Blu-ray DVD format?

Question

I just read that Toshiba is going to stop production of the HD DVD and the Blu-Ray is the dominant format. Is the Blu-ray format compatible with the DVD players I have now? In the article it said it only works with HD TVs. Is that true? Will it be necessary to buy a DVD play for the Blue-Ray format? If so, is the Blu-Ray DVD player compatible with all of the DVDs I have now? I'm confused as to this whole Blu-ray DVD thing. I don't want to have to buy a special TV and DVD player because the industry says so. Like I said, I find this all very confusing. Can someone please explain this to me. Be nice. Thanks.

Answer 1

simply put Blu Rey will NOT play on a coventanal DVD player and yes HD DVD is all but dead as a format, Blu Rey will play conventional DVd's convential players will NOT play Blu Rey, yes it is true bit the picuture quality on a standard TV on a Blu Rey machine on HD TV will not be anywhere what a Blue Rey DVD will be on an HD TV

hope this answer your question

Answer 2

Basically, the more you pay = the more features you get.  Blu-Ray players which cost more can play DVD's and Blu-Ray discs.  Most Blu-Ray players (I believe the big exception is the Playstation 3) can upconvert regular DVD's.

Regular DVD players (which are cheap) cannot play Blu-Ray discs.  The more expensive DVD players may upconvert regular DVD's to a higher resolution, like 720p or 1080p.

Here's the issue on buying (or upgrading) to a HDTV...  You can play Blu-Ray discs with the right device on a regular TV, but WHY???  You are wasting money.  

Your regular TV won't take advantage of the Blu-Ray features.  Basically you'll pay extra money for something your TV can't take full advantage of.  It's like buying a new computer game when your PC is 5 years old (= it won't work well).

Before you buy a Blu-Ray player, you should buy a HDTV first...  

By the way, Blu-Ray players cannot play HD DVD's (and vice versa).  They were competing formats.

Answer 3

you will need to buy a dedicated blu-ray plaver (i found this blog http://blue-ray-dvd.blogspot.com) to play blu-ay discs but these kinds of players are backwards compatible which means you will still be able to play your old DVDs and VCDs too

the blog i found has lots of info about the blu-ray technology

Answer 4

Disney got it right. Thumbs up from me. about whether to buy Blu-Ray or not. If you are going to replace your DVD player anyway and if you think you will buy an HDTV in the next year then go ahead and buy a Blu-Ray player. The advantage being that you can start your Blu-Ray library now instead of getting DVD and wanting to replace them later. A BD player will play on any TV that has RCA inputs or better (except for 1 model from Denon for $1200 that has only an HDMI connection)

Answer 5

You will need a blu-ray player to play blu-ray discs.  If you have a regular dvd you can use a regular dvd player.  Simple as that.  Blu-ray movies will not play in a regular dvd player

Answer 6

tm-ar&k,

Here's a link that explains what they're doing. I think Japan is saying one thing and others are saying another about the compatibility of Blu-Ray and Conventional DVD's. It's confusing to me, too.

The best thing to do is go to your nearest dealer and ask someone who is up to par on what that heck is going on. I tend to think that the people here are in the right softball park, but Japan is playing hardball.

http://gizmodo.com/archives/bluray-has-a...

Answer 7

First off technically Blu-Ray Discs are not DVD's (Digital Versatile Disc) yes they look the same and use a similar format, but so do CD's and you don't call those DVD's. Blu-Ray Discs can also be referred to as BRD's although that isnt as common yet.

now for your questions...

"Is the Blu-ray format compatible with the DVD players I have now?"

No, A Blu-Ray disc can not play in a standard DVD player, they Blu-Ray's use a special laser that is blue/violet to read the information, where DVD's use a red laser. The blue laser is a much smaller ray of light that can read information that is compacted much smaller on the disc that the red laser can not read.

"In the article it said it only works with HD TVs. Is that true?"

No that is not true, Blu-Ray and HD-DVD are both High Definition formats intended for use with HDTV's but they will still function on a standard definition TV.

"If so, is the Blu-Ray DVD player compatible with all of the DVDs I have now?"

YES!! That is the great thing about Blu-Ray players, they can read your old DVD's, you do not need to replace your existing collection with new Blu-Ray titles, as a matter of fact they do an even better job playing them than a regular DVD player. It is called upconverting. It can increase the picture quality of a regular DVD to near high definition quality!!

You do not need to purchase a new TV or player for that matter, regular DVD's will continue to be around for years to come. But if you want to take advantage of the better picture quality and Blu-Ray features then you will need a new player, but can continue watching your old DVD's. But since you do not have an HDTV right now I would suggest on holding off for some time until you eventually need to replace your TV before investing in a Blu-Ray player. Prices are going down on both HDTV's and Blu-Ray, eventually they will be much mor eaffordable!

hope i answered your questions and did not confuse you more