HD DVD information
The HD DVD has a smaller capacity disc at 15GB, and with dual layer technology increasing the data capacity to 30GB. There also does not appear to be the possibility of multi layer discs, unlike with Blu-Ray. HD DVD discs use blue-violet lasers, unlike the current red laser used for DVDs. Both formats use the blue laser (405nm) which has a shorter wavelength than the red laser (650nm) this gives the laser greater precision. This means that more data can be packed tightly on a disc giving much more capacity. The HD-DVD disc is of a similar structure to the current DVD disc, unlike the Blu-ray disc which is a completely different DVD format.
The some of benifits of HD DVD over Blu-Ray would be things like: The format being closer to the existing DVD formats, this means things like players, recorders, drives and discs are cheaper to produce. The HD DVD products are also being made available much sooner than the Blu-Ray products.
Manufactures HD DVD
Manufactures supporting the HD DVD format include: Toshiba, LG, Thomson/RCA, Sanyo
Movie Studios HD DVD
Movie Studios supporting HD DVD include: Paramount, Studio Canal, Universal, Warner, the Weinstein Company