Blu-Ray and HD DVD Formats

Blu-ray and HD DVD are two competing high-capacity disc technologies capable of storing the new high definition format (HD) of video and audio. Standard DVDs do not have the capacity to store the incredible amount of information recorded in high definition.

Both formats use blue laser technology, which has a shorter wavelength than red, allowing it to read the smaller digital data "spots" packed a lot more densely onto a standard-size disc. HD-DVD is capable of holding 30GB on a dual layer disc (compared to 8.5GB for standard dual layer DVDs). Blu-ray will go up to 50GB and Sony is reportedly working on a quad-layer 100GB disc.

Whilst most people don't yet have standalone high definition players that can read either of the discs, choosing to record in HD ensures that you can order a high definition version of your wedding film, in either of the two formats, whenever you have one of the players. We archive all the footage and there is no time contraint as to when this can be done.

When high definition discs are created they are encoded from data files, in either the Blu-ray or HD DVD format, which then requires the appropriate player to be able to read the disc, decode the information, and send it to your television and home cinema system. If you don't have a high definition player it is possible to compress HD footage and burn it to a normal DVD so you can still enjoy it on your regular DVD player but this does reduce the quality to standard digital video.

If you can't enjoy the HD format straight away please don't forget it wasn't so long ago we were in awe of the quality of DVD you probably still have some VHS videos in your cuboards. What you are doing by choosing coverage in high definition is giving yourself the opportunity to enjoy it in the future.

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