Blu Ray Vs DVD - Understanding the Difference

Upgrading your entertainment system? DVD players have long since replaced video cassette players when it comes to watching movies at home and set top boxes and digital tuners will become the norm with the current national roll out of digital TV. Meanwhile, the introduction of 3D TVs is poised to take living room entertainment to a whole new level.

One of the most advanced technologies in digital entertainment has already been around for a number of years. Blu-ray discs were first introduced to the consumer market in 2003 as the advanced form of digital information storage. Seven years onwards, their popularity has increased but the bluray is still a comparative minority to standard DVD players - December polls suggest that 1 in 10 Australian households own a bluray player and consumer understanding of the technology was remarkably low.

Blu ray discs - understanding the difference

Blu ray players were made available on the Australian market over two years ago, and is now gathering steam as the high definition image player of choice. The main difference between blu ray discs and standard DVDs is the image quality - blu-ray discs offer a maximum resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels, while DVD is limited to a 720 x 480 resolution. Beyond pixel resolution, Blu-ray also uses better video-compression methods for sharper contrast and more vibrant colours. Audio quality is also improved and blu ray offers unique interactive features such as pop-up menu displays and picture-in-picture commentary.

The major drawback to upgrading to blu ray is the price. The machines themselves cost quite a bit more than the average DVD player (which are now priced as low as $100). The media itself also tends to be more expensive, the average blu-ray movie can cost around 4 times that of a DVD and many older titles are also not yet available in this format. Many users have also noticed considerable differences in loading time for blu ray media.

If you are considering upgrading to bluray, one of the advantages is backwards compatibility - every bluray player is capable of playing back standard DVDs, so you won't have to replace your entire video collection.

What about HD DVD?

For a brief period of time, Toshiba had introduced another high definition format, the HD DVD. What resulted was a "format war" over which type of media would become the standard for HD media. However, in 2008, Toshiba officially pulled out of the "war: and announced that it would discontinue HD DVD production. This has cleared the way for bluray to be the preferred high definition media of choice and most new release titles are available as both blu ray & DVDs.

DVD vs Blu ray*

DVD

1. 
   Maximum Resolution: 720 x 480 px


2. 
   Storage Capacity: 4.7 GB (single layer), 8.5 GB (dual layer)


3. 
   Media titles available (2008): 90,000 plus


4. 
   Media prices (retail): $6 and up

Blu-ray

1. 
   Maximum Resolution: 1920 x 1080 px


2. 
   Storage Capacity: 25 GB (single layer), 50 GB (dual layer)


3. 
   Media titles available (2008): 1000


4. 
   Media prices (retail): $20-$28

*Source: Cnet.com

Whether you're upgrading to a blu ray player or sticking with your DVDs, you buy DVDs online as well as the latest blu ray titles when you visit Sanity Entertainment.

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