Currently Blu-Ray is quickly becoming the standard format for films, and to a certain extend games, waiting with baited breath for the time of DVD's to end so that it may take its place as the ubiquitous film format. Currently every major release appears on both Blu-Ray and DVD to sell to those who are already on the new format and to those who have till yet to upgrade.

I purchased a PS3 earlier this year which introduced me into the world of High Definition movies with "The Dark Knight" which is rated as one of technically best video and audio transfers on Blu-Ray. In anticipation of my newfound access to High Definition content I bought seven films on Blu-Ray. But now it is almost six months later and I have to ask myself why I currently still own seven films on Blu-Ray. In my mind most of the reasons I dont own more Blu-Rays since my introduction are the same as the reasons why most people dont own Blu-Rays and why currently DVD's are still the main format for films afa ter years of Blu-Rays.

Ubiquity is another reason why I dont own more Blu-Rays, to be exact the ubiquitous of the DVD format. I have a fairly modest DVD collection, in fact I dont know where most of it is or it would be a fairly large collection, but I often lend my DVD's to friends and family for their enjoyment and as such I factor this in to the value of a purchase. Blu-Rays currently prevent me from doing this because of my friends I am the only one who can play Blu-Ray films since I am the only one to own a device capable of playing Blu-Ray player. To me this severly reduces the value of a product.

In addition to all this the the fact that currently Blu-Rays tend to retail around 200% of the price of the DVD release severly decreased my chances of purchasing over the DVD version. So much that everytime I have almost purchased a Blu-Ray in the past six months I have looked at the DVD price and chosen that over the Blu-Ray so that I have the option of lending it even knowing I will have worse video and audio quality.

Blu-Ray players have become remarkably cheap in a fast time, I have seen a Blu-Ray player selling for £100 in chain stores, but currently most people tend to be thinking about saving money. The idea of buying another peice of hardware and then buying media for double the price when you could already enjoy the film is out of most peoples minds. The PS3 is the ubiquitous Blu-Ray for most people, due to I beleive the marketing push at the PS3's launch featuring heavily the Blu-Ray drive, and it currently retails at £250 which means that many people think that to play Blu-Ray you must start by paying £250. In order to overcome this then the price of Blu-Ray players must be substantially lower than it currently which seems unlikely to happen due to hardware manufactor's and shops requiring a markup to stay in business and the relative newness of the technology. Though overtime the amount of Blu-Ray players is almost certainly going to increase to the point where it becomes the ubiquitous platform for films and DVD begins to get phased out.

Almost all of the concerns people have over Blu-Ray are the same concerns people thought about with the introduction of DVD's such as the ubiquity, in terms of who else can watch it, and the price, which was substantially higher, so I have to beleive that over time these issues will go away as they have with DVD's and allow people to freely purchase Blu-Rays but in this time of transition its very hard to commit to both a Blu-Ray player or Blu-Ray's themselves.

Until such time as Blu-Ray players become a lot more common then my purchase's of Blu-Rays is likely to remain low. My television's screen size is also a factor in this and if history is to be beleived then in the years to come I will have much larger Televisions which wills how the diffrence between a Blu-Ray and a DVD.