The new Blu-Ray disc was developed to enable recording, rewriting and playback of high-definition video, as well as storing larger amounts of data than the traditional DVD.

The Blu-Ray format offers more than five times the storage capacity of DVDs and can hold up to 25GB on a single-layer disc and 50GB on a dual-layer disc. 

Recent development by Pioneer has increased its storage capacity to 500GB on a single disc by using 20 layers.

Blu-ray is currently supported by roughly 200 of the world’s leading consumer companies, and also has support from all Hollywood studios and many smaller studios as a successor to today’s DVD format.

Many studios have also announced that they will begin releasing new feature films on Blu-ray Disc day-and-date with DVD.

An article by The Guardian earlier this year suggested that Blu-Ray was on its way to the top:

“Sony’s Blu-Ray has finally won the battle of the high-definition DVD formats with Toshiba announcing it is to axe its rival HD DVD technology”.

But will Blu-Ray will be the DVD of the VHS generation?