I've spent some time tracking down what it would take to actually author a Blu-Ray or HD-DVD disc, and was very surprised by how difficult (and expensive) it is. The first step is to take the high-definition video and have it encoded to a supported Blu-Ray or HD-DVD video and audio codec. Currently both formats support either MPEG-2, Windows Media VC-1, or H.264. That seems to be the easy part. Getting the encoded video into a flavor acceptable to the high-definition disc authoring software of your choice (whether for Blu-Ray or HD-DVD) is an adventure in frustration. There are so many caveats and problems with the better codecs (VC-1 or H.264) and so few affordable authoring packages that you'll likely end up falling back to MPEG-2 which is not as efficient. The lower efficiency means reduced picture quality compared to VC-1 or H.264 at equivalent bit-rates. Many of the first studio-produced Blu-Ray titles were encoded in MPEG-2 because of the authoring/encoding difficulties involved.
Once you get through all of that hassle, it's time to actually burn a disc. If you are creating an HD-DVD it's going to be really difficult. There are NO HD-DVD burners on the market to allow you to burn a disc. This last January, Toshiba announced with much fanfare their model SD-H903A HD-DVD burning drive, but it has yet to see the light of day on a retail shelf. Is there a conspiracy by Hollywood studios who don't want consumers to get their hands on high-definition recordable devices? No. Blu-Ray BD-R burners are readily available and set-top Blu-Ray recorders are surely headed to US shores as early as next year [see below].In the process of authoring a standard-definition DVD, it is usually necessary to produce at least one - if not several - "check discs" in order to test the physical disc in various consumer DVD players. Without the ability to burn HD-DVD-R check discs, you must physically replicate an HD-DVD just to test it.
Rebecca Masterson at Deluxe's DVD Authoring division in Burbank told me that they have simulation software they use to test titles, but in order to create a "check disc" they must do a limited replication run using their small "micro-plant". This process takes them approximately 24 hours in-house and can cost upwards of $3,000 PER DISC each time a check disc needs to be created. Compared to the ease and low-cost of using virtually ANY DVD-R burner to create a check-disc for a standard-definition DVD, this is a major barrier for everyone but the largest content creators (ie. studios).
Even though BD-R drives exist for Blu-Ray, that doesn't mean it's any easier testing Blu-Ray discs. Most set-top Blu-Ray players have their ability to play BD-R discs turned off. This is supposedly to prevent piracy, but it has the ugly side-effect of eliminating playback for legitimate discs that you might want to create. I'm told that the latest Playstation-3 firmware (v1.92) will now allow BD-R discs to be played in a PS-3.
Another hindrance for Blu-Ray is the lack of any professional authoring software. The only low-cost authoring software I'm aware of is the PC-only Ulead MovieFactory Plus and DVDit Pro HD by Sonic/Roxio ($499). There is also the new Vegas 8 from Sony Creative Software which will support some kind of direct Blu-Ray burning. None of these are what I would consider "professional". Beyond that, the lowest priced software is Sony's own Blu-Print which is a minimum of $50,000 per license or the industry-leading Sonic Scenarist which is around $100,000 per license.
Sony announced four new Blu-Ray recorders (available only in JAPAN initially) and it's certainly interesting to speculate why there still aren't any HD-DVD consumer recorders.To sum up... it's difficult, expensive, and frustrating to try to author high-definition discs for either Blu-Ray or HD-DVD at the moment.
Blu-Ray
Pros: BD-R burners are available today, set-top players are beginning to play BD-R discs.
Cons: Super expensive for true professional authoring software, VC-1 or H.264 encoded discs cannot be authored on low-cost software.
HD-DVD
Pros: Very good "professional" authoring is available in Apple's DVD Studio Pro.
Cons: ZERO HD-DVD burners available, difficult support for H.264 or VC-1 video
