August 1, 2007

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Working Knowledge: High Definition Video—Blu-ray vs. HD DVD

By Mark Fischetti

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DVDs create sharper images than videotapes and have steadily displaced the older medium. Yet movie studios are trying to spawn a newer market by producing even higher definition video.

Disk makers have released two competing high-definition formats: Blu-ray and HD DVD. The technical press is comparing the battle with the late-1970s match between VHS and Betamax videotape standards. But the current contest may play out differently: some manufacturers are making machines that can play both formats, and Warner Brothers has announced that it will soon release movies recorded in both schemes on a two-sided disk.

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Mark Fischetti was a senior editor at Scientific American for nearly 20 years and covered sustainability issues, including climate, environment, energy, and more. He assigned and edited feature articles and news by journalists and scientists and also wrote in those formats. He was founding managing editor of two spin-off magazines: Scientific American Mind and Scientific American Earth 3.0. His 2001 article “Drowning New Orleans” predicted the widespread disaster that a storm like Hurricane Katrina would impose on the city. Fischetti has written as a freelancer for the New York Times, Sports Illustrated, Smithsonian and many other outlets. He co-authored the book Weaving the Web with Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web, which tells the real story of how the Web was created. He also co-authored The New Killer Diseases with microbiologist Elinor Levy. Fischetti has a physics degree and has twice served as Attaway Fellow in Civic Culture at Centenary College of Louisiana, which awarded him an honorary doctorate. In 2021 he received the American Geophysical Union’s Robert C. Cowen Award for Sustained Achievement in Science Journalism. He has appeared on NBC’s Meet the Press, CNN, the History Channel, NPR News and many radio stations.

More by Mark Fischetti
Scientific American Magazine Vol 297 Issue 2This article was published with the title “Blu-ray vs. HD DVD” in Scientific American Magazine Vol. 297 No. 2 ()
doi:10.1038/scientificamerican082007-6arxHAudEQKlNOZLpuZ1dr
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