It's the new smash hit that's sweeping the nation! You'll be amazed, you'll be mesmerized, you'll be… well… maybe not but here is what it is. Blu-ray is a new disc format that is designed to maximize an HDTV set. Blu-ray has aver six times the resolution that DVD discs have, so when you watch them on a TV that has high definition capabilities it will look sharper, especially on the newer digital films like Cars or Ice Age.
DVDs resolution (the dots that make up the image) is 720 X 480 which maxes out all the old Analog TV sets out there. At the time DVDs were developed that was the best resolution you could get on a television. Now with the introduction of HD televisions that maximum picture resolution is 1920 X 1080 so this is where Blu-ray steps in. That is also the maximum resolution for Blu-ray also.
Don't worry, this doesn't mean you have to throw away or replace all of your old DVDs yet. All Blu-ray players are downward compatible, which means they will play all of your old DVDs too. The problem is, if you have a big HD television set and you compare most DVDs to their Blu-ray counterpart, you will probably want to replace your discs. This is because on a bigger TV you can see the flaws of DVD much easier and Blu-ray is much sharper in most cases too. Another upside to the Blu-ray technology is that colors are more vivid and seem to just "pop" more than they do on traditional DVDs.
Will there come a time when you can't buy or rent DVDs? Yes, but I don't see that time coming anytime soon since Blu-ray players are still relatively expensive (they start at about $399) and the discs are still expensive to buy (the cheap ones retail for about $25). DVD players are also in many more homes than Blu-ray at this point. So enjoy your DVDs but keep in mind that Blu-ray is not too far off in the future.
DVDs resolution (the dots that make up the image) is 720 X 480 which maxes out all the old Analog TV sets out there. At the time DVDs were developed that was the best resolution you could get on a television. Now with the introduction of HD televisions that maximum picture resolution is 1920 X 1080 so this is where Blu-ray steps in. That is also the maximum resolution for Blu-ray also.
Don't worry, this doesn't mean you have to throw away or replace all of your old DVDs yet. All Blu-ray players are downward compatible, which means they will play all of your old DVDs too. The problem is, if you have a big HD television set and you compare most DVDs to their Blu-ray counterpart, you will probably want to replace your discs. This is because on a bigger TV you can see the flaws of DVD much easier and Blu-ray is much sharper in most cases too. Another upside to the Blu-ray technology is that colors are more vivid and seem to just "pop" more than they do on traditional DVDs.
Will there come a time when you can't buy or rent DVDs? Yes, but I don't see that time coming anytime soon since Blu-ray players are still relatively expensive (they start at about $399) and the discs are still expensive to buy (the cheap ones retail for about $25). DVD players are also in many more homes than Blu-ray at this point. So enjoy your DVDs but keep in mind that Blu-ray is not too far off in the future.
Jim Carter's Technology Blog
Posted 3/21/2008
What is Blu-ray?