How are Blu Ray DVDs a superior product to regular DVDs?

elburcher

What's better about Blu-ray? Image quality: Superior resolution is a big part of what makes Blu-ray look great. In layman's terms, this means you'll see a more detailed image: more clearly defined strands of hair, wrinkles in clothing, etc. The technical difference is that Blu-ray's maximum resolution is 1,920x1,080 (1080p), while DVD is limited to 720x480 (480p). Beyond resolution, Blu-ray also uses better video-compression methods, resulting in more contrast and richer colors. If you like the way HD from your cable or satellite provider looks, Blu-ray looks even better. It's the highest-quality video format available today, and in some ways it surpasses the picture quality of your local movie theater, especially when shown on a good-performing HDTV or projector. Audio quality: Audio quality is also improved. New high-resolution soundtrack formats, such as Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio, are essentially identical to the studio master, so you'll be hearing things exactly as the director and audio engineers intended. For more information check out the Blu-ray soundtracks section. Special features: Blu-ray also has additional special features over DVD. The most basic innovation is the pop-up menu, which allows you to access the menu functions while the movie continues playing. Other innovations include picture-in-picture video commentary and the ability to download new content right from your Blu-ray player, although your player needs to have the right Blu-ray profile to access these features. In our opinion, the special features on Blu-ray have mostly been underwhelming and aren't a good reason to upgrade. For more information on special features, check out our detailed discussion of Blu-ray profiles. http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-13817_7-6462511-2.html Feb 12 09, 10:42 PM

scottietwenty3

Blu-Ray is a much improved picture, yes. But the extras aren't much different than what we normally get. (Despite some bells and whistles more exciting to them than us.) It takes a major investment to get all those benefits and on top of it all, they're more expensive. I don't think Blu-Ray will flop a la the "improved" CDs record labels tried to push on us in the last few years. But they might. But they certainly won't start flying off the shelves and it will be years before even half of all homes can watch Blu-Ray DVDs on a home theater system. So I say, drag your feet. The longer we take to make the switch to Blu-Ray, the more likely they'll lower the price so it's the equivalent of regular DVDs. And if the studios think we're all going to happily replace our library of movies and TV shows on DVD with Blu-Ray, they are in for a rude awakening. Feb 12 09, 11:22 PM