What is Blu-ray?

Blu-ray or Blu-ray Disc to give it its correct name (also known as BD) is an optical disc storage medium. Its main uses are high-definition video and data storage. A Blu-ray disc looks the same as a standard DVD or CD and has the same physical dimensions.

The name Blu-ray Disc comes from from the blue or violet coloured laser that is used to read and write this type of disc. The laser beam used with Blu-ray has a shorter wavelength than the one used with DVDs, 405 nanometres as opposed to 650 nanometers, and because of this substantially more data can be stored on a Blu-ray Disc than on the DVD format. Like DVDs, Blu-ray discs are available in both single and two-layer versions. Quite remarkably a two-layer Blu-ray Disc can store 50 gigabytes, which is almost six times the capacity of a two-layer DVD, or ten times that of a single-layer DVD.

During the early years of development of high-definition optical discs, Blu-ray Disc competed with the HD-DVD format. In many ways this mirrored the format war that took place between Betamax and VHS in the old video days. On February 19, 2008, Toshiba—the main company supporting HD-DVD—announced that it would no longer develop, manufacture, and market HD-DVD players and recorders. Following this significant announcement almost all other HD-DVD companies followed suit and the high-definition conflict ended there.

Blu-ray Disc was developed by the Blu-ray Disc Association, a group representing makers of consumer electronics, computer hardware, and motion pictures. Since then the production of Blu-ray Disc titles has grown rapidly with more and more titles available everyday.

We have a growing selection of Blu-ray titles in our film store. Visit our film store by clicking here or the tab at the top of the page.