Blu-Ray vs HD-DVD

This has been recognized as the "Betamax vs VHS war all over again"...HD-DVD vs Blu-Ray.  This was all down to marketing really.  Sony was behind Blu-Ray and Toshiba was behind HD-DVD.  Amazingly, Blu-Ray won...Despite Sony's market failure of the Betamax and the Minidisc format, they out-did Toshiba with their Blu-Ray format.  HD-DVD also only held 30GB per disk where-as Blu-Ray can hold 50GB per disk (50GB on optical media is ALOT...a CD is 700MB (just a little over HALF a GB, DVD-R is 4.7GB for single-layer or 8.5GB for dual-layer and most commercial movies are dual-layer disks).  HOWEVER....from some reports I have read online (due to the fact that I don't own any Blu-Ray or HD-DVD movies, I can't speak from personal experience), HD-DVD was actually far superior in the beginning as far as picture and sound quality.  Some people were saying that Blu-Ray would never surpass HD-DVD, but amazingly, and once again...the less superior format won!  (VHS won over the more superior Betamax, and now Blu-Ray won over the superior HD-DVD format!).  I believe the real reason that Blu-Ray REALLY won had nothing do with the picture and audio quality.  Most folks wouldn't be able to tell the difference between the two really...but when Sony released the PlayStation 3 with Blu-Ray built in, for LESS than the price of most stand-alone machines, it really gave the market what they wanted.  The latest game console AND the latest in video play-back for LESS than the price of a stand-alone HD-DVD (and most Blu-Ray) players.  Sony has REALLY taken advantage of the storage ability of the Blu-Ray drive in the PlayStation 3 with games such as God of War 3, Metal Gear Solid 4, Uncharted & Final Fantasy 13 being on 40GB disks.  The Xbox360 also got Final Fantasy 13, however, it was spread across 3 DVDs.  Also, DVD can't produce the high sound quality of Blu-Ray, so the Xbox360 version of Final Fantasy 13 was scaled down as far as audio (and probably graphics, I don't know for a fact).  Also, L.A. Noire was released on both PS3 and Xbox360, the PS3 version again, took advantage of the Blu-Ray capacity and ran off a single disk, whereas the Xbox360 version used 3 dual-layer DVDs.  So, the Sony PlayStation 3 saved Blu-Ray (some say Japan's porn market saved Blu-Ray, as they had flooded the market with Blu-Ray porn!)

Betamax VS VHS

This is one of my favorite subjects.....and people are usually surprised when they learn which one was actually the best!  Betamax VS VHS....alot of folks would say that VHS was better. The prices were cheaper, the tapes had longer record time, the format lasted from 1977 (for the US market) until 2006 for most studios (however, one company continued to ship pre-recorded movies until Dec. 31, 2008).  No other format has lasted this long.  You can still buy blank tapes in stores today.  You can find VHS machines at thrift stores, eBay, Craigslist or probably a friend or relative has one.  They are still in use, just not in mass use like DVD or Blu-Ray is.  Despite the fact that VHS has been in use all these years...Betamax was actually the SUPERIOR of the two.  Despite the higher price, smaller tape size, shorter playback/record time, it was far better than the VHS competitor.  Sony had the Betamax name and was rather stingy with it and not allowing others (at first) to use it.  Beta also had 250 lines of resolution vs VHS having 240 lines.  10 lines may not sound like much or seem like much, but it did make a pretty big difference.  I have both VHS and Betamax in my entertainment system, and I got to say, I still use my Betamax if I record something off TV.