The history of blu ray is an interesting tale that incorporates some of the world's biggest technology manufacturers. Here is a look at the origins of the Blu ray format.
When the first HDTV hit the retail market there was no recognized format for recording or playing HD content. As with many technological innovations however a lawsuit ensued and the development of the technology was delayed.
The two major manufacturers involved in the development were Sony and Phillips who were working on two separate formats during the late nineties.During the 90's Phillips and Sony were involved in developing 2 completely different working formats. The projects were eventually merged and labelled as Blu ray disc in 2002. The first mass produced player was made by Sony and made available in 2003 in Japan.
Initially the Blu ray player and the disc itself were very expensive. Toshiba saw an opportunity and came up with their own HD DVD format. This set the stage for a war between the 2 different formats.
The initial forays saw HD DVD take an early lead. This was because many perceived early Blu ray players to be not only expensive but also glitchy.
The big change came when Sony included the Blu ray player in their game console Playstation 3 which led to a large base of consumers that bought a blu ray player.
From this time onwards, the blu ray market kept growing rapidly, finally overtaking HD DVD sales by the end of 2007. As a result of the improved sales figures for both discs and players some of the big studios that had been backing HD DVD, switched their support and offered their support to blu ray. The result wasToshiba eventually had to withdraw their backing of HD DVD and by February 2008 the format war was settled.
According to reports, the victorious format is now being accepted at a faster rate than DVD during a similar timeline. Now there are many cheap players available on the market and the continuing compatibility with the PS3 is a strong factor in its growth in popularity.