Blu - Ray drives , that Mac OS X ’s optical metier support will let in Blu - Ray but not HD - DVD , and that program from DVD Studio Pro to iDVD may work with Blu - Ray but wo n’t work with HD - DVD — you’ll postulate third - party computer hardware and computer software for that .

The market will pick one of these two HD formats over the next few years , but Apple ’s push button for HD on the desktop ca n’t wait until Adam Smith ’s unseeable hand level to one sort of disc . At this point , Blu - Ray sure as shooting seems like the safer choice — it ’s going to operate with more data processor and consumer players than HD - DVD , and may well win the battle .

Until it does , though , it ’s go to be tense on the video frontier .

Excerpted with permission from the March 14 issue of MDJ , print by MacJournals.com . right of first publication 2005 , GCSF incorporate . For a free trial to MDJ , visitwww.macjournals.com .