Just as one standard finally makes it and kills off the competition then another one appears, but that's progress I guess, much as VHS killed Betamax only for us to discover DVD the boffins at Sony, Hitachi, Pioneer and Phillips are all readying prototype versions of the first Blu Ray players.

So what is Blu Ray?  In short its the next generation of DVD that allows for a far greater density of recorded data, why is this useful? well with developments in High Definition TV storage requirements can only continue to increase making the 4.7gb capacity of a standard DVD seem tiny. In its prototype form Blu Ray can hold 27gb of data on a single side (dual side 50gb) and has a throughput of 36mbits which could see the format as a potential backup for an entire PC hard disk.

How does it work?  Blue Ray uses a blue laser rather than the red lasers used in almost all domestic DVD / CD based products, the blue laser has a 505 nanometre wavelength this more focused beam can write more data in the same space. Sadly Blu Ray disc wont play on a standard DVD player as they re not equipped with the more expensive and more accurate blue lasers, likewise the Blu Ray players could be made backwardly compatible by including a Red laser assembly but the prototype units have not down this to lower costs.

The Big 9 electronics manufacturers (Hitachi, LG, Matsushita (Panasonic), Pioneer, Philips, Samsung, Sharp, Sony and Thomson) are all signatories to the standard only JVC and Toshiba are missing form the party so far but then they have significant investment in DVD and VHS.

Sony have announced that their Blu Ray player BDS - S77 will go on sale soon but no dates have been released for any territories outside Japan, so a bit early to go hunting on Amazon for it yet!

For more info check out www.blu-ray.com