HD DVD burning made easy!

Hey hey! It's been awhile eh! Ahh, this Labor Day weekend has got me doing a whole lot of....well, nothing...haha...


Ok, so recently I had a client ask me about shooting their wedding video in HD.


I thought for a second "YES!" (I charge a premium of about $1000), but then I realized "wait a minute, how am I going to deliver that?".

And the two options are Blue Ray and HD DVD (yes, those two formats again).

Simple, right?

NOT!

The breakdown:

Blue Ray - Blue Ray writers will set you back about $500 and the blank Blue Ray Disks run about $20. Although I did see a few for $15 (each) at Frys yesterday.

HD DVD - Presently there are no HD DVD writers out to be had. I've read about Toshiba coming out with one, but as of yet, they have yet to release it. So that's that.

So you can either go with Blue Ray or......well, just Blue Ray.

But there is a another option.

HD DVD on DVD!

What?

Yup, HD DVD on DVD.


The long and short of it is, HD DVDs use the same underlying technology as DVDs.



Pinnacle's lastest video editing suite (Media Studio Plus and Ultimate) allow you to edit and burn HD content onto DVDs. You can get about 23 minutes on a single layer (4.7gb) DVD and approx. 45 minutes on a dual layer DVD.

Now you still need an HD DVD player to play it. At this time, HD DVD players are the cheapest of the two formats (HD DVD and Blue Ray). HD DVD players range from the mid to high $200s. On the other hand, Blue Ray players will run you about $500.

Of course there's the option of picking up either the Playstation 3 or XBOX 360 (their HD DVD drive is sold separately..presently for about $179 and it comes with 5 FREE HD DVDs). In which case you play games in hi def as well. I'm a 360 owner, so I'm sort of biased when it comes to recommending a system.

But both systems are awesome in terms of hi def output. Gears of War (XBOX 360), IMO, best demonstrates what HD gaming is all about...over the top stunning visuals...great game play...and incredible audio effects.


Going the HD DVD route is a feasible route for those you considering burning HD content. It's definitely the cost effective route of going HD - Media Studio is about $100 and blank DVDs are dirt cheap nowadays.