HD DVD

HD DVD, also known as High-Definition DVD or High Density Digital Versatile Disc, is an optical disc that is able to store large amounts of data, such as high-definition videos. Now, the HD DVD type is now considered dead. The disc was released in 2006 and fought a format war with rival Blu-ray. On February 19, 2008, Toshiba abandoned the format,^[1] announcing it would no longer make HD DVD players and drives. The HD DVD Promotion Group was dissolved on March 28, 2008.^[2]

HD-DVD logo

HD DVD Media

In November 2006, Microsoft released an HD DVD player for their Xbox 360 game console for $199. It came packaged with King Kong and could only play movies.
Although HD DVD and Blu-ray used near-identical translucent keep cases for most pre-recorded releases, they were normally coloured red for the former and blue for the latter.
Internal optical disc drive from LG playing both, HD DVD and Blu-ray disks
Comparison of various optical storage media. Parameters: track pitch (p), pit width (w) and minimum length (l), and laser spot size (⌀) and wavelength (λ).