2000
Timeline: HD DVD versus Blu-ray
October 5: Sony and Pioneer unveil DVR Blue at Japan's Ceatec show. The format would go on to form the basis for first-generation Blu-ray Disc BD-RE.
November 1: Sony announces the development of Ultra Density Optical (UDO), a blue-laser optical disc format proposed to replace magneto-optical discs.
2002
February 19: Led by Sony, nine of the world's largest electronics companies unveil plans for Blu-ray Disc.
August 29: Toshiba and NEC propose to the DVD Forum the next-generation optical disc format that will become HD DVD.
October 1: Prototypes of both formats are unveiled at Japan's Ceatec exhibition. Sony, Panasonic, Sharp, Pioneer and JVC showed prototype Blu-ray Disc recorders while Toshiba showed a prototype under the name Advanced Optical Disc (AOD).
2003
February 13: Licensing of Blu-ray Disc begins. Player makers pay $20,000 to license Blu-ray while the content-protection system licence carries a $120,000 annual fee and additional charge of $0.10 per player. Media makers pay $8,000 annually and $0.02 per disc for the copy protection system.
April 7: Sony announces its Blu-ray Disc-based Professional Disc format for data archiving applications.
April 10: Sony puts on sale in Japan the world's first Blu-ray Disc recorder, the BDZ-S77. It's based on a 23GB cartridge version of the BD-RE disc and costs ¥450,000 ($3,815 at the time). The machine and a later model from Panasonic lack support for pre-recorded movies that will launch later and prove an expensive early step into next-generation video.
May 28: Mitsubishi Electric joins the Blu-ray Disc group.
2004
January 7: Toshiba unveils its first prototype HD DVD player at CES. The player includes backwards compatibility with DVD.
January 12: HP and Dell put their support behind Blu-ray Disc.
June 10: The first commercial version of HD DVD-ROM is approved by the DVD Forum.
September 21: Sony announces the PlayStation 3 (PS3) will use Blu-ray Disc.
November 29: Paramount Pictures, Universal Pictures, Warner Bros, HBO and New Line Cinema announce support for HD DVD.
December 9: Disney announces support for Blu-ray Disc.
2005
January 7: Backers of both formats promise players and movies in North America by the end of the year - something that never materialised.
March 24: Talk and hope of a common format as Ryoji Chubachi, then Sony's president-elect, says: "Listening to the voice of the consumers, having two rival formats is disappointing and we haven't totally given up on the possibility of integration or compromise."
April 21: Sony and Toshiba begin discussions on the possibility of a single format. The talks ultimately go nowhere.
Comments
Darren said: What makes me laugh about this is that there are some classic films on HD DVD and they will still be releasing films until the end of summer times go on HD digests website and you can see that are another 40-50 films to come out just because HD DVD hardware isnt being made doesnt mean that you have to chuck it in the bin its still superior to blu ray and its got a hell of a lot of films out the fastest selling format for films in the long race last month was HD DVD Its a great shame but not a great waste
Alan Greaves said: I bought the new 40 Toshiba HD TV in December 2007 and the HD DVD to complement it I bought them both on-line Its a pity that I wasnt warned about this
matt said: Maybe I should phase out any new purchases of Toshiba products