What is the difference between Blu Ray dvds and the regular kind???

Question

I have an hdtv which isn't that old, 1 1/2 years old and the dvd player is probably almost 2 years old. With everything going with the blu ray, Netflix (which I'm a member of), walmart, and I assume every place else. Does this mean my tv and dvd player won't properly play the new discs, and if they will is the picture going to be terrible?? Thanks!!

Answer 1

blu ray is the next generation of disc media so no it wont work on a dvd player it has to be a bluray player. blur ray can hold around 50gb and a normal dvd can hold around 7 (if both are dual layered) and blu ray is high def while dvd is not

Answer 2

Blu-Ray is the next generation movie format. It is a high definition disc that will eventually become the standard format.

Blu-Ray Disc's (BD's) are not DVD's and will not play in a DVD player. Although a DVD will play in a Blu-Ray player.

You can hook a Blu-Ray player up to a standard definition TV, even though it is intended for a HDTV. and it will be far from terrible! If you play a DVD in a Blu-Ray player on a standard TV the quality is still going to be better than playing a DVD in a DVD player on a standard TV.

To get the best quality though you will need to play a Blu-Ray disc on a Blu-Ray player on a HDTV. Visit your local Best Buy and they will have a display setup playing Blu-Ray on a HDTV and you will be amazed!

Answer 3

The main difference is the capacity of the disc.

Blu ray disch can hold 25 Gb (single layer) and 50 Gb (dual layer) while normal DVD just only 4,7 Gb (single layer).

Bigger size means that you can store more data on your disc and it means it gives you better quality as well.

You can imagine normal DVD you can watch 3-4 hours movie, with the same duration but using 'blu ray' technology needs 50Gb. So Blu ray disc 100% will give you better quality of picture and sound of the movie comparing to normal disc. BUT it must be supported by the other components needed such as the player and also TV...even the cable will give some effect.

Blu ray disc will not work with normal DVD player, because it uses different optics to read the disc.

So wish you a great new experience with this new technology.

Answer 4

It seems everyone told you about Bluray, but nobody answered your question!

Your TV and DVD player will be fine.  Actually, if you get a bluray player, your DVDs will look even better, since Bluray players upscale standard DVDs to HD.  It's not as good as the same movie on Bluray, but it's better than replacing your existing collection of movies.

Blurays will not play on a standard DVD player, but DVDs play on a Bluray player.

Your picture is worse now with a standard DVD player on an HDTV than the same movie on a Bluray player on the same HDTV (assuming you use component or HDMI cables).

So if you're fine with the image quality now, you could wait for the prices of players to drop, but it really is the wave of the future^^

Answer 5

On a technical note as to why they won't work on a regular DVD player:  CDs (data and music) use an infrared laser, DVD uses a red laser, and Blu-Ray as the name suggests uses a blue laser.  The reason for the different colors is that the higher the frequency and shorter the wavelength of the light the more tightly it can be focused which allows smaller tracks on the disk and smaller tracks means more of them fit in the same space and hold more info.  As you may remember the order of the colors from lowest and longest to highest and shortest is: Infrared, Red, Orange Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet, Ultraviolet.

It would not surprise me one bit if in a few years they switched again to new disks with a violet or ultraviolet laser to cram even more data on a single disk.