How can a Blu ray disc not be a Digital Video Disc?

Question

I don't think just because Blu Ray has a higher compression rate and can fit a lot more information on it makes it a different format. Isn't it just an improved DVD? Isn't this whole Blu ray thing a marketing scheme? And the fact that it requires a different kind of player doesn't mean it is a different format. When Hybrid cars that ran on battery power came out we didn't stop calling them cars, did we?

So how can Blu Ray be a different format than DVD?

Answer 1

In addition to the informative answers above, let me address the analogical statement you made regarding cars. All of the mentioned formats are in fact discs.

Here's the cronology:

Black vinyl discs (in various sizes)

12" Laser discs

Compact Discs (named such because they are smaller)

DVD (the second D stands for disc)

HD-DVD (the third D stands for disc)

Bluray Disc

Much like hybrids, internal combustion, and even that nuclear powered thing from Back to the Future that began as a de Lorean are all cars, the available formats for audio and or video are all discs.

Oh, and they were all marketing schemes to get our money. That is the sole motivation of the entertainment industry. Bluray discs are stunning on a 1080p television, so this time I'd say they've earned it.

Answer 2

A blu-ray dvd is actually a software program.

Standard DVD has a menu system and video files. All DVD players know how to read through this.

But BluRay disks are a BD-Java program that run on players like a video game/computer software.

So it's not a 'static' disk of information, but a program.

Answer 3

Ok.

Blu-ray uses a blue (violet) laser with a shorter wavelength than a DVD which uses a red laser (405 nm vs 650 nm) meaning a Blu-ray can hold much more data than a dvd (50gb dual layer vs 9gb dual layer)

Its just a name anyway. DVD actually stands for both digital video disc and digital versatile disc. blu-ray shortens to BD

also there was HD-DVD which just stood for high definition

(too many D's in my opinion)

and according to your argument we should be calling them cds (since cds were first)

or even further back than that (im not too sure what was before that)

Answer 4

There are several differences between Blu-Ray and standard DVDs. I will name a couple. Blu-Ray uses a blue laser. DVDs use a red one. The data on a Blu-Ray disc is stored much closer to the unlabled side of the disc (hence the need for the anti-scratch coating) than on a DVD. It is a totally different specification. btw, DVD stands for Digital Versatile Disc.

Answer 5

Well, Philips had a Disc that was Digital and had video on it before DVDs came out so was that a DVD? No it was a CD that you could watch a movie on. So maybe DVDs aren't DVDs at all, maybe they are actually VCDs. No, that isn't right because the disc isn't the same at all. And Neither is Blu-Ray. Even though all three are the same dimensions and are all read with a laser of some kind and appear the same to the naked eye.they are all different kinds of discs.

In short, DVD (Digital VERSATILE Disc) is not merely a descriptive term. It is a name. Or to use your analogy if it isn't a hybrid version of a car at all, it is more of a tank.

Answer 6

It is not a DVD disc because if you put it in a DVD player, it will simply don't work!

It is a disc, but you can't call it DVD.