Blu-ray or DVD, which is the best option when getting your Cine Film and Video Tapes digitised?
This is a question that we’re asked quite a lot and some people simply have a preference or don’t have a blu-ray disc player and so that makes it quite a simple question to answer. For those that are still unsure though we’ve listed a few points to help you weigh up the pros and cons of each.
DVD
Compatability
DVD players to play the discs on are very affordable and some TV’s even have DVD players built into them.
Portability
Many laptops have a DVD drive built into them allowing you to watch your family memories on the go.
Multiple Copies
Many laptops also allow you to burn additional copies of your DVDs if you want at a later date, with external DVD burners also being an affordable option.
Ageing
DVD’s are much better at ageing (when stored correctly) as they are not as susceptible to things like mould which video tapes are.
Blu-ray
Storage
Blu-rays offer a much larger storage capacity (25GB Blu-ray vs 4.7GB DVD) therefore its possible to retain the HD quality that you may have filmed at.
Video Quality
Due to the size restrictions of a DVD, some video footage may have to be compressed to fit on a disc (please note this is often the case with MiniDV and HDV videos).
Portability
Blu-ray is a newer format and so it is not as compatible or portable yet (blu-ray disc players are more expensive than a DVD player and blu-ray disc players in laptops are not common).
Ultimately it comes down to preference but when we’re asked about which would be best for the data we’ll always say that if it’s HD content then we recommend having your media transferred to a Blu-ray disc to make sure that you get the very best quality out of the video footage.
To view our Video to DVD and Video to Blu-ray Transfer prices please head over the Prices page and if you have any questions before getting your media transferred please head over to our Frequently Asked Questions page or Contact Us.