In the fast world of electronics and gadgets, upconversion vs. blueray is the latest controversial battle. These two powerful technologies have been very useful and remarkable in a lot of ways but belonging in the same category has placed them in a tight competitive situation. Will blueray finally replace upconversion or is it too sophisticated for the majority?



Upconversion Vs. Blueray Details

Blueray is an optical disc format originally developed by BDA or Blu-ray Disc Association which is a manufacturing group focusing on electronics, media and computers. The format was improved to allow recording, playback and rewriting of HD or high-definition video. Due to the use of blue-laser technology, storage capacity is significantly increased compared to conventional DVDs by up to five times more. There are single-layer discs that can store around 25 GB while a dual-layer disc can store twice as much.

Upconversion is an HD-DVD process which uses optical disc formats originally developed by Toshiba and NEC. Ironically, it also uses much of blue-laser technology to boost storage capacity. Upconversion vs. Blueray has posed a number of problems to consumers since supporting companies like Sony, Toshiba and NEC among others have chosen sides. The rivalry of the two next-generation formats pushes consumers to choose between the two. At present, there is still no universal format when it comes to ultimate HD experience.

Upconversion Vs. Blueray: Choosing Your Side

Here are some differences in the upconversion vs. Blueray battle. Blueray has a storage capacity of 25 GB on a single layer disc compared to upconversion's 15 GB. Blueray's dual-layer disc can hold up to 50 GB while upconversion can hold 30 GB. Both technologies use blue laser with a wavelength of 405 nm. Blueray has a numerical aperture or NA of 0.85 while upconversion has 0.65. Both discs measure 120 mm in diameter and are 1.2 mm thick. Protection layer is only 0.1 mm in blueray discs and has a hard coating compared to the thicker 0.6 mm in upconversion with no hard coating.

Data transfer speed for both devices are almost identical at around 36 Mbps but Blueray discs have an advantage in video and audio transfer at 54 Mbps. The two tie at the top in terms of video resolution at 1920x1080 (1080p). Maximum video bit rate is 40 Mbps for Blueray while upconversion is at 28 Mbps. Video codecs are similar for both supporting MPEG-2, MPEG4-AVC and SMPTE VC-1. As for audio codecs, both are also identical supporting Dolby and DTS Digital Surround. Upconversion vs. Blueray seems to be a race to the finish and the days of standard DVD will soon be over. People only need to determine which best suits their needs and is most convenient and practical.