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LockedBlue-Ray?

posted on April 01, 2009 at 07:29AM Inappropriate?

So I've been pretty much ignoring Blue-Ray since the section of Blue-Ray DVDs is always a fraction of the size of the regular DVD sections. But, I seem to be hearing a bit more about them these days. Can someone explain to me the benefits of Blue-Ray vs. regular? And whether or not Blue-Ray disks can play on regular DVD players?

replies: 20 latest post: August 18, 2009 at 06:46PM by GenJones32
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posted on April 01, 2009 at 09:32AM
 
Blue Ray is basically extremely high quality DVD. I mean that's not what it is technically, because I am sure it is a different storage technology, but for how it presents itself to the customer, it is basically an HD DVD. You need a specific Blu-Ray player to play a Blu-Ray, it will not work on your current dvd player. I believe Playstation 3's are a Blue Ray player if you have one of those. Blu Ray is currently one of the very few medium's that transmits in FULL HD (1080p). So if you have a very large size Full HD tv (aka 50" or larger), you may consider getting a blu-ray player to experience a better picture quality.
posted on April 03, 2009 at 09:17AM
 
Yup... Maier is pretty much got it right on this one. The only thing I'd add is that for a Blue-Ray to be really effective you need to have HDMI cables and a TV that is also 1080p.

If you have that sort of setup, Blue-Ray is really fantastic. 'Full HD' isn't something that you see very often but you'll definitly notice the difference.

Oh! Blue Ray DVDs will not play in a regular DVD player, but a Blue-Ray player will play regular DVDs... so the advice I tend to give people is that the next time you buy a DVD player, get a Blue-Ray. But at that point, you should start thinkingnabout a gradual upgrade of all the movie watching components in your living room (1080p TV, HDMI cables, new DVD player)
posted on April 03, 2009 at 10:03AM
 
Simplified technical information from Blu-ray.com:
"While current optical disc technologies such as DVD, DVD±R, DVD±RW, and DVD-RAM rely on a red laser to read and write data, the new format uses a blue-violet laser instead, hence the name Blu-ray. Despite the different type of lasers used, Blu-ray products can easily be made backwards compatible with CDs and DVDs through the use of a BD/DVD/CD compatible optical pickup unit. The benefit of using a blue-violet laser (405nm) is that it has a shorter wavelength than a red laser (650nm), which makes it possible to focus the laser spot with even greater precision. This allows data to be packed more tightly and stored in less space, so it's possible to fit more data on the disc even though it's the same size as a CD/DVD. This together with the change of numerical aperture to 0.85 is what enables Blu-ray Discs to hold 25GB/50GB. Recent development by Pioneer has pushed the storage capacity to 500GB on a single disc by using 20 layers."
posted on April 05, 2009 at 11:58PM
 

Blu-Ray discs are uncompressed data, and you can fit much, much more data and features on a blu-ray.

Dvds have to be compressed to hold the data that can be stored on them.  You can see entire dvd box sets converted to one blu-ray disk.

Also, the sound quality is much better because the sound is uncompressed.

If you do get a Blu-ray plater, make sure it is capable of two things:

1. Up-converting your old DVDs.  Your DVD collection can still be used, and advanced Blu-Ray technology can make the DVDs nearly 1080p quality.

2. Be able to connect to the internet to receive updates.  This way, you can always be updated on the newest software/coding updates.  This prevents you from having to buy a different Blu-ray player to have the most up to date Blu-ray experience and play all future Blu-ray disks.

posted on April 07, 2009 at 08:31AM
 
Thanks everyone! So my take-aways are that they are better than regular DVDs, are the ultimate in HD, and that knowing me I'd probably never even notice the difference. :-)
posted on April 17, 2009 at 01:20PM
 
In response to SHC-AnniqueD's post from April 01 2009 07:29AM

Blu-ray offers you an outstanding HD picture. You will of course need an HDTV. While you cannot play a Blu-ray disk on a regular DVD player, you can play the normal DVD's on any Blu-ray player.  In additon, many of the new Blu-ray players will let you communicate with expanded content on the internet. All in all, it's a great picture, and a fun experience.

posted on April 25, 2009 at 02:38AM
 

If you get an HDTV you will want to get a Blu-Ray player to follow suit. It plays and upconverts your older DVD collection so you won't have to miss out on all your older movies like when thing went from VHS to DVD.

The biggest thing is once you start watching movies on Blu-Ray you really wont want to go back. Its the ultimate in HD viewing.

posted on August 08, 2009 at 09:53PM
 

why do BlueRay disks freeze up so often during playback???

posted on August 11, 2009 at 01:08PM
 

Blu-Ray discs should almost never freeze during playback, now blu-ray does read at a much slower rate than DVDs do, so if you have a poor Blu-Ray disc player that is probably your issue. I have 2 PS3s and they play Blu-Ray movies perfectly, also a lot movies will now be put onto the disc multiple times in order for the player to read the disc in multiple areas and increase read speeds.

posted on August 11, 2009 at 01:19PM
 

Blu-Rays are a marketing ploy to get you to buy all the classic stuff you have on your DVDs again...jking...serioiusly they're higher quality, noticably better but not worth buying initially. Now that the format wars are ending it's worth buying. Back when it wasn't sure if HDVD or Blu-Ray would win buying either player could mean being stuck with a format nobody else was using, now it's pretty clear Blu-Ray is the standard.

posted on August 11, 2009 at 01:36PM
 

LOL only people who liked Microsoft or Toshiba (or hated Sony) actually thought HD-DVD had any sort of a chance of winning that so called format war. Blu-Ray seriously has been the High Definition standard the day the Playstation 3 hit store shelves. If you have an HDTV you need to have a Blu-Ray player otherwise you have not seen an excellent picture.

posted on August 15, 2009 at 04:06PM
 

So, it's safe to buy VHS format tapes now?

posted on August 15, 2009 at 04:07PM
 

I still haven't gotten all the DVD's I've been looking at (sharpening, scythe use, tool stuff...).

posted on August 15, 2009 at 04:08PM
 

Do you think they're going to reissue "It's a Wonderful Life" in Blue Ray format?

posted on August 15, 2009 at 05:18PM
 

I do think at some point Its a wonderful life will be brought to blu-ray

posted on August 15, 2009 at 10:51PM
 

There's probably some master collection of classics in the works for blu-ray format, so rest assured that "It's a Wonderful Life" will be displayed in full 1080p glory one day

posted on August 15, 2009 at 11:19PM
 

i don't own a blueray but my parents do and it's SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO awesome. everything just looks better. i am most definitely going to be getting one soon.

posted on August 16, 2009 at 09:05AM
 

The only reason I have blue ray is because I have a ps3 system. I doubt that I would have spent  money on just a blue ray player. Although you get true hd from blue ray, an upconvert dvd player is not a bad way to go. upconverted movies look pretty good and the player cost around 75.00 vs 250.00 and up for blue ray.

posted on August 18, 2009 at 07:45AM
 

     I am still not a big advocate of HD yet, the picture I get now on my LG tv is just fine, it is sharp and clear, and when I watch DVD's on my regular DVD player, I am happy with it, I know that some day I will purchase a blue-ray player, but the way the economy is, why spend the money, when I am happy with what I got.

posted on August 18, 2009 at 06:46PM
 
In response to Bauer's post from August 16 2009 09:05AM

upconverted DVDs still look like **** when compared to Blu-Ray there really is no need to have an HDTV if you dont have a blu-ray player.

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