The advent of Blu Ray is certainly upon us, it is slowly creeping into people's collections as the high definition video format of choice. Advocates are quick to assert that this new format is not only a better way to watch movies, but a way for collectors to protect their collections from future development; the term being bandied about is 'future proofing'. But how does the Blu Ray format work? What makes it different from regular DVD?



Blu Ray has been developed with the cooperation of some of the world's most recognisable technology companies, for instance, Sony, Samsung and Sharp have all been instrumental in this development and all three are likely to push the widespread use of Blu Ray in the future. The disc is physically different to regular DVDs in a number of ways. The reading formulation of the device is unique, using a blue-violet reading system that gives the format its name.

The result of this system is a shorter reading frequency and for the sake of not getting too technical, means that the shorter the wavelength, the greater the capacity of the disc. Whether the Blu Ray disc is single or double layered relates to a storage capacity of around twenty five and fifty gigabytes respectively.

The launch of Blu Ray occurred in 2006 and marked a watershed in the design and development of high definition viewing. Its ingress into the market has been slow at first but this situation is rapidly improving. In the early stages their was a considerable battle between the Blu Ray and HD DVD formats that resembled the eighties battles between Beta Max and VHS.

Blu Ray eventually won this battle due to a wide variety of backers such as movie studious and retailers. These movie studios include giants such as Warner Brothers, Disney and Buena Vista whilst the retailers that jumped aboard consisted of internet marketplaces such as Amazon. With such a large backing it was almost inevitable the Blu Ray would win out, although the competition from Toshiba's HD DVD was considerable at times.

Since the end of this 'format war' Blu Ray has made serious advances in terms of sales. A recent release, Twentieth Century Fox's Hitman actually experienced a record fourteen percent of sales in the Blu Ray format. While this is still a relatively small number in terms of total percentage, it shows that as the number of players in the marketplace increases, the exposure of this format will also become more widespread.

Critics are quick to espouse that the advancement of BD is limited due to price; the research however tells a different story, one report has stated that while the ingresses into the entertainment market are slow, if compared to DVD in its early years Blu Ray is actually doing better and experiencing a greater level of exposure.

What does the future hold for Blu Ray however? Clearly those involved in its production will be hoping for yet more exposure into the entertainment medium although technologically it is expected that while single and duel layered discs are now on the market; the coming years are likely to bring a quad layered disc holding one hundred gigabytes of data. Even so, development is ongoing, with some companies striving to produce a sextuple layered disc capable of holding almost two hundred gigabytes. In addition the future is likely to bring recordable discs for the recording of HD television programmes and schedules.

With such a strong corporate backing it is unsurprising that Blu Ray has succeeded in winning the format war. Movie buffs now regard BD to be the best and most preferable viewing format whilst also considering it a great way to future proof a collection. Whatever the critics say the development of Blu Ray technology is certain to continue.