Should You Switch to Blu Ray?

Blu-ray, also known as Blu-ray Disc (BD), is a cutting edge optical disc format developed to enable recording, playback and rewriting of high-definition (HD) video, and to facilitate storage of large amounts of data. This technology employs a blue-violet laser to read and write data, hence the name.

A Blu-Ray disc has the same physical dimensions as a standard DVD, but more than five times the storage capacity, holding up to 25 GB on a single-layer disc and 50 GB on a dual-layer disc. A 50 GB disc can hold 9 hours of high definition video and up to 23 hours of standard definition video.
The Blu-Ray Disc format was developed by the Blu-Ray Disc Association (BDA), a group of several leading media, personal computer and consumer electronics manufacturers. The launch of Sony’s PlayStation 3 had a lot to do with increasing the popularity of this technology, as every PS3 unit also serves as a Blu-Ray player.

Some of the Advantages That Blu-Ray Discs Offer Are:

• High definition picture quality, delivering maximum value from HD TVs.
• High storage capacity with the option of further increasing it by adding more layers – making it possible to store entire DVD series on one disc.
• Backward compatibility with DVDs, ensuring that existing DVD collections do not become obsolete.
• Potential for users to legally copy contents of discs a limited number of times for personal use.
• Full games can fit on a single disc without compromising the quality of images or audio, therefore eliminating the need to change discs in the middle of a game.
• Superior scratch resistance.

Blu-Ray players and discs are, however, considerably more expensive than regular DVDs, and therefore the technology is still a little beyond the reach of the common man.