Difference between DVD and Blu-ray?
 

I often see advertisements on TV for movies and programs/series available on DVD. However, these ads almost always include the phrase "On Blu-ray and DVD." What is the difference, if there is one, between Blu-ray discs and standard DVDs? I thought Blu-ray discs are DVDs, differing only in the manner in which they are (for want of a better word) recorded.

Thanks in advance.

see if reading this and this helps your understanding of it.

the short version is: on blu ray 6x more (than dvd) information is recorded resulting in more detail in the image.

BluRay requires a format specific decoding. BluRay discs have a DVD layer , but have have a much larger storage capacity , allowing for much more detailed information-both audio and video. Kind of similar to hiding analog info on DAT , if that had ever been done.

Blu Ray is a high definition format, not needed if you are using a standard def 4:3 TV but it makes a very noticeable difference if you are using a display capable of showing the full 1080 resolution of a Blu Disc.

Also Blu Ray players will play DVD's but DVD players won't play Blu Ray discs.

I would personally recommend that if you are at all a movie fan or a concert fan, that you seriously consider looking at a Blu-ray player. This format is far and away superior to DVD in every aspect of VIDEO and AUDIO output.

Some people, erroneously beleive, that upscaled DVD is close to Blu-ray. Nothing could be further from the truth. Whether viewed in SD or Upscaled SD (what a buzzword), it cannot rival the visual and aural superiority of the Blu-ray format.

Granted, one needs to own the proper componants to maximize this experience, but make no mistake....Blu-ray is better!

John

I often wonder if Blue Ray makes a crappy movie plot better because it has so much more picture and sound definition :scratch2:

jeffhs, you do realize that to properly use a blu ray player you must have a hi definition tv set, right?
this can triple, quadruple the cost of the blu ray experience.

if you want a surround sound system, that can also add significantly to the price of the system.

the good news is you can rent blu ray movies and concerts from places like netflix for very little money.
i pay an average of $1.50 per. not bad!

a LOT of people think just that--check out some of the blu ray threads at the avs forum.
some of those folks quit watching dvds just cuz they don't look as good as blu ray. that's regardless of the content of the movie itself!

they really do want just the pretty picture. (and sound.)

First of all, it's Blu-ray NOT Blue Ray. Secondly, whether 8mm, VHS, Beta, DVD or Blu-ray...a crappy movie is still a crappy movie. So to answer your question, no...Blu-ray doesn't have the ability to make a DUD into a STUD.

You don't need surround sound. A decent 2-channel rig will blow your mind, as long as you have the receiver to decode the HD codecs.

The people that stopped watching DVD because of Blu-ray are idiots. They're the "snobs" that truly only care about the quality of the presentation and not the content of what is being presented.

All I'm saying is this...if you like movies or concerts and you have the ability (gear) to watch it as intended...DVD just doesn't measure up.

John

re surround sound. i believe i used the word 'want', not 'needs'.
no one 'needs' any of this stuff.

i use an onkyo hd-805 hd dvd player for dvds (and hd dvds). it has the reon hqv video processor which allows my ~1500 count dvd collection look great thru my hd projector/84" screen.
used to have a 108" screen and they still looked great. not quite hd of course, but d**n good!
blu ray chores are handled by the samsuck bdp1400.

a good dvd player can make a big difference.

The Blu-ray format has shown this ability in lab tests, but no retail Blu-ray discs have any compatibility with a regular DVD player. The competing but now-discontinued HD DVD format did have many discs available that had a regular DVD-format version of the movie on the other side of the disc; those discs could be played in a standard DVD player on that side. Of course, the picture quality was the same as any other DVD, and not in high definition.

As others have said, if you really enjoy movies (as distinctly opposed to TV-watching, in my opinion), a Blu-ray player and a good-sized HDTV display is a wonderful system to experience. The selection of movies is still much smaller than with the DVD format (which itself took years to catch up with VHS, of course), but many classic movies such as Casablanca, Gone With The Wind, and 2001 are available now or will be in the next couple of months. The picture quality of these movies will usually look far better than many people have ever seen them. I am waiting for North By Northwest, which comes out in November for its 50th anniversary. The majority of releases, though, are still recent movies (the same as was true with DVDs and VHS tapes in their early years as well).

No, it doesn't. I tried it. :D

best thing that bluray brings us in pal land is the 24fps mode - so that we no longer get stuck with sped up stuff like we do in the crappy pal dvd versions.

000

heh, and even Hopllywood admits that the Blu ray system has already been compromised, and that you can make a high quality copy of a blu ray movie by simply setting up a camcorder in front of a suitable TV.

So really it makes all their copy protection schemes useless, and they're doing this just to fuck us over.

It's cash for Clunkers, only there's no cash, and you'll be forced to upgrade...