What Is Blu-Ray?
Technophiles are living in interesting times at present. As well as the release of the XBox 360 there is the now confirmed November release of the PS3 as well as the potential all-out war between Panasonic et al and Sony et al in the battle of the next generation DVD. Panasonic very recently revealed that while the HD DVD players are ready to be shipped they would be waiting to coincide the release with the release of the first HD DVD movie titles in April. Sony, on the other hand, is not due to release blu-ray until May.
Blu-ray, like HD DVD, is a new standard in DVD format enabling greater amounts of storage on the discs, faster reading of the data on the disc and even improved quality with some extra hardware. In exchange, there will be a fairly hefty price tag bordering on an absolute minimum of $500 for a standard player. However, you do get a food amount of bang for your buck and presumably after a comparatively short space of time, this price tag will drop in age-old technological tradition.
How Does It Differ To Standard DVD?
Standard, current, DVDs use a 605mm red laser but in comparison the blu-ray players use a 405mm blue laser. The color difference may not sound immediately important, but in actual fact this decreased bandwidth means that much more data can be stored on a single disc. The pots that contain the data can be smaller and there will be less room needed between them. This adds up to an impressive 40GB of storage on a standard blu-ray disc. This stacks up incredibly well when compared to the 4.7GB of storage on a DVD and even the 30GB of storage offered on the dual layer HD DVD disc.
Who’s Responsible?
Blu-ray is being designed and sold by Sony. A number of large companies have also given their vocal, financial and technological support in this bid to outdo the Panasonic HD DVD format but only time will tell which will prove to be more popular. Indeed, HD DVD will have a head start but Sony has it’s own advantages in this upcoming format war.
What Are The Alternatives To Blu-Ray?
The blu-ray is being released at least a month after HD DVD and this means you will be given the choice of which you want to buy. The eventual decision will be likely to be based on your personal preference because both will perform at such high standards when compared to the DVDs we are used to now. Obviously, the blu-ray discs offer greater storage but at present there is no need for this level of storage. It’s difficult to say just how long it will be before the extra capacity will be needed, though. One sort of alternative that is likely to prove popular will be the PS3. Sony will release the PS3 in November and undoubtedly there will be people abstaining from the purchase of either an HD-DVD player or a blu-ray player because the PS3 will be available at the same sort of price but will offer much more.
Known Release Details For Blu-Ray.
There are scant amount of confirmed details regarding blu-ray release except to say that it is due for release in May and a player is expected to cost consumers a minimum of $500. Also known is that the PS3 will utilize blu-ray giving you another way to buy into the next generation DVD scene without breaking the bank twice to buy a separate DVD and games console.
Overall Blue-Ray View.
It’s really very difficult to predict whether the blu-ray or HD DVD will win this war, in fact it is difficult to know whether either will even become popular, however there is a very real chance that both companies and both systems will fight out the next generation DVD format war for some time to come. It is also conceivable that they will do equally well. HD DVD has a head start but blu-ray will be incorporated into the PS3. In all honesty, a lot of blu-ray success may be riding on the back of the success of the PS3.
