Snellings

blu-ray, also known as blu-ray disc (bd), is the name of a next-generation optical disc format jointly developed by the blu-ray disc association (bda), a group of the world's leading consumer electronics, personal computer and media manufacturers (including apple, dell, hitachi, hp, jvc, lg, mitsubishi, panasonic, pioneer, philips, samsung, sharp, sony, tdk and thomson). the format was developed to enable recording, rewriting and playback of high-definition video (hd), as well as storing large amounts of data. the format offers more than five times the storage capacity of traditional dvds and can hold up to 25gb on a single-layer disc and 50gb on a dual-layer disc. thanks to the greatly enhanced hd video and audio quality as well as the advanced interactivity and networking features, blu-ray represents a huge leap forward in the dvd viewing experience and will offer consumers an unprecedented hd experience.
the new format uses a blue-violet laser (which has a shorter wavelength than a red laser) which makes it possible to focus the laser spot with even greater precision. this allows data to be packed more tightly and stored in less space, so it's possible to fit more data on the disc even though it's the same size as a cd/dvd.
blu-ray is a second generation high definition format.

blu-ray utilizes a lens with a greater numerical aperture (na) than hd-dvd, the laser spot can be focused with greater precision to fit more data on the same size disc. the greater capacity and data transfer rates for blu-ray will allow the movie studios to release their movies with higher quality video and audio than the hd-dvd format.
the blu-ray format has received broad support from the major movie studios as a successor to today's dvd format. seven of the eight major movie studios have released titles for blu-ray, whereas hd-dvd only has support from three major movie studios.
the blu-ray format has broad support from the world's leading consumer electronics, personal computer and media manufacturers'. this means that you will have a lot of choice when it comes to players and hardware, whereas the hd-dvd format has far fewer supporters, so the amount of players and hardware will be very limited.