DVD AND BLUERAY

Blu-ray has finally won the high definition format war, but that is just the beginning. There is a lot of confusion out there among the general public about the difference between DVD and Blu-ray discs. Although Blu-ray discs look exactly the same as DVDs in size and shape there are many differences between the media, including storage capacity, laser technology, disc construction, image resolution and player compatibility.

Storage Capacity
Storage capacity is measured in gigabytes (GB), like computers and iPods. The more GB the disc has more information it can hold.

• DVD- Single layer DVDs can store about 4.7 GB of data, which is about two hours worth of movie. These are commonly referred to as DVD-5s. Double layer DVDs, or DVD-9s, can store twice the amount of data at 8.7 GB. This equals about four hours of movie, or one “Lord of the Rings” movie.

• Blu-ray- Single layer Blu-ray discs store approximately 25 GB of data, this equals about two hours of high definition information or 13 hours of standard definition information. Double layer Blu-ray discs can hold about 50 GB equaling about four and a half hours of high definition information or 26 hours in standard definition. Potentially you could put all three “Lord of the Rings” movies on one double layer Blu-ray disc.

Laser Technology
Lasers are used in both media to read the information stored on the disc. As the disc spins the laser reads the information and transfers both picture and sound to the television.