HDTV’s will be much more prevalently used. I could give you my take on exactly what the Blu-ray Disc format is, but I thought it would be best to go to a website where it could be explained in a much better way than I could. One thing I did find out, which I’m glad to know, is that as happens with every new product initially released into the marketplace, such as VCRs, which begat DVDs, the cost of a Blu-ray Disc player will at first be quite expensive. It’s not imperative to go out immediately to replace your DVD player with a Blu-ray Disc player.
What is Blu-ray?
"Blu-ray, also known as Blu-ray Disc (BD) is the name of a next-generation optical disc format. The format was developed to enable recording, rewriting and playback of high-definition video (HD), as well as storing large amounts of data. The format offers more than five times the storage capacity of traditional DVDs and can hold up to 25GB on a single-layer disc and 50GB on a dual-layer disc.
The name Blu-ray is derived from the underlying technology, which utilizes a blue-violet laser to read and write data. The name is a combination of "Blue" (blue-violet laser) and "Ray" (optical ray). According to the Blu-ray Disc Association the spelling of "Blu-ray" is not a mistake, the character "e" was intentionally left out so the term could be registered as a trademark. The correct full name is Blu-ray Disc.
Blu-ray format has received broad support from the major movie studios as a successor to today’s DVD format. In fact, seven of the eight major movie studios (Disney, Fox, Warner, Paramount, Sony, Lionsgate and MGM) have released titles in the Blu-ray format. Many studios have also announced that they will begin releasing new feature films on Blu-ray Disc day-and-date with DVD, as well as a continuous slate of catalog titles every month. However, the two formats (Blu-ray and DVD) will most likely co-exist for quite some time until HDTVs become more widespread.
Several leading consumer electronics companies (including Sony, Panasonic, Philips, Samsung, Pioneer, Sharp and LG) have already demonstrated products that can read/write CDs, DVDs and Blu-ray discs using a BD/DVD/CD compatible optical head, so you don’t have to worry about your existing DVD collection becoming obsolete. In fact, most of the Blu-ray players coming out will support upscaling of DVDs to 1080p/1080i, so your existing DVD collection will look even better than before. While it’s up to each manufacturer to decide if they want to make their products backwards compatible with DVD, the format is far too popular to not be supported. The Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA) expects every Blu-ray Disc device to be backward compatible with DVDs."
