Five times more capacity than today's DVD.
So will our 10-year-old love affair with DVD finally come to an end?
If you have already bought into the benefits of high definition TV or HDTV, you also made a commitment to buy your favourite movies on Blu-ray discs in the very near future. Or did you?
What is Blu-ray?
Blu-ray is a new, high density optical disc that offers massively increased storage capacity - at least five times more capacity than DVD. As good as DVD can sometimes look, it quickly loses its lustre when viewed side-by-side with High Definition Television (HDTV).
With more than double the resolution of DVD, HDTV produces images with far greater depth and detail while generating a sense of immersion unlike anything that has come before it.
Clearly, we have entered a new era for film and television - the high definition era, where DVD will have a tough fight with its rival format - the Blu-ray disc.
Benefits
What does the higher capacity of a Blu-ray disc really mean for the consumer? The benefits of capacity are fairly obvious. Greater capacity means that longer films and more episodes of a TV show will fit on a single disc.
Greater capacity also makes Blu-ray disc media better equipped to grow and evolve with the needs of the user. And for audiophiles, it simply means you have even more room to store your favourite MP3 and MP4 files.
Availability
Blu-ray is currently supported by more than 180 of the world's leading consumer electronics, personal computer, recording media, video game and music companies. In the current scheme of things, you can start buying your favourite movies on the Blu-ray format.
Sony Pictures, Walt Disney, MGM, Twentieth Century Fox, Lions Gate, Paramount, Warner Bros - these major studios are now offering movies on the Blu-ray format. Music is also available on the Blu-ray format through Universal Music Group and Sony BMG. With the launch of PlayStation 3, which supports the Blu-ray format, all gaming titles for PlayStation 3 are available on Blu-ray discs.
System requirements
Importantly, although Blu-ray Discs look a lot like standard DVDs, they will not play in a standard DVD player. The good news is that Blu-ray disc players, already available through some manufacturers, is backward-compatible and will play all your standard DVDs.
The future is here
The most important thing to remember is that Blu-ray disc technology is a lot more than just a new movie player for your living room. Blu-ray recorders will eventually be available for use with high definition DVRs.
Blu-ray burners are already available in PCs, including the popular VAIO-AR series from Sony. The Blu-ray disc platform is also at the core of Sony's new Playstation 3 entertainment console.
In short, Blu-ray disc technology is the common bond uniting tomorrow's technologies today.
