Consumers first began asking what the big deal was about Blu ray format over DVD format right when Hi Def format was introduced. Although it has taken a while for the Blu ray discs (BD) to catch on, it was officially crowned the king of entertainment quality in 2008 when Toshiba announced that it was abandoning its support and manufacturing of HD DVD equipment. It has been a few years since BD format was first introduced, and if you are still wondering why you should upgrade, read on for an explanation.



The difference between standard definition and high definition is that the sharpness of the picture, the brightness of the colors, and the amount of detail of HD is supreme to SD. It is said that the detail that a high definition picture is five times better than that of the standard definition. With BD format, however, you get much more than just a better picture.

Blu Ray (BD) combined with hard drives offer a very flexible alternative for people that need to record programs that are broadcast in High definition. Even though with DVRs consumers can record HD programming, the amount of programming that can be recorded and archived is very limited by the small size of those hard drives. A Blu Ray disc has much more room on it to allow loads of material to be put on it. Future Blu ray recorders will allow consumers to record video to the discs and free up hard drive space in the very near future, and people who want to archive a lot of their recorded HDTV programming will be able to do so. The BD recorders will also offer a whole slew of features that are not possible with traditional DVD players.

Some of the best features of Blu Ray disc players are that there is random access available that will let people jump instantly to any place that is on the disc. Searching through the content is a breeze, because viewers can browse and preview recorded programs quickly in real time. Viewers will be able to create playlists too, which means that they can change the order of programs that are recorded, and they can even edit video that they have recorded.

As opposed to DVDs, Blu Ray discs have better definition to the visual quality they present, they have much better audio, much more storage capability than DVDs, and the discs themselves also have a hard protective layer on them for protection. The DVDs also have a protective layer, but it is a different kind and not as solid. There are plans for the release of Blu ray capable computers in the future as well, and like the DVDs that have ROM features for the computers, BD format will also be computer worthy soon.