These blu-ray discs have faced a good competition and struggled to be a part of the commercial market. This is only because of the expensive ‘laser blue-violet diode’ used in them. Though expensive they over leaped the other formats and now are the extensively used discs all around the world.

These blu-ray discs are the optical storage media which superseded the DVDs due to their huge storage capacity that is 10 times more than the normal DVDs. They are available both in single layered and double layered which can store 25GB and 50GB respectively. The store very high definition data and can be used with maximum resolution, Sony playstation3 games also comes under this type of data, which can be processed on these discs very easily.

Their physical appearance is same as that of the normal DVDs and their names comes from the laser light used for reading and writing purposes; it’s the ‘blue-violet light’. This blue-violet light is of the shorter wavelength then the red light used to read and write regular DVDs. It has a wavelength of 405nm where as it is 650nm or more used for regular DVD media.

At the beginning there was a format war between the HD DVD and the blu-ray discs. Toshiba, the electronics company was behind the war and promoted the HD DVDs. But the blu-ray discs were far more advantageous than the HD DVDs. Due to the drawbacks of the HD DVDs Toshiba has come down and the war ended in 2008 and then onwards it started to manufacture their own blu-ray discs. There were also many issues regarding the commercializing of this blu-ray technology due to their cost.

The Sony BDZ S77 was the first blu-ray disc burner which was available in the market and it was $4000(us)! There were no movies for the player too. The physical specifications and other standard factors came into existence only in the year 2004.

Sony pioneer, Toshiba, Samsung then started to work on this blu-ray technology. The BD ROM was introduced in the year 2006. The blu-ray discs have faced competition with the HD DVD ROMs players which were introduced 6 months earlier to this blu-ray innovation. The 50GB discs were available in the market from 2006 only.

The first blu-ray disc drive which grabbed all the attention was the BWU-100 A from Sony which supported both single layered and double layered disc and also the BD-RE discs and them after 9.6 million devices were sold in the year 2008!. These were also called as the next generation storage media. Today many companies are trying to produce discs with more storage data capacity which can range up to 100GB!

So all these are the factors that help analyze the future of these blu-ray discs and the vast amount of data they are about to provide on one single disc. So be ready to dump all the huge number of DVDs you have and replace them with one blu-ray disc.

Media station 8x external blu-ray writer Buffalo BR-816SU2, is the blu-ray drive that can be connected through SATA-Serial ATA or High speed USB. It is a little bulky and comes with the Cyberlink software bundle. Listed are some high lights of this blu-ray external drive.

1.Backward compatible and Supports older formats of DVD, CD and CD-RW
2.Supports BD-R at 8x speed.
3.Reads BD-RE at 2x
4.Reads DVDs at 16x
5.Reads CD ROMs at 48x
6.Burns at 48x and 16x for regular DVDs
7.Rewritable CDs can be burnt at 24x
8.Rewritable DVD-RW at 8x

PX-B310U from Plextor is second on the hit list of external blu-ray disc burners. This also can be connected with high speed USB. It works as a complete entertainment solution for a pc, plays high definition videos and has excellent storage options. Listed below are their specifications.

1.reads and writes at 6x
2.DVDs at 16x
3.CDs at 48x
4.BD discs read and written at 2x speed
5.DVDs read write at 6x
6.CD-RW at 32x
7.Cyberlink software bundle comes along with the hardware.
8.2MB buffer space.
9.Backward compatible and supports old formats like CD-R, CD+R, CD-RW.

DVDBREXT1 from Norazza is the drive that comes the next on the list of external blu-ray burners which is considered to have the next generation storage technologies which can play and burn a wide list of varieties of formats. This blu-ray drive can be connected through high speed USB or Firewire (IEE 1394).it costs around $699. The following are their specification.

1.write and read BD and BD-RW at 4x
2.Supports regular DVDs at 12x
3.Rewritable DVDs at 6x
4.2MB buffer size
5.Buffer underrun protection to avoid burn related errors
6.Cyberlink software bundle

I/O magic IBD1E- BD-RE drive from the I/O brand is the drive which can also be connected with hi speed USB and can be installed with out any problem from the IDE interfaced internal drives. They work for both dual layered 50GB and single layered 25GB and play high definition data video with maximum resolution. It costs your pockets around $300(US) and comes with a limited 1 year warranty. Their specifications are.

1.reading writing BD at 6X
2.DVDS at 16X
3.CDs at 40X
4.2MB buffer size
5.Buffer underrun protection to stop improper burning

MCE 8X Blu-ray disc burner external recordable drive from MAC Supports both MAC and Microsoft operating system and can be connected through high speed USB or eSATA. It supports both single and dual layered DVDs and CDs. Though their fan makes much noise they are reliable and affordable. See down on their specifications.

1.8x on  regular BD discs
2.2x on dual layered BD discs
3.single layer DVDs burn at 16x
4.dual layered 8x
5.CD ROMS read and written at 32x
6.toast titanium software bundle available

Digistor DIG-78102 Blu-ray burner is the portable blu-ray drive for laptops and note books which can be connected through high speed USB drives. It consists of a Li-Pol battery and doesn’t require a/c adaptor for them to work. They are compatible with all the older formats available. Listed below are their specifications.

