For a long time, standard DVD’s were the pinnacle of video technology.  Their picture clarity easily beat earlier technologies, including VHS and Laserdisc.  Then televisions started getting bigger, and all that changed.

A standard DVD’s picture doesn’t look as good on a wide-screen television.  The industry sought to make even more high-quality DVD’s to accommodate the new developments in television manufacturing, and the HD-DVD was born as a result.

The makers of the HD-DVD were N.E.C. and Toshiba, working in partnership.  In 2003, the DVD Forum, an international association of media, content, software, and hardware companies that depend on DVD technology, voted to support HD-DVD over its competitors.  They also selected the name “HD-DVD.” Formerly, the new disc went under AOD, or “Advanced Optical Disc.”

The first American HD-DVD’s were released in March 2006 by Toshiba.  New players for the new technology were released as well.  In November of 2006, Microsoft released an external drive for playing HD-DVD’s on the Xbox.  

HD-DVD’s are still in version 1.0.  There are recordable HD-DVD’s (or HD-DVD-R’s) available on the market.  Computer manufacturers have begun to sell HD-DVD-ROM drives, but no HD-DVD-ROM discs are currently being sold.

HD-DVD is in competition with Blu-Ray, another cutting edge DVD disc that serves the same market.  Format wars aren’t uncommon in the industry; they’ve taken place whenever a major new technology has come on the market—from the War of the Speeds in the 1940’s and 50’s to the VHS/Betamax conflict decades later.

Some industry experts believe that HD-DVD sales have not made a big impact on DVD sales because consumers are waiting for a dominant technology to emerge before settling on HD-DVD or Blu-Ray.  Others claim that HD-DVD’s are best suited to HD televisions, and not every consumer has one.  Either way, HD-DVD’s are likely to become more prevalent in the future.