It's official, Blue Ray DVDs are victorious in the battle of High Definition DVDs. For those of you who purchased HD-DVD players, bummer. However, do not run down to the store to pick up a brand new BD-DVD Player. You must remember that this technology is still in its infancy, and there still are some bugs to be worked out - (especially in the DVD authoring world). But if you must be the first kid on the block with a new toy, I would recommend that you only purchase the following BD-DVD Player brands: Sony, Phillips and Matsushita. These are the companies who collaborated together to develop the Blue Ray technology - so it is safe to say that their players will work the best.
However, BD-DVDs are more than just a fancy DVD that can play movies. You can also use them for data storage or backup. BD-DVDs can hold up to 25 gigabytes for single layer disks and up to 50 gigabytes for dual layer disks -WOW! Regular DVDs are 4.7 gigabytes for a single layer, so this is a huge advance in technology. If you do plan on using BD-DVDs for data storage and backup, keep in mind that you will be paying about $22 dollars per BD-DVD disk. I know, it sounds really expensive, but per gigabyte, they are about the same price as an external hard drive. The advantage still goes to Blue Ray because you don't have to worry about Hard Drive Failure which can happen. But as with all technology, wait a year, and it will be better and cheaper. However, if you need to replace a DVD player, drive or burner, it would save money in the long run and upgrade now.
