Those old enough to remember the rivalry of the VHS and Beta videotape systems must have felt a pang of deja vu when Blu-ray hit the market alongside HD-DVD. The too young simply ask, “Videotape?” But the war is over and the superior quality of Blu-ray has overtaken the HD-DVD format and the demand for a PC compatible drive has intensified.

As with most technology, after the initial increase, the price of these units has fallen at a rate that is almost directly related to the introduction of more sophisticated models. This has made it easier to upgrade a PC, especially if the intention is simply to have the ability to watch movies. But even drives that offer the ability to burn