You said: HD-DVD movies are higher capacity than Blu-ray how can this be when hd dvd discs are 15gb single layer and 30gp dual layer, and Blu-ray discs have 25gb single layer and 50gb dual layer(they are producing a 51gb hd-dvd/dvd discs and 100gb 4x BD discs and 200 gb 8x BD-discs) so please enlighten me how can hd-dvd have a "higher capacity than Blu-ray". hmm?

so please enlighten me how can hd-dvd have a “higher capacity than Blu-ray”.

My very first point said:

Blu-ray holds more data than HD-DVD, although no Blu-ray disk manufacturer is producing the highest-capacity Blu-ray disks, and so all current commercial HD-DVD movies are higher capacity than Blu-ray.

The Blu-ray disk has the potential for higher capacity. There are no discs in regular production that are of the high capacity variety. The lesser-capacity Blu-ray discs have a smaller capacity than the high-capacity HD-DVD. Since the production system for HD-DVD is similar to DVD, it is trivial to manufacture those discs at the highre-capacity size. Of all discs currently in commercial production (ie, not demo discs) more HD-DVDs are available with higher capacity than Blu-ray discs.

To be fair, blu-ray supports the same compression formats that HD-DVD does... it's just that the studios aren't always authoring VC-1 content for blu-ray. Sony's line is that their discs can hold so much more stuff that they can continue to use MPEG-2 and just crank the bitrate up, but that's not actually true. I think the theory behind it is that Microsoft gets licensing fees for VC-1 when it's used, because it's based on a standardized high-fidelity version of WMV, so Sony doesn't like using it, despite the better quality. Basically, they're just shooting themselves in the foot. Despite coming from a competitor, VC-1 became mandatory in the blu-ray spec originally for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that it requires VASTLY less processing power than MPEG-4 (by using integer math instead of floating point), yet produces comparable results. That drives down everyone's costs, and the hardware manufacturers appreciate that. Another interesting thing you may want to consider is that blu-ray has region coding support, while HD-DVD does not. Of course, there's nothing to say they have to produce things in your language, but you'll likley be able to import and play foreign movies more easily on HD-DVD. Because the HD-DVD and DVD formats are so similar, as you mentioned, there is also the opportunity for dual-format HD-DVD discs that contain both DVD and HD-DVD versions of the same movie (one on each side, I think). While I don't know that it's all that useful, the theory is that it allows people to upgrade to HD-DVD much more easily... you buy the disc while you're still using DVDs, then when you upgrade to an HD TV and HD-DVD player, your movie is already in HD. The problem is that these discs typically cost significantly more than a normal single-format disc.

I would argue that if you're buying a PS3 for the Blue-Ray drive you're simply buying it for the wrong reasons. Honestly, I could care less about Blue-Ray/HD DVD war. VHS/Beta-max, who cares? HD-DVD will probably win simply due to the whole economics of the situation, and the fact it looks just as good. So far I have been very, very happy with my PS3, and game play. The launch titles weren't the best but launch titles rarely are. We'll see a year from now when publishers really take advantage of the hardware. If not, I'll buy the latest X-Box Infinity or what ever it is. The bottom line though, as consoles go, the PS3 is pretty nice. Expensive, but nice. I have not yet bumped into a PS2 game that doesn't work and have thoroughly enjoyed the PS3 titles I have played.

With all due respect, having lived through a format war (VHS vs. Beta) the deciding factor became not how good or versatile the end product was, or even how cheap, it was whether the porn industry was going to adopt it or not. Porn adopted VHS. Porn, and in fact most of the mainstream entertainment industry, uses the Sony XDCam for most HD work and the tools that go with it are, for better or worse, made for Blu-ray. Also, secondarily, Disney is a big backer of Blu-ray. You will find a lot of parents out there making a buying decision based simply on that premise.

I was around for the VHS vs Beta format war, too, and it's outcome had very little to do with porn, a myth that has been perpetuated by a mis-read of history. The Sony Beta format (note that Sony was the only large backer of the Beta format, just as they are with Blu-Ray today) was restricted in licensing only to non-pornographic production companies. The result is that there was not official commercial production of porn on Beta. Porn restrictions alone were not enough to kill Beta though, since Sony had many other marketing and licensing problems that the JVC format didn't have. The idea that most films are filmed with Sony equipment and therefore more easily produced in Blue-Ray seems like a silly jump in logic to me. With modern digital editing, you can output cheaper to HD-DVD, simply because the hardware is cheaper. What sotware you choose for production is of little consequence to what output format you end up in. And besides, aren't films often made, you know, with film? Maybe not in this digital age, but still, I don't believe that the make of your camera locks you into an output format. Unless you are admitting to specific industry knowledge, such as first-hand accounts of editing processes from major porn production companies, or maybe you've got more porn on Blu-Ray than HD-DVD. Although, perhaps that's a product of which player you own than what titles are available? I've personally not seen any porn in either format, although I've really not gone out looking, you know?

I agree with pat here. But to make an addition, I would like to point out that MPEG-2 is inferior for High Definition Video. This is why MPEG-2 was not chosen as the High Definition Standard for HD broadcasting and Distribution. Instead Microsoft's VC-1 was chosen due it's efficient algorithm, increased dynamic range, and signal-to-noise ratio. VC-1 also uses less storage capacity than MPEG-2. The Funny thing is that most Blu-ray movies are encoded in MPEG-2, Just like normal DVDs, because Sony bet that MPEG-2 would remain the standard for HDTV video as it is the standard for SDTV. This means that all that extra storage capacity on a blu-ray disk will be used up my the inferior codec, and a far worse picture will be provided. An example would be "The Fifth Element" on Blu-ray, which looks terrible. HD-DVD uses VC-1 as the standard codec for HD movies, but also supports MPEG-2 for DVD backward compatibility. Sony really did shoot themselves in the foot here, because they rushed blu-ray to the market in response to HD-DVD entering into the market first. Plus, Sony was betting that Studios would prefer to use their existing MPEG-2 transfer tools because the cost of blu-ray equipment would be high, which would offset some expenses. HD-DVD's can be made using existing equipment, and the studio's would have to purchase VC-1 authoring licensing from Microsoft. Blu-ray players support VC-1 playback but there are no VC-1 encoded movies out available on Blu-ray. Newer Blu-ray movies are now being encoded in MPEG-4AVC which solves some of the MPEG-2 problems, and making it comparable to VC-1. HD-DVD players also support MPEG-4AVC but all movies on HD-DVD are encoded in VC-1. VC-1 is considered the best codec which is why it was chosen in the first place as the HD standard codec. I guess the Studio's who exclusively support Blu-ray such as Disney and FOX may not want to pay the extra licensing fee for VC-1 authoring, because the cost to produce a blu-ray disk is very expensive compared to the well established DVD equipment already in place, which HD-DVD uses. HD-DVD makes more sense economically over Blu-ray, because equipment for Studios and Consumers will be cheaper to upgrade for HD adoption. Come next Christmas HD-DVD players will cost $200 compared to $500 blu-ray players, one other reson being that Sony charges a licensing fee to Blu-ray equipment manufactures, thus making the Blu-ray players more expensive. Studios are recognizing this and are switching over to exclusively support HD-DVD, which Paramount/DreamWorks have already done. More titles will be available for HD-DVD by Christmas of 2007 and well into 2008 in dual format (DVD and HD-DVD on one disk). Plus all will be encoded in that lovely VC-1. Blu-ray will run into some problems in that time.