Blu-ray, popularly known as BD or blue-ray discs, is a next-generation optical disc that has been developed by the Blu-ray Disc Association.  The group consists of leading consumer electronics giants, computer and media manufacturers, like Philips, Samsung, Sony, sharp, HP, Hitachi and Panasonic, to name a couple.  The blue ray recording format enables recording, re-writing and playback of high-definition video ( HD ).  One major advantage that the technology has over typical DVDs is that it allows for more storage capacity.  It can hold up to 25GB on a single layered disc and 50GB on a dual-layer disc.  The technology also incorporates sophisticated video and audio codes for the final high definition viewing experience.  The name Blu-ray is utilized because the format uses a blue-violet laser, rather than a red laser as in the case of standard DVDs.

Another major advantage with Blu-ray format lies in the indisputable fact that the entire technology is backwards compatible.  You can now play your old CDs and DVDs through a BD/DVD/CD compatible unit.  The blue-violet laser has a shorter wavelength than a red laser, which enables it to focus on a disc area with larger precision.  The info is also packed on the surface of a disc more tightly.  This explains the disc’s capability to store more data, although it is of the same size as a normal CD. Blu-ray discs have a maximum capacity of 25GB and dual-layer discs can hold up to 50GB – enough for four hours of HDTV.  Like HD-DVD, Blue laser discs don’t need a caddy and the players and recorders will be able to play current DVD discs.  Codecs supported by Blu-ray include the H.264 MPEG-4 codec that will form part of Apple’s QuickTime seven, and the Windows Media nine based VC-1. 
 
Now that the twin layer Blu-ray disc writers have hit the market, it has definitely heated up the war between Blu ray and DVD writers, and each time you go buying electronic devices you will without doubt be suggested to buy one of these 2 sorts of products.  In fact, to most of the people, owning twin layer Blu-ray disc writers would represent a major shift up in technology and with Blu-ray discs offering a ton more storage space, there is each reason why folks would buy them and so the requirement will also arise for them to own twin layer Blu-ray disc writers. 
 
A key reason to think about investing in a Blu-ray player or recorder is to exploit its high definition capabilities.  What good is that 50-inch HD plasma television if you can’t enjoy your flicks in all their HD glory?  Major movie studios support Blu-ray technology with many now releasing flicks completely in the Blu-ray format.  You won’t have to toss your DVD collection either as Blu-ray players are backwards-compatible with DVDs.  Also you aren’t required to be worried about your huge DVD collection as a Blue-Ray player is able to run your DVDs too.  Therefore you are free from the responsibility of getting all of your DVDs interpreted to Blue-ray version.