It’s been going on for a couple of years now. Stores have been carrying both Blu-Ray and HD DVD disks, manufacturers have been making both types of drives, and people have been talking about them both.

However, Blu-Ray players can’t play HD DVD’s, and HD DVD players can’t play Blu-Ray discs. At the end of the day, they both do the same thing (play a high-definition movie on an HDTV), so why the feud? Well, it’s a matter of who got their first. Two companies developed and successfully marketed a working high definition delivery system, and they both took off! But, as we all know, only one can survive, and in the battle of Blu-Ray vs HD DVD player computability, it seems Blu-Ray has won the fight.

The major movie rental chains have decided on Blu-Ray as their high definition disk of choice, and electronics retailers are selling Blu-Ray players instead of HD DVD players. The battle is over, and a victor has been decided: Blu-Ray won.

However, that leaves a little bit of a dilemma. Thousands of people have already bought an HD DVD player, and some movies have come out on it already. Though as many newer movies may not be coming out on this format, it is still an alive and kicking video format, even if it has lost the battle.

Though it might make more sense to choose Blu-Ray so that you’ve got more choice in movie selection, when looking at a Blu-Ray vs HD DVD player, the choice really is up to you. The price of HD movies and players has recently took a dive, so it can be a great time to buy and watch some great movies with the family in HD!

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By Anonymous

Today I would like to address the many video enthusiasts who may be considering buying a Blu-ray Disc player and/or the Blu-ray discs to go with it. As you can see by the title of this post, I’m not convinced by Blu-ray and I advise you to “tread carefully” when considering investing in Blu-ray. I firmly believe that Blu-ray is not going to have the same awesome impact that DVD did when it first came out and ever since. Optical discs will soon be a thing of the past as many netbook and notebook PC makers opt for disc-less designs in their computers (less weight, more room for a bigger battery). Let’s investigate further:

1) Some quick history:

In 2006, a format war began between HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc. These two high-definition optical disc formats were incompatible with each other and were attempting to improve upon and eventually replace the DVD standard (high- definition video resolution of 1080p compared to DVD’s 480p). Two years later in February 2008, Toshiba, the main company supporting HD DVD “raised the white flag” and the format war was over – Blu-ray was the victor! Blu-ray would now set the new standard and become the high-definition “king”! Blu-ray all the way! Right? Well, read on!!

2) Some revealing facts:

In 2009 (fully three years after the advent of Blu-ray), digital movies and TV shows generated more income than did Blu-ray. Digital movies generated almost twice as much income as Blu-ray, while DVD’s generated nine times as much income as Blu-ray!

3) Some key points to consider:

A) Without a doubt if you have a large screen HDTV (≈ 50″ or bigger), then a Blu-ray player will give you the best picture and sound quality on the planet. You will sit at home and say “wow”! You will think that you’re actually in the theater – which of course is the point! However, if your HDTV screen size is smaller than ≈ 50″ then it simply won’t be able to take full advantage of the color and detail information that’s on the Blu-ray disc. In my opinion it’s not worth the expense.

B) Up-scaled DVD’s look fantastic on a smaller HDTV screen. Any decent up-conversion DVD player (much less expensive than a Blu-ray player) will convert the DVD 480p to 1080i and it will be hard to tell the difference in image quality with the Blu-ray. DVD also looks very good on any non high-definition TV (digital SDTV).

C) DVD’s have been around for 12 years and consequently are more numerous (1,900 Blu-ray movie titles available compared to 105,000 DVD movie titles available). In addition, there are only 7 to 8 new Blu-ray releases per month compared to 900 new DVD releases each month. Many times you can’t find the movie that you’re looking for in the Blu-ray format!

D) Do you really want to start another video disc/player collection again? First I bought a VHS player and built up a nice collection of movie titles in VHS format, then I bought a DVD player and amassed a good collection of DVD’s videos. Am I now going to start yet another collection of expensive Blu-ray Discs and player? I think you know the answer! Just Say Nay To Blu-ray!!

E) Last but certainly not least: The future of accessing and watching video is by delivering it digitally through the Internet. Very soon all TV’s will come with ethernet jacks or wi-fi in them allowing you to buy, watch, and stream video content directly from the Internet. Right now Microsoft’s Xbox Live instantly streams from Netflix over the Internet to your TV and the incredible Roku box instantly streams high quality movies from Netflix and Amazon Video On Demand. This is just the beginning. Online digital download of movies on Internet enabled TV’s will soon make discs and disc players practically obsolete.

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Randy Knowles – As you can see by the content of my articles (and blog), I am a technology

So why buy Blu-ray? My DVD player and disc works just fine. And isn’t the DVD format one of the most successful stories in consumer history since it only took DVD a few years to completely destroy the mighty VHS and conquer the home video market. So why should I change?

The simple answer is this: Blu-ray has a better picture, better sound quality and more special interactive features. You get all of this with little change in how you actually watch your movies at home because the Blu-ray disc’s physical appearance is the same as a DVD or CD, and also the blu-ray player looks the same as any DVD player. Even the Blu-ray display menus is basically what you are use to with DVD menus. Granted, with this new technology comes some new terms like 1080p and blu-ray profiles. It can get a little frustrating, but really all you need to do is insert a Blu-ray disc into a blu-ray player and watch. Just like you would with a DVD, except now your watching movies in glorious High Definition.

The main selling feature of the blu-ray format is it has five times more storage capacity than DVDs. It can hold 25GB (single layer) and 50 GB (dual layer), which allows for recording, rewriting and playback of high-definition video. On a Dual Layer Disc you get over 9 hours of high-definition (HD) video on a 50GB disc and over 22 hours of standard-definition (SD) video on a 50GB disc, whereas a DVD disc can only hold about 8GB of data, far less then a blu-ray disc.

So the question that should be asked is not why should I change to a Blu-ray player, but rather why not change? The Blu-ray disc offers superior picture, sound and special features. And most leading companies now produce players that will read CDs, DVDs and Blu-ray. They also have a feature called ‘upscaling DVD’. The blu-ray player will convert your DVD discs, which have standard DVD resolution (480i), to High Definition standards (720i-1080i). But this upconversion is not the same as a Blu-ray image because it is not as detailed or life-like as a high definition blu-ray image.

The blu-ray disc also offers you bonus views and BD-live, where you can get extra online content such as updated movie trailers and interactive online games. The fact is, since the dismissal of the HD-DVD format, Blu-ray disc is the strongest competitor in the world of High Definition. To get the most viewing pleasure from your HDTV, Blu-ray disc will always come out on top over DVD discs.

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Curtis Hoskins – I am an administrator for a Blu-ray Player Web Site. It consist of in dept details, guides and tips to make an informed purchase. The …