Blue Ray DVDs vs. DVDs
Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past few years, you’ve undoubtedly heard about Blue Ray DVDs. After handily defeating HD DVD as the next generation disc format of choice the question remains for many consumers: what will Blue Ray DVDs bring to the table that DVDs can’t?
The main claim to fame for Blue Ray DVDs is the staggering storage capacity starting at 25 gigabytes for single layer discs and 50 gigabytes for dual-layer discs. This supersedes the comparatively tiny storage capacity of 4.7 gigabytes that standard DVDs current sport. There are multiple variants of this standard, but by large and far the existing user-base is primarily setup to use 4.7 gigabyte DVDs, and thus it seems fair to compare only the 25 gigabyte Blue Ray DVDs to the 4.7 gigabyte DVDs.
So what can studios do with approximately 4 times the storage capacity? The first and obvious use that has been touted by the film studios and the Blue Ray group is the increased video quality. Due to the inclusion of advanced video CODECs, specifically those based on the H.264 set of standards, the extra storage capacity allows for dramatic improvements in both quality and length of videos as well as tangibly improved and expanded audio selections. In short the improved storage capacity and modern CODECs allow for not only substantially improved video quality, more ‘extra’ features, and a wider selection of audio tracks.
Another feature that became part of the official Blue Ray standard is Java based menus. This enables advanced menus that have far greater graphical and interactive potential than the pre-rendered MPEG segments with subtitled pictures or videos found in DVDs. The net result at this time is that most Blue Ray DVDs have stunning menus compared to those found on DVDs but, with a few exceptions, there are limited functionality improvements.
One feature set included in Blue Ray DVDs that some consumers may consider a con is the inclusion of several types of digital rights management (DRM). Variants of the Blue Ray standard include support to allow the disc to verify the integrity of the player. Numerous consumer groups have advised consumers to avoid Blue Ray DVDs due to the inclusion of DRM, and with the rise of digital download services such as iTunes, it is possible that Blue Ray may mark the end of an era of discs.
Blue Ray DVDs are marginally more expensive than DVDs at present, but true videophiles are likely to appreciate the quality improvements while those who are extremely interested in bonus features are likely to also prefer Blue Ray DVDs so long as one isn't opposed to DRM.