After yesterday’s article about Blu-ray and HD-DVD technology, I received several private messages from readers who wanted to know more about this technology. Most of the questions were about Blu-ray, so I thought I would start there.
1. Will I be able to play my old DVDs on a new Blu-ray player?
Yes, definitely. Blu-ray players are backwards compatible with DVDs, meaning that they will be able to play movies and other content that are on standard DVDs. The players come with multiple heads to support the different formats. You are likely to notice an improvement of quality in your old DVDs because the new Blu-ray players support upscaling. In fact, you can also play regular music CDs as well.
2. Can I record something on a Blu-ray disc?
Yes. Most Blu-ray players will support recording of content for high definition recording and computer data storage. There are some fun features on Blu-ray player, such as random jumping, playlists, simultaneous recording and playback of video and more.
3. How much stuff will fit on a Blu-ray disc?
You can fit about nine hours of high definition content or about 23 hours of standard definition content on a blu-ray disc.
4. What movies are available on Blu-ray?
As more and more movie studios announce that they will be supporting Blu-ray, you should have a lot of movies to choose among. Here is just a short list of some of the most popular movies that are currently available:
- 3:10 to Yuma
- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (and all previous Harry Potter movies)
- Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End
- Night at the Museum
- Planet Earth: The Complete Collection
- Ratatouille
- Cars
- The Rock
- Pan’s Labyrinth
- The Blade Runner movies
- 2001: A Space Odyssey
- The Fifth Element
Mary Ann Romans writes about everything related to saving money in the Frugal Blog, technology in the Computing Blog, and creating a home in the Home Blog. You can read more of her articles by clicking here.
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