Philips's development of the Laserdisc way back in 1969 yielded many of the technologies Sony carried over and adopted when they partnered with Philips. This helped create the groundbreaking CD in '79. The same companies worked together again in the early 1990s to create a new high-density disc called the MultiMedia Compact Disc (MMCD). However, this format was eventually forsaken in favour of Toshiba's Super Density Disc (SD), having the majority of backers at the time, including Mitsubishi, Hitachi, Matsushita (Panasonic), Pioneer, Time Warner and Thomson.

The two factions cut a deal, brokered by IBM president Lou Gerstner, on a new format – the common DVD disc we all know and love. After the dust settled in 1995/1996 Toshiba found themselves at the top of the pack, leaving Sony and Philips, who weren't fully ‘in’ on the deal’s standard technology, to begin work on a next generation system. Angered by this, Sony looked for new technological developments to outdo its rivals. In fact the Professional Disc for DATA (PDD or ProDATA), was based on an optical disc system Sony had been developing in the background. This eventually became the Blu-ray disc. Not to be outdone by the pair, Toshiba waded in with its next generation system - the Advanced Optical Disc. This soon evolved into the HD-DVD.

Ye gods! 35 years after the development of optical audio/video disc technology we see the same battling techno giants, threatening to stomp all over the consumer electronics industry. Okay, so here’s some technical clarification.

Blu-ray and HD-DVD systems use the same 405nm wavelength blue-violet laser, although their optics differ in two ways. Although the Blu-ray disc has a tighter track pitch (the thread of data that spirals from the inside of the disc all the way out – much like the groove on a 12-inch vinyl - it can hold more pits. Think of pits as microscopic 0s and 1s. This means it can hold more data on the same size disc as HD-DVD, even with a laser of the same wavelength. Amazing huh?

Unfortunately, the differing track pitch of the Blu-ray disc makes its pickup apertures differ, making its optics incompatible with HD-DVD despite using lasers of the same type. If you’re interested, HD-DVD uses a 0.65 aperture versus 0.85 for Blu-ray. HD-DVD discs also have a different surface layer, that’s the clear plastic surface of the disc holding the data. HD-DVD uses a 0.6 mm-thick surface layer, while Blu-ray has a much smaller 0.1mm layer, enabling the laser to focus its larger 0.85 aperture.

This is the main issue associated with the higher cost of Blu-ray discs. The thinner surface layer make the discs more expensive to produce, as Blu-ray discs do not share the same surface thickness of DVDs. This means costly production facilities must be modified or replaced in order to produce these discs. To make production even costlier, a hard coating must also be applied to a Blu-ray disc surface, making it tough enough to protect the data 0.1mm beneath. Why bother? Well, the benefit of keeping a data layer closer to the surface leaves more room for extra layers of data. Fantastic, more room for films and data - other than the fact a Blu-ray disc costs much more than the beloved DVD discs we have at home.

So now you know why Blu-ray discs cost more, and why Sony/Philips and Toshiba are bashing our heads in trying to sell us their products. DVDEXPLODER’s opinion..? Keep it simple with a HD DVD. At least it will give you the opportunity to unlock a ‘normal’ player and make them region free using handset DVD codes.

For your information - the first Blu-ray DVD player has been launched! - the Samsung BD-P1000.

The good: Plays Blu-ray discs in true high-definition; upscales standard DVDs to high-definition; sleek design; 1080p output via HDMI.

The bad: Twice as expensive as the competing HD-DVD player; very few titles available at launch; video quality on initial titles less impressive than HD-DVD versions; slower load times; some operational bugs.

The bottom line: With video quality that's impressive but still not as good as its HD-DVD competition, the costly Samsung BD-P1000 will appeal only to those willing to risk a grand on a first-generation player in the middle of a format war.