"The larger capacity Blu-ray disc" should read "the THEORETICAL larger capacity Blu-ray disc." No 50 GB Blu-Ray discs have been created anywhere outside of controlled circumstances in a lab. Certainly no mass production of 50 GB Blu-Ray discs is taking place as of yet. As such, the 30 GB HD DVD discs are currently "larger capacity" than the 25 GB Blu-Ray discs available to consumers.
Additionally, VC-1 is not required for HD DVD due to space. It was chosen for the current HD DVD releases because it has won blind viewing tests by Hollywood studios against MPEG-2 and H.264. VC-1 has the side benefit of more efficient encoding resulting in smaller file sizes.
Not every HD DVD title released has used VC-1 for video. Titles have been released using H.264 and MPEG-2 as well. All Japanese HD DVD titles to date are using H.264 for video.
If they cared about video quality, Sony would have used VC-1 for the 25 GB Blu-Ray releases instead of MPEG-2. However, Sony is a big business and cares more about getting royalties on MPEG-2 and NOT paying royalties to Microsoft for the superior video codec.
Lastly, Blu-Ray discs are more costly to produce than HD DVD. You mention that MPEG-2 allows producers making content for Blu-Ray to create titles for less money. Remember that MPEG-2, H.264 and VC-1 are all approved codecs for BOTH HD DVD and Blu-Ray. Content producers are free to port MPEG-2 content to HD DVD. In fact, HDNet has already begun porting MPEG-2 content to HD DVD.
Please get your facts straight before ripping on HD DVD.
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"The larger capacity Blu-ray disc" should read "the THEORETICAL larger capacity Blu-ray disc." No 50 GB Blu-Ray discs have been created anywhere outside of controlled circumstances in a lab. Certainly no mass production of 50 GB Blu-Ray discs is taking place as of yet. As such, the 30 GB HD DVD discs are currently "larger capacity" than the 25 GB Blu-Ray discs available to consumers.
Additionally, VC-1 is not required for HD DVD due to space. It was chosen for the current HD DVD releases because it has won blind viewing tests by Hollywood studios against MPEG-2 and H.264. VC-1 has the side benefit of more efficient encoding resulting in smaller file sizes.
Not every HD DVD title released has used VC-1 for video. Titles have been released using H.264 and MPEG-2 as well. All Japanese HD DVD titles to date are using H.264 for video.
If they cared about video quality, Sony would have used VC-1 for the 25 GB Blu-Ray releases instead of MPEG-2. However, Sony is a big business and cares more about getting royalties on MPEG-2 and NOT paying royalties to Microsoft for the superior video codec.
Lastly, Blu-Ray discs are more costly to produce than HD DVD. You mention that MPEG-2 allows producers making content for Blu-Ray to create titles for less money. Remember that MPEG-2, H.264 and VC-1 are all approved codecs for BOTH HD DVD and Blu-Ray. Content producers are free to port MPEG-2 content to HD DVD. In fact, HDNet has already begun porting MPEG-2 content to HD DVD.
Please get your facts straight before ripping on HD DVD.