51GB HD-DVD Triple Layer Discs are being ramped up for production as well as new cheap HD-DVD Players from major new plants in China. Blu-Ray (BD50) discs are 50GB in capacity, so its a bit of a winner for the HD-DVD crowd. Supporters of Blu-Ray have previously boasted about the higher capacity of Blu-Ray to HD-DVD formats as this is has been the only arguement between the two. Apart from this obvious difference, nothing else between the two formats effects the playback of HD content, although you would say that because HD-DVD is the cheaper option, it will be more universally accepted.

It's been nothing but good news for HD-DVD these past three weeks. I thought the Paramount deal would be the last good thing to happen to the format, but since then we've had all the bad news about Blu-Ray yields and the BD1.1 problems, the analyst who convinced Time Warner to go Blu-Ray in addition to HD-DVD has declared Blu-Ray dead, and then last week's news about China backing HD-DVD hardware all adds up to excellent backing from the industries leading players.

So its cheaper and the new triple-layer discs are now more than big enough for 1080p HD res movies AND standard DVD format! The shops are going to be swarming with hybrid DVD/HD-DVD discs and players, probably sooner than you think!

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