1. Burns blu-ray disc a 2x
2. Writes DVDs at 8x
3. Writes Dual layered discs at 4x
4. Reads CDROM at 24x
5. Writes CDROM at 8x

Go for the best that suits your needs and take them where ever you want and apply them for various systems where high definition data are processed and stored.

Blu-ray is competent enough to store and play movies with a resolution of 1080p. 1080p resolution is actually, what we call as a “Full High-Definition” or ” True High-Definition”. A Blu-ray disc can play and store approximately around 5 to 6 hours of true high-definition content that is with resolution of 1080p and about 24 hours of regular standard-definition content, that is with 480i or 480p resolution. Having the potential of hoarding up to 50 gigabytes of data, you certainly would be able to watch a full Blu-ray movie with crisp clarity.

What is 1080p resolution actually?

Well, the figure 1080 denoted the number of lines of vertical resolution, when we say 1080 p that means there are 1080 lines of vertical resolution. Bigger is the quantity of vertical resolution line, sharper, detailed and superior is the picture on the screen. The letter ‘p’ linked with number 1080 denotes the progressive scan. Now you might be thinking what the progressive scan is. Let me tell you it is a technique to transmit, display or store the moving images. Along with the progressive scan there is one more technique to display, transmit or store the moving images and that is termed as the “interlace” which is generally denoted by the letter ‘i’.

Interlace was fashioned to perk up the video quality without using much bandwidth. On the other hand, progression scan (generally denoted as ‘p’) is advanced to the interlaced technique for the reason that the “progression scan technique” stores, transmits, or display moving images by doling out every single horizontal line one after the other in each frame. At the same time the interlace method doll out every other line in one frame, then the remaining lines in the next frame. Thus, the outcome is the narrowed horizontal resolution. It will not be correct to say that interlace technique it absolutely bad and the progressive scan is just perfect, but when the best picture quality is concerned progressive scan technique is the way to go.

Blu-ray movies are made on the Java software platform. The plus point of using Java is that being the most commonly used platform particularly in Internet applications it significantly improves the menu and other software facilities like the ability to revise Blu-ray software over the Internet. The additional contents and menus like the games are thus visually appealing and far more interactive than on DVD.

Oppo-BDP-83: This is one of the best player from universal that is available in the price range $400- $500. The image quality is superb and the performance is excellent. Most of the formats like DVD,DVD-Audio, SVCD,CD and blu-ray are supported. When it comes to the operational speed, there is no match for this device. The player has other features like 7.1 analog outputs, DTS HD Master-Audio decoding and onboard Dolby True HD. It has one GB on board memory and two USB ports. Streaming services like Netflix and Pandora are unavailable and even WI-FI is not available. The major drawback of this player is the price tag – it is very expensive.

Panasonic-DMP-BD60: is an excellent blue-ray player which provides superior image quality, but does not have loads of features like other players. The device is profile 2.0 compliant, has streaming option from YouTube, Picasa and Amazon will be included shortly. Although, the next generation streaming technologies like Netflix is missing. The player does not have on board memory, WI-FI is not available and the operation speed is quite slow. Considering the price tag of $144-$299, it is a good blu-ray player.

Sony PlayStation 3–slim: PlayStation 3 is an affordable device from Sony that comes at a price tag of $299. It has built in blu-ray and multimedia player. Not only you can enjoy games, but also play videos at a high resolution. Wi-Fi is available; it comes with 120 GB hard drive, built in web browser, high resolution HDMU output with 1080p –support and many free online gaming devices. There is backward compatibility with PS2 and infrared port is not supported. Yet, it is one of best devices.

LG-BD390 – This blu-ray player is available at a price range of $259-$349. It has a very quick loading time, unbeatable picture quality making it the best choice among the top standalone players. You will be astonished with the quality of the movies! In addition, it supports Wi-Fi and streaming is enabled with Netflix, CinemaNow, and YouTube and can connect to a USB drive via network. It is profile-2.0 compatible with onboard decoding for Dolby and DTS HD and supports analog outputs. Also, it has 1 GB onboard memory. This is the best premium standalone player available now!

Samsung BD P3600: is an awesome premium stand alone blu-ray player. It offers high resolution picture and has a extremely fast operation speed. In addition it is loaded with tons of features like compatibility with profile 2.0, streaming like Pandora and Netflix, Wi-Fi with USB dongle is also included, On board decoding for Dolby digital True HD and DTS HD master, 7.1 analog outputs and 1 GB memory. The only drawback is that it costs same as a PS3.

Blu-Ray players will completely replace traditional CD and DVD players. Blu-ray ray players are backward compatible and can play optical media formats like DVD, CD DVD-R etc. In addition, they have the capability to upscale the quality of the DVDs and CDs. Even can even connect digital cameras and video cameras through the USB port and enjoy the HD output. Nowadays, blu-ray players are available with Ethernet port to update the software online. You can chat, download and play games online. Everyone would used to say PS3 is the best compared to other blu-ray players, but the notion has to be change. There are plenty of new players that offer new features that make them stand out from the rest. Blue ray is the next generation technology and it is here to stay.