The Skinny on Blu-Ray

Here are some things to consider now that Blu-Ray is the top dog in the high-definition disc arena.

Let's cut through all the flashy names and marketing slogans. Simply put, "Blu-Ray" is just a new way of fitting more information on a disc. The discs are very similar to CDs and DVDs, but Blu-Ray discs are burned with blue lasers—hence the name—that are incredibly precise and can write more data to a disc than the old red lasers (used on DVDs and CDs) could.

Hypothetically, you could put a high-definition movie on a regular DVD or even a CD. The problem is you'd only get very small bits of those movies onto the disc, a few minutes at most. A CD's maximum data capacity is about 800 megabytes, a DVD can hold between four and eight gigabytes; Blu-Ray discs can hold between 25 and 50 gigabytes, a tremendous amount of data that provides plenty of room for high-definition content.

Blu-Ray is currently the only way for consumers to get true 1080p HD content to view on their HDTVs. Broadcast television lacks the bandwidth to properly utilize all those progressive-scan pixels, but the high-capacity Blu-Ray discs can offer films in all their high-definition glory.

You may have heard about "up-converting" or "up-scaling" DVD players like the ones made by Oppo. These are not high-definition video players; they play traditional standard-definition content, but use some technological trickery to make them more palatable for HD screens.

Traditional DVD content contains 480 horizontal lines of resolution. Your HDTV can support either 720 or 1080 horizontal lines. If you watch a traditional DVD on a regular DVD player hooked up to an HDTV, the TV needs to do some work to stretch those 480 lines to fit the larger, more spacious, more detailed HDTV screen. This can result in some noticeable distortion and image degradation.

Instead of simply stretching and straining an image to fit a screen with more pixels, "up-converting" or "up-scaling" DVD players like the Oppo DV-980H use information from the pixels they have to color in the pixels they don't. The result is a smoother, more palatable viewing experience that smoothes over the roughness of watching SD content on HDTVs.

With the demise of HD-DVD and the end of the format war, however, the fate of such standalone upconverting players is in doubt. Blu-Ray players also up-convert and up-scale old DVDs, in addition to providing access to future high-definition movies. Now that consumers don't have to worry about getting stuck with the wrong format, they can boldly purchase a Blu-Ray player knowing it will both improve the quality of their existing DVD library and allow them to begin building a new HD disc library.

Now it seems to all come down to price. Without competition, it's hard to see the cost of Blu-Ray players (typically between $400 and $600) coming down significantly anytime soon. Even so, most reports indicate that consumers are unwilling to invest that much money. It seems that people have gotten used to ubiquitous, dirt-cheap DVD players and find it odd that they'd have to spend a lot of money on such a device, even if it is HD. At the moment, the PlayStation 3 is probably the best value as it not only has a Blu-Ray player (which is, in fact, the most advanced on the market and is fully updatable and upgradeable down the road), it is a superlative next-generation video game console, and acts as a media center hub for your home entertainment system, liking your computers and media libraries to your television via wireless internet.

Though the format war is over, there are still some looming threats to consider. Streaming media has come a long way, and as broadband internet speeds go up, web-based transmission of movies and TV shows is going to become more prevalent. You may not even need a disc to see the latest HD films. Netflix recently introduced a set-top box that works with their online subscription service and allows members to stream movies immediately. Though it is only standard-definition at the moment, HD cannot be far behind.

In general, buying Blu-Ray right now is a safe bet but remember: nothing is permanent in technology.

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