HD DVD and Blu-ray
Since the DVD Forum and the Blu-ray Disc Association failed to agree on standards for high-definition 12-cm discs, a format war was under way between the DVD Forum's HD DVD (formerly "Advanced Optical Disc") standard and the Blu-ray Disc Association's Blu-ray Disc standard.
Although there was disagreement about physical format technology, both the HD DVD and Blu-ray factions selected the same three video codecs to be mandatory in their designs: specifically, MPEG-2 Part 2, VC-1, and H.264/AVC.
They were engaged in a format war up until February 2008, to determine which of the two formats will become the leading carrier for high-definition content to consumers. This situation was similar to the VHS/Betamax format war in consumer video recorders in the late 1980s. The manufacturers of HD DVD, Toshiba, announced in February 2008 that they were ceasing production of their HD DVD players indefinitely, citing low demand for HD DVD and the growing use of Blu-ray, which had become popular due to its inclusion as part of the PlayStation 3 among other things.
There are now some DVD players that will output enhanced or high-definition signals from standard-definition DVDs. This upconversion process can improve the perceived picture quality of standard-definition video.
Read more about this topic: High-definition Pre-recorded Media And Compression