Blu Ray or Not Blu Ray?
What's Blu-ray good for?
Image quality: Superior resolution, a big part of what makes Blu-ray look and feal excellent. This means you'll see a more detailed image: clearly defined strands of hair, wrinkles in clothing, raindrops etc. The technical part is that Blu-ray's maximum resolution is 1,920x1,080 (1080p), DVD is limited to 720x480 (480p). Beyond resolution, Blu-ray also uses better video compression methods, resulting in greater contrast and richer more dynamic colors. If your delighted by the way HD from your cable or satellite looks, Blu-ray looks far better. It's the highest quality format available today, in some ways it takes over the picture quality of your local cinema, especially when viewed on a quality HDTV or projector.
Audio quality: Audio quality is far improved. With new high resolution soundtracks, such as Dolby True HD and DTS HD Master Audio, you'll be hearing things precisely as the director and audio engineers intended.
Special extra features: Blu-ray also has additional features over DVD. The most basic extra is the pop-up menu; this allows you to access the menu functions while the movie is playing. Other innovations include picture in picture video commentary and the ability to download fresh new movies right from your Blu-ray player, although your player needs to have the right profile to use these features.
What's worse about Blu-ray?
Price: Blu-ray's main drawback is its price. The cost for players is still generally over £200 and movies cost about £20. While the onetime cost of a player is not that bad, the cost of accumulating a new Blu ray library really stacks up. At least it is possible to pick and choose which movies you buy in Blu Ray since every player can also play normal DVDs.
Accessible titles: A main downside is that the number of movie titles on Blu-ray is limited compared to DVD. There are about 1000 Blu-ray titles available currently, compared with more than 90,000 on DVD. Depending on your taste, you may only find a movie or two that you actually like available on Blu ray.
Loading times: When Blu-ray first arrived on our shores, load times were frustratingly slow; it could take up to 3 minutes to load a film. More recently players have become much faster, but they still are not on par with the loading time of a DVD. While simple Blu-ray films can load in about 20 seconds on a good Blu ray player, movies with more innovative menus still take close to 90 seconds to get to the movie, regardless of the costly player.
IMO: DVD's are a thing of the past, pretty much destined to the backroom cupboard with that VHS player from yonder year, although for now while the prices and some technical difficulties are still rife with the Blu Ray keep those DVD players ticking over with the latest movies but keep a nice clean spot clear for your fresh new Blu Ray player next year!