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Ray Disc Photography Shack Guide

Ray Disc With More Features

By Nikos L Maxwell

Sony’s Blu Ray disc may be the next best thing since the DVD, but manufacturers, filmmakers and developers alike will be scrambling to maintain their supremacy over the temptation to move toward exclusive digital downloading.

"The battle against HD DVDs was barely a minor skirmish in comparison to the fight ahead, which will be convincing apathetic consumers of the need for something better than plain DVD," said Josh Zyber of High-Def Digest.

"That’s the real format war, and it’s only just started." To keep "wowing" buyers, the HD DVD Bluray format is likely to undergo some exciting transformations this year, offering unsurpassed content and interactivity, in addition to superb audio-visual quality.

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Minimum Features And Menu Options On Early Blu Ray Disc 1.0 Players

If you were an early bird buyer, then you have the original prototypical Blu Ray disc 1.0 player. "The earliest Blu-ray player, Profile 1.0, are dinosaurs already," reports The Courant’s Kevin Hunt. "Consumers who dropped $1,500 on a player a year ago cannot update their players."

These bare bones players offer the high-definition 1920x1080 pixels with superior coding and 7.0 surround-sound audio, but offer little in terms of extra features and menu options. Developers admit they probably should have just waited a year for the unveiling, but they were compelled to hurry up and compete in the Sony vs. Toshiba bidding war.

New Blu Ray Disc 2.0 Players On The Way

But just wait! There is the new Blu Ray disc 2.0 player set to be unveiled soon. These HD DVD Bluray machines are said to have been the prototype that finally wooed major networks like Disney, Warner Brothers and Paramount to side with Blu Ray rather than HD DVDs in the format war.

The next generation of Blu Ray disc players will come with a function called "BDLive," which includes an ethernet port for internet connectivity, so users can download high-def trailers and add additional language tracks or other bonus materials.

BD-Live will also allow viewers to chat in real time, get free movie ringtones and wallpaper for their cell phones, play online multiplayer games and upload custom audio commentary from directors, producers and actors.

New Blu Ray 2.0 Players Can Be Upgraded

Sony recently announced two new Blu Ray players with 2.0 capacities: the BDP-S350 (available this summer for $399) and the BDP-S550 (available in the fall for $499). They also said that the BR 2.0’s will be able to be upgraded to the latest version via the internet, so eager buyers will be rewarded.

Some consumers are complaining about paying $40 for a Blu Ray disc, as opposed to the $20 for a regular DVD. To offset the cost of upgrading, many distributors and stores are stepping in to help promote the new Blu Ray disc technology.

For instance, Amazon is offering a 2-for-1 Blu Ray discs sale on popular titles like Blade Runner, The Fifth Element, 300 and Pan’s Labyrinth. Super-saver shipping is free for orders over $25 while supplies last.

They are even offering lesser known titles, like The Curse of King Tut’s Tomb Miniseries, The Last Sentinel or BBC’s Planet Earth Series at an extreme discount of only $10!

About the Author:
Nikos L Maxwell has written a number of articles on digital photography and digital editing software including Digital Editing Software, Adobe Photoshop Tutorial, Large Images, Edit Pictures, Fuji Film Digital Cameras, Video Editing Computers, Digital Image Processing, Blu Ray, Blu Ray Disc, Blu Ray HD DVD, Blu Ray Reviews, Blu Ray Vs HD DVD, DVD Duplication, Ray HD, HD DVD.

Keep a lookout as more articles are added from this popular author on this website in the near future.

More Blu Ray Facts....

Have you made the switch from DVD over to Blu Ray yet? If you have not then what is stopping you? It could be the price to pay for all of those movies that you love and own on DVD.

Many people find that slowly re-acquiring those beloved movies over onto the more expensive Blu-Ray version is a tad bit expensive but there are ways around this. Did you know that some programs allow you to burn a Blu-Ray version of your favorite movie? The trick is to find the right software programs.

Owning a Blu Ray collection is something most movie collector’s dream of nightly. The problem is the expense of acquiring all those favorite movies again but in Blu-Ray format. It can quickly add up to a major expense. There is a solution to this problem though.

It involves burning the DVD’s over into Blu-Ray format with the right software program. If you do not have the software program this may be a problem but thankfully there are programs out there that you can purchase.

The opportunity to own a Blu Ray disc collection is a great one and should not be passed up. But what do you do with all of those DVD’s you collected over the years?

Plus let’s not forget that Blu-Ray discs can be quite expensive in comparison to DVD’s. Converting all of your collection over into Blu-Ray can be a chore, a very expensive one at that. The answer to your problem is to burn the DVD onto Blu-Ray format.

Are you a movie fan that just is not pleased with the quality of your DVDs? Is the color and sound not what you expect from your extensive collection? Maybe you should try swapping those old DVDs for Blu Ray discs. You will be surprised by the difference in picture quality and sound.

But these discs do not come cheap. They are more expensive than DVDs but well worth the price. The trick is to burn your own Blu-Ray movies at home with a software program designed especially for burning movies.

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