Blu Ray Players

In 1996, a new technology revolutionized the way we that watch of movies by bringing digital sound and video into our homes, this new technology was called DVD, but in 2006 this relatively new technology was over hauled by a newer technology which introduced Blu-ray discs to the world. These optical storage discs are capable of holding and playing back large quantities of high definition video and audio. In addition, these discs can also store photos, data and other forms of digital content.

This high capacity disc was called Blu-Ray after the blue laser that is used to read and write this type of disc. The disc has a shorter wave length than an ordinary DVD and hence can be used to save much more digital content than a normal DVD. A normal single sided standard DVD can hold 4.7 GB of digital content but a High Definition movie commonly called HD movie has a sharper image resolution which requires much more bandwidth and it therefore requires a disc with a higher storage capacity than a regular DVD. A single layer Blu-Ray disc can store up to 27 GB of digital content which is adequate for a two hour HD movie. This storage is also adequate for 13 hours of standard video. A double layer Blu- Ray disc can store even more up to 50 GB of digital content. HD is now becoming the standard all over the world and as the world moves to HD technology it requires discs and players which are compatible with this format.

This Blu-Ray disc technology was developed by the Blu-Ray Disc Association in 2006. This organization is a consortium of companies belonging to the consumer electronics, computer hardware, and motion picture production industries. More and more movie titles are now being released on Blu-Ray discs the world over as this technology gains popularity. Initially however Blu-Ray discs had to compete for supremacy with the HD DVD format, but now the electronics giant Toshiba, which was primarily pushing this format has decided to stop manufacturing and developing HD DVDs. This has now paved the way for Blu-Ray technology.

The Blu-Ray Disc Association recommends that Blu-ray players should be capable of reading standard DVDs and CDs in order to enable backward compatibility. The Blu-Ray players that were released in 2006 were capable of playing DVDs but not CDs. The Sony Playstation 3 is capable of playing Blu-ray discs and also has HD gaming and multimedia capabilities. The present day Blu–Ray players like the Sony BDP-S350, the Samsung BD-P1500, and the Sharp BD-HP20 are all capable of playing CDs and DVDs in addition to Blu-Ray discs.

Currently all the Blu-Ray players that are available on the market are still expensive and range from $ 300 upwards. This price range is not going to change anytime soon unless the Blu-Ray Disc Association licenses Chinese manufacturers to produce these players cheaply and bring down the prices.