Winning the Format War with Blue Ray Technology
Introduced into the retail world in 2006, the Blue ray format is set to become the next generation home video format of choice. Displaying movies in 1080p content (the best standard endorsed by the home theater industry) with digital surround sound audio and tons of bonus features, this format now has far more exclusive movies than its rival format, HD-DVD. Many people have heard about the HD-DVD and Blue ray format war, but most people don't understand the pros and cons of each side. Read on and you'll understand what makes Blue ray technology so appealing to everyone.
Different from DVD, How? They Look the Same!
Same shape. Same size. What makes DVD's different from Blue ray discs and Blue ray technology as a whole? They both use lasers to record and store data, but the difference mainly lies in the wavelength of laser. DVD's use red wavelength lasers to record and store data, a fairly cost effective way of storing data. However as the name implies, Blue ray technology uses blue (and violet) wavelength lasers to record and read data. With shorter wavelengths, you can store more data on the same amount of space, and while Blue ray technology uses some different materials to make this all possible, both DVD's and Blue ray discs and players use essentially the same technologies, just different variations on it.
Some problems did arise when developing the Blue ray technology however. When designing the disc, the protective layer (this layer is present on optical discs to help prevent scratches) had to be thin enough for the shorter wavelength laser to penetrate, but thick enough to still perform its duty. It took a special material to make this happen, which resulted in originally higher costs, but more mature manufacturing processes are alleviating these higher costs. Also, the use and design of generally more complex technologies has resulted in higher costs, but in a few years, Blue ray technology should be as cheap as current DVD equipment is.
On special features available on Blue ray technology as a platform, Blue ray discs originally has less special content than HD-DVD's, but recent updates to the standard have resulted in greater content creation and interactivity, closing that gap entirely. However, if you're still unsure which next generation home theater format you want to go with (possibly saving you hundreds or thousands of dollars), then you can always pick up a hybrid player which plays both HD-DVD's and Blue ray discs from popular companies like LG and Samsung. For unrivaled data capacity and movie selection, Blue ray technology is the dominant format in the next generation war.
