How is Blue Ray different from HD DVD?

What's a blue ray dvd player? How much does it cost? Do I need HD TV to watch movies in blue ray?

• Answer:

  It's an HD (1080p) alternative to DVD. Disks look like DVDs but won't play on a DVD player (although DVDs will play on a Blu-ray player). They also feature improved sound over DVD ... but you need a top end audio system to benefit. You don't NEED an HDTV to play a Blu-ray disk, but unless you do you won't get any appreciable visual benefit (There may be slight visible colour differences, but not in resolution). Cost is currently quite high. Players are $300 or more and disks typically cost $10 more than the same movie on DVD. This will come down, but Blu-ray is never going to be as inexpensive as DVD. Many consumers love Blu-ray, but others (myself included) consider it overpriced for the relatively small benefit over DVD. At the moment there are about 600 Blu-ray movies (vs 80,000+ on DVD). Unless you have a top end HDTV and audio system you won't fully benefit from Blu-ray.