High Definition — HD to its mates — basically means that pictures have more detail and clarity, with sharper edges, more exactly reproduced colours and much more detail to the picture. That means that in, say, Kingdom Of Heaven, you can make out every grain of sand on Orlando Bloom’s grubby mug.

The possibilities are quite literally endless with BD-Live. Hook your Blu-ray player up to an internet connection, via an Ethernet cable or Wi-Fi, and you can access a studio-supported web portal with exclusive extra content, and previews can be downloaded straight to your player. This means that additional bonus features can be added to a film even after release, continuing to add to the movie experience. Even though it’s still relatively early days for BD-Live, the extras available already range across the spectrum. There are deleted scenes available for Walk Hard, for example, while Iron Man comes with an online trivia game to play as you watch. Transformers has an extra video called Robot Ninjas now available, with further releases planned. You can use BD-Live to test your knowledge of your favourite films against other fans across the world, or just use it to be sure that you’re up to date on all the possible extras. Another mouthwatering prospect is that studios are beginning to use BD-Live to promote future releases — so your Blu-ray of the first film in a franchise might become the key to seeing early and exclusive content from the sequel. Sign us up.

Don’t I already have high definition if I watch DVDs on a HDTV?
No — you just have the capacity for high definition. For full-HD with high-definition sound and images you’ll need dedicated high-definition content like Blu-ray discs. That’s why some of your older DVDs might actually look worse on a HDTV; the TV’s better than the source, which shows up all manner of limitations in the picture.

Can you play DVDs on Blu-ray players?
Yes you can, on all Blu-ray players including PlayStation 3s and BD-ROM drives in your PC. What’s more, the ‘upscaling’ feature on many Blu-ray players means that your DVDs will look better than ever before— if never quite as good as truly high-definition content like Blu-rays.

What do th ese numbers mean: 720p, 1080i, 1080p?
These refer to the number of lines of vertical resolution on a HDTV: the higher the number, the higher the resolution and therefore the more detail that’s visible in the picture. The ‘p’ stands for ‘progressive scanning’ and the ‘i’ for ‘interlaced scanning’, with ‘p’ generally considered to give better picture quality by the experts. 1080p is therefore the highest resolution among these options, with six times the definition of a standard picture — and is supported by Blu-ray. That said, even 720p is going to look pretty spiffy next to a standard definition picture.

Does Blu-ray have anything to do with digital television signals?
Not exactly: those will be in standard definition unless you happen to be signed up for a highdefinition TV service. But setting up for Blu-ray will mean that you have a HDTV, so you’ll be ready for both digital TV and high-definition digital TV, should you opt for them in the future. just ho w much can blu-rays sto re? A double-layer Blu-ray, with information stored in two layers, holds 50GB of information. A double-layer DVD, in comparison, holds about 8GB. This is why everyone’s so excited about Blu-ray; that’s a heck of a lot of extra memory to play with, and filmmakers and studios are having a lot of fun exploring the possibilities both in picture and sound quality and in terms of extras.

Will the picture fill the full tv frame?
Blu-ray films are delivered in the original theatrical apect ratio, ie widescreen. Since all HDTVs are 16:9 widescreen, they’ll generally fill the screen. Sometimes, however, if the film is in 2.35:1 widescreen you’ll see thin black bars at the top and bottom to preserve the cinema experience, but the picture will fill up more room than you’d see watching a widescreen movie on a standard-def TV.

What about sound?
The superior storage capacity of Blu-ray also allows for better sound. To fit surround sound on DVDs it has to be compressed to squeeze on. On Blu-ray, it’s uncompressed, which means you experience sound as the director and sound editor originally intended. That means there’s not just more oomph for the action scenes; all manner of subtle background noises are also now distinguishable in the dramatic scenes as well.

Are there interactive options?
Blu-rays allow you to interact with content onscreen, download extra content (see BD-Live) and customise the extras you want in a personalised menu. Most Blu-ray films now have interactive pop-up menus, allowing you to access extras without stopping the film. You can also bookmark favourite scenes, all the better to showcase your best bits (one Empire writer plays the Transformers freeway chase on Blu-ray for every visitor to his house). And there are fun games and features: for example, on the Cars Blu-ray disc you can play a Car Finder game while watching the film; other action films are experimenting with shooting games.

But do es it work for games?
The PS3 plays Blu-ray movies, DVDs and also games in high definition. The bigger storage capacity of the Blu-ray allows for a larger canvas for game developers, which they’ve seized with both hands, creating amazing imagery and powerful game engines for hi-def games. To get the most from the PS3, you’ll need a HDMI cable and HDTV, but it will still work on a standarddefinition TV with a standard SCART lead.

One of my blu-rays offers D-Box motion code: what is that?
This rather nifty feature is one for those with a geeky-but-terrific D-Box-enabled chair, which can synch to the action onscreen and rock or rumble with the action in the game you’re playing or the film you’re watching, so it feels like you’re even more involved in the action.

But it ’s really expensive, right?
It’s not so bad anymore: you can get a good Blu-ray player for under £150 and a HDTV for as little as £300. Okay, so you still might have to save for a little while, but it’s no longer the sole province of the wealthy or hi-fi-obsessed.