Adam Jaylin asked:


In the present age of technological advancements, a lot of innovative electronics products have been introduced. Blu-ray is a third generation technology that gives a lot of facilities to the users. The Blu-ray discs are gaining popularity these days and they are able to compete with the other optical media storage devices. These discs have much more storage capacities than the traditional CDs and DVDs. The leading consumer electronics group, Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA) has developed these storage media.

Blu-ray discs are popular because one can store a huge amount of data in them. The storage capacity of a single-layer disc is up to 25 GB where as a dual-layer product can hold up to 50 GB of memory space. The high definition movies can be saved in these discs and one can watch them with great ease. In fact, a Blu-ray storage product is able to hold around six times more information than any other media. Blu-ray movies have an edge over the HD DVD films. These can store and play the movies of up to 1080 pixels resolution.

Blue Ray Movies feature high quality videos and therefore provide an exciting experience to the users. The DVDs which are available today do not support the high definition video files. One can not store more than 2 -3 movies in them. Therefore, the Blu-ray discs have an edge over the DVDs because of their value-added features. Moreover, these are more resistant to scratches and dust particles. Such movies can be encoded with a number of codecs. A separate codec is used for each movie. The type of codec is decided by the studio or the company that has developed the film.

The video formats which are supported by Blu-ray discs are MPEG-2, MPEG-4 AVC, SMPTE VC-1, etc. The HD audio formats are supported by these devices. However, it depends on the movie studios to decide the audio formats that has to be used in the film. Some of the popular formats are LPCM, DD, DTS-HD, etc. The large storage capacity gives the choice of including a lot of special features in the discs. Some of the features are menus, video graphics, summary, etc. These value-added benefits bring lot of enjoyment to the viewers. One can directly go to the menu system without stopping the movie. Also, the viewers can see the director of the film discussing the scene when it is being played in the background. They can also update the contents given in the movie through internet and download extras from different websites that provide such facility.

The latest Blu-ray movies can be found from many places. These include movie stores, super markets, CDs/DVDs shops and many others. The online websites also provide the Blu-ray films to the viewers. One can find all the hit movies on these portals at reasonable prices. Many innovative schemes and deals are also offered on these portals that makes shopping much more cost-effective for the users. Some of the latest Blu-ray films are “The Orphanage”, “Predator”, “Juno”, “One Missed Call”, etc. The viewers can watch them on their DVD players sitting in the home. These movies can be downloaded from a number of websites like Torrentfreak.com, Blu-ray.com, Amazon.co.uk, etc. One has to get himself registered with any of these sites before downloading the movie.

The latest Blu-ray movies discs have got huge response from the viewers worldwide. Some of them have become so popular that they were out of stock within few days of their launch. For example, “Mission Impossible” was a movie that did not have very good sales before the release of its Blu-ray disc version. The new version saw a record sale and became more popular with passage of time. Overall, it is quite clear that the future of Blue-ray movies is very bright and promising. These have brought a new revolution in the entertainment industry and people wait for the arrival of such products.

David Orchard asked:


Many compact disc replication companies think that the Blue-ray disc is truly part of a new wave of technology that has taken over the entertainment and movie industries. Technologies such as HD-DVD use the high-resolution imagery available in the Blu-ray disc and also employ the enhanced surround sound capabilities to produce state-of-the art discs that are ready for market.

Some movie makers require the special resolution features that are accomplished with the Blue-ray disc replication process; because the Blu-ray disc has more than six times the resolution that is found in the digitally produced masters that are used in DVD’s in the movie industry. Both formats for DVD replication have been warmly greeted by moviegoers who enjoy the high-definition picture quality in the movies that they go to.

Production costs are not affected when the Blu-ray disc replication process is used in place of the standard quality DVD formats because there is a 10% price difference between Blu-ray discs and the standard DVD formats most commonly used by the entertainment industry. Blu-ray discs are designed to last more than 15 years, and the technology that is used to produce this replication technology does not get outdated so there are no replacement costs to worry about.

The Blu-ray disc replication process produces a disc that will not scratch, and is also resistant to fingerprint trails. To use DVD’s that have gone through the Blu-ray disc replication process, a customer does not need to worry about purchasing special cartridges to hold the hard coated disc. The Blue-ray disc can be used in the same manner as regular DVD’s and compact discs.

During the Blue-ray replication stages, a publisher or writer might want to place content protection on the Blu-ray disc. The Blu-ray disc offers some of the strongest methods of copy protection available today and it is suitable for use in any format. So whether you have a compact disc, DVD, or HD-DVD medium, the mandatory copy protection mechanisms that are built-in to every Blu-ray disc replication will be back up by a strict licensing procedure.

Many people who use the Blu-ray disc replication process for the products they sell choose to use the extra storage capacity on the Blu-ray disc to add special features that customers will be surprised to see when they use it for the first time. The extra capacity on the Blu-ray disc allows files to have room to expand, which gives a big boost to the high-definition picture quality on the DVD.

Michael Hehn asked:


Next generation home video format wars always end up confusing the consumer to start off, and it can take several years before one format gains dominance over the other. This was the case with the VHS versus Betamax format war, and thankfully the various companies quickly came together to develop the DVD, or digital video/versatile disc, so that became dominant with no competition. Unfortunately, various companies have banded together into two different camps, and now a new format war has been created where consumers are asked if they want HD or Blue ray, and many choose neither for now.

Making a Wise Investment

Through 2006 and 2007, people would have to choose to go with either HD or Blue ray on a relative whim as both offered about the same amount of movies from major movie studios. Near the start of 2008 though, Warner Bros. decided to go Blue ray exclusive, resulting in a majority of movies being released on Blue ray over HD-DVD, helping consumers to choose HD or Blue ray. While many people could argue the pros and cons of both formats, having two competing formats only ended up hurting everyone as companies released movies that nobody bought and consumers risked making a high definition movie player purchase only to find out that months later, no more movies would be released for it. By making most of the movies be released on a single format, movie studios help to ensure that consumers can choose HD or Blue ray without wasting their money.

HD-DVD players might be a little bit cheaper, but Blue ray discs offer superior data capacity, resulting in greater longevity as studios put more content onto discs for consumers to enjoy. However, by making consumers choose HD or Blue ray, studios allowed another format to gain traction. Downloadable videos have gained popularity as they work on all computers with a high speed Internet connection, which is becoming the dominant form of connection in all countries around the world. Many people prefer to actually be able to hold their purchase in their hands (as is the case with DVD’s or Blue ray discs), but by buying a next gen video format, they might have ended up wasting their hard earned money, so they preferred to download movies to their hard drive instead of risking wasting a thousand dollars or more.

Blue ray is expected to gain even more traction in 2008, helping consumers to easily choose HD or Blue ray. As prices come down and the selection of movies grows, then more people will upgrade to Blue ray over their old DVD player. With more special features and high definition video and audio, this format is the clear choice for the next generation home theater experience.