Understanding the difference really is as simple as one could imagine, however it is worth explaining the details between these two Audio-Visual Giants to ensure good product choice for any media you may want replicated/duplicated. With little difference in production cost, it is important to understand the advantages and disadvantages of both. We will try not to get too technical here and try and explain things from an application point of view.
DVD arrived first and revolutionised the home entertainment industry in 1996, being a vast improvement over the previous VHS format. The product was smaller, more robust and could hold significantly more data, thus improving the quality of movie night in the home environment.
The DVD name originally stood for 'digital video disc', as the primary objective was the Film and Television markets, however it was rapidly changed when going to market to stand for 'digital versatile disc' after some strong complaints from computer industry sectors, who had felt they were being forgotten. They had good reason to insist inclusion as these DVD formats had a huge impact on how data was and is stored. DVDs can store up to 4.7Gb per side, per layer, which means a total of 17.80Gb of information in a single disc compared to CDs 700Mb per disc, 750Mb on a Zip Disc and USB flash Drives being in their infancy-at least in terms of capacity.
Blu-ray followed a similar story and in 2006 and repeated DVDs success in the data market simply by holding 25Gb of data per layer, giving a whopping total of 110Gb for a quadruple layered disc. The Blu-ray technology uses a blue laser to read data, hence the simple name translation and this laser gives the ability to read through more than the 2 layers of information on its DVD predecessor.
Blu-ray managed to rapidly snub a format called HD DVD, despite having a slow entry into the market. It accomplished this by incorporating a Blu-ray drive into PlayStation 3 devices, (not a bad idea considering the PlayStation 2 is still the highest selling console of all time!), whilst along side significant marketing and many more titles arriving than HD DVD. The Blu-ray format started to out sell HD DVD two to one and it was unanimously backed by Audio Visual production companies because, unlike DVD, it was considerably harder to duplicate in the home environment. By the beginning of 2008, Blu-ray was king of the data disc offering significantly higher quality audio-visuals and storage capacities.
And the future?
The DVD format's longevity is merely defined by how long it's popularity prevails. The format is no longer on an active development course and thus will only be utilised for as long as there is a market. Now popularised for being a lowest price option for physical film media, the sales exist, but the lack of profit margins will inevitably detract future production and manufacture.
It's worth noting, that although there is a decline in demand due to streaming platforms the DVD format is far from redundant and is still more popular than Blu-ray discs for smaller production numbers. The humble DVD still accompanies Blu-ray products for all major Film and television releases on retail shelves and there are significantly more DVD drives in the world than Blu-ray drives.
Blu-ray is much more valuable to film collectors due to the higher quality content, and obviously requires a player to watch audio-visuals - The player qualities can vary a lot and for the really high quality ones, they can be an investment compared to a DVD player at around or below £20!
The other advantage Blu-ray has is it's continued development. 2016 saw the launch of Ultra HD Blu-ray and with it new players, that could also play heritage formats all the way back to and including DVD formats. There are still very much active development laboratories developing larger capacity versions of Blu-ray and the rumours of a 200Tb Blu-ray disc have justifiably circled for years. One of the lesser know Blu-ray uses is simply data storage for a range of businesses and institutions. If 1 Tb of space can hold appx 200 million words, then that's 40 Billion words on a 120mm circle of flat of plastic!
So which is better?
This is really where simplicity comes in.
Blu-ray is better quality, with larger capacities and is almost a match in production price for discs and packaging. It is still more expensive to an end user and has less options for manufacturing lines in the world than CD or DVD, but is an actively developing industry.
DVD is a lesser quality, but has an arguably larger market due to player sales - There are an estimated 157 million Blu-ray players in the world, compared to an incalculable amount of DVD players due shear quantity and regional differences. - It is considerably more affordable to an end user than it's Blu-ray counterpart, whilst still having similar environmental impacts and estimated longevity.
If it all comes down to cost, it's not too dissimilar to Vinyl and CD. DVD (the CD side of the comparison) will likely sell quicker, but generate smaller profits per unit and Blu-ray (the vinyl side of the comparison) Will sell a slower, but boasts larger profits per unit.
If it's down to quality and/or storage size, Blu-ray tops DVD in almost every vein with five times the capacity and therefore the capability to produce significantly higher quality content.
And if it's down to packaging. Sky is the limit on either format, though moving away from the standard iconic Blu-ray packaging case will see you as either a pioneer or a sadist! Proceed as you dare!
Photo by Chepe Nicoli on Unsplash
