Blu Ray is defined as the movie format of the future, giving the viewer a better experience in terms of both vision and sound. This high definition disc format is slowly entering people’s movie collections, particularly those collections owned by discerning movie buffs. Those who are using blu ray are the first to advocate its higher quality, better frame rate and greater viewing experience.
In addition however, blu ray is seen by many as a way to elongate the lifespan of a movie collection; the term often used is ‘future-proofing’. But for those not in the know what is the difference between blu ray and regular DVD? Hopefully the following will answer some key questions.
Blu ray has been a combined effort from some of the world’s leading technology companies. Sony, Samsung, Panasonic and Sharp have all given their support and many were heavily involved in its initial development. The discs are different from DVDs in a number of ways. The way information is read from the disc is different in that it uses a blue-violet light; the light that gives the format its name.
The effect of this blue-violet reading system is that there is a far shorter reading frequency and hence the storage capacity of the disc is greatly enhanced. Depending upon the layering of the disc, the storage can also be increased. At the moment single and double layered discs are available with storages of twenty five an fifty gigabytes. In the future triple and quadruple layered discs are likely to be produced.
Blu ray was launched in 2006 and was a huge move forward in terms of high definition playback. Since 2006 the popularity of blu ray has been growing slowly although the last six months have seen a vast improvement in sales of both players and discs. From the outset blu ray was involved in a format war with Toshiba’s rival format HD DVD, just like the eighties battle between VHS and Betamax it was two similar formats that fought for the backing of movie studios and other technology producers.
Blu ray won the day securing the support of major movie producers such as Warner Brothers, Disney and Buena Vista that meant its future was somewhat assured. Some retailers also added their support, such as Amazon. With the backing of huge companies the future of blu ray could be deemed secure. Critics however were still in abundance and it has only been the increase in the number of blu ray player sales in the Far East that has shown a true switch from traditional DVD to the new format has occurred.
New movie releases are now regularly experiencing around a quarter of their total sales in the blu ray format showing that it is becoming popular as a format. Critics of the format have highlighted how long it has taken for blu ray to reach this popularity. However the view is somewhat misguided considering that at the same stage of the development of regular DVD, its relative sales were actually less that blu ray.
Blu ray has become the HD movie format of choice for discerning film watchers worldwide. As with most technology it is the Far East that acts as a marker for the rest of the world when it comes to development. If the popularity of this new format in that part of the world is recognised the future for blu ray can only be bright.
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