How is Blu-Ray supposed to be better than watching regular DVDs?

Question

How is Blu-Ray supposed to be better than watching regular DVDs?

Answer 1

The same way HD Tv is better than regular TV, Blu-Ray is a HD (hi-def) DVD player, you can only play hi-def dvds in it.

Answer 2

Better picture as everyone else mentioned but also uncompressed audio so you can hear the way the movie was supposed to sound.  On dvd audio is compressed to fit on the disk and the quality is reduced.

Answer 3

Regular DVDs are about 400 lines (widescreen DVDs) to 520 lines.  Blu-Ray will be 720 to 1080 lines.  

You get a much better picture with Blu-Ray than you do with regular DVDs, but you need to have a HD TV to view them on.

Answer 4

The resolution (fine detail) is better (1080 vs 480 resolution). audio is superior if you can use the advanced audio formats (DD+, Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD, etc) on a surround system, and colour is a wider gamut (broader range). See the link for comparison pictures (Note many people don't see a night and day difference , while other do .. it partly depends on eyesight and partly on equipment).

That said, you need an HDTV (minimum) and prefreably a greater than 40" 1080p model with a good surround sound system, and HDMI connections to get the benefit.

The truth is, for many people they will get little or no benefit relative to an upconverted DVD, so before buying into Blu-ray make sure you can benefit sufficently to justify the high cost of the player (currently $350+) and the premium prices ($5-20 more than the DVD) for disks (which can't be played on a normal DVD player).

Personally I don't think it's worth it and I'm waiting untill I see if a) Blu-ray is more than a niche format (DVDs are not going anywhere soon), and b) whether prices come down to DVD level (I doubt it).