Is Blu-ray the same thing as HD-DVD?
No, HD-DVD was the name of a competing next-generation optical disc format developed by Toshiba and NEC. Toshiba has recently announce the discontinuation of HD-DVD support and development.
What benefits does Blu-ray offer compared to HD-DVD?
Although both Blu-ray and HD-DVD are similar in many aspects, there are some important differences between them.
The first is capacity. Because Blu-ray utilizes a lens with a greater numerical aperture (NA) than HD-DVD, the laser spot can be focused with greater precision to fit more data on the same size disc. Blu-ray can store up to 25 GB on single layer compared to 15 GB for HD-DVD
The second is content. The Blu-ray has garnered more support from movie studios. With the demise of HD-DVD, all of the movie studios have pledged their support for the Blu-ray platform.