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"Say Goodbye To DVD's (and your collection)"

A new format has been introduced to replace the DVD format over the next couple of years, Blu-Ray discs are an evolution of existing DVD technology, and are around five times larger.

The PlayStation 3 will make use of Blu-Ray technology when it hits shelves in 2006. The Blu-Ray disc format holds 27GB on one layer of data, that's around five times the size of a DVD which clocks in with just 4.7GB.

Up until recently the format has been both readable and writeable, but due to copy protection issues (and the small matter of videogame piracy) Sony have worked with worldwide electronics companies to devise a read-only Blu-Ray disc. Blu-Ray enabled hardware can also read DVDs, which neatly skirts the issue of backwards compatibility. The format is so named because of its small blue laser, as opposed to the standard red lasers used in other media players.

The Blu-Ray format, along with Blu-Ray hardware, is expected to hit the market before the end of the fiscal year in March 2005. Eventually, it's thought that high-definition movies will become available on Blu-Ray discs rather than DVDs, and will probably gradually replace the format over the next five years. That DVD collection you've built up over the last few years? Worthless.

There is already a successor to the Blu-Ray discs I believe, holds even more and far more cheaper. I'm sure the technology is already there to have 10p size discs that hold more than a dual layered DVD. Yet things dont run so quickly. So we're always several steps behind.

VHS is a dying breed, note my WHSmith will only stock the top 50 VHS nothing more, and even then no one seems interested. More and more people are buying DVD players, no wonder if you can get a very decent multi-regional player for £24.99.

Not to mention the japanese language skills to understand the instruction book (unless you can read Japanese in which case can you translate all this year's Famitsu Wave magazines for me :) )

Blue Ray 'DVD' recorders are already availible in Japan,

I nearly ordered one from amazon.co.jp but didn't have the Yen ;-)

Oh well.

It doesn't really matter.

It's the same thing, just tweaked.

I want laser headsets, with everyfilm in the world at the flick of an eyelid. Now that would be a revolution.

Until then, I don't care if the discs have a different name.

Just to point out. Most movie DVD's have around 9 GB storage however only 4.7 GB can be bought and used on standard DVD rewriters.

Another point I'll add is that even the largest of games for the PC are only 6 GB (when I say only I mean in regards to the 27 GB) at the minute so the available space on the Blu-Ray disks is really not that neccesary.

Just think of how much that a disc will cost

I believe so, in a similar way to how DVD replaced (kinda) VCD in Asia, VCD still thrives their instead of VHS.

I think the next really big revolution is to actually have a system where you buy the rights to watch something like a film/series and the actual media is stored and retrieved for you to watch. It's a perfect system and, once the tech is in place, means you never have to worry about producing actual physical formats ever again, you just work on encoding, it's really really bring costs down, eliminate piracy to next to nothing, and so on.

Hasn't it been confirmed that the Revolution is backward compatible?

Not too woried about my DVD collection because:

a) Players will be backwards compatible
b) DVD still hasn't finished off VHS yet and most people still don't even have a DVD player.

and Nintendo like to churn out their old games on the GBA/SP anyway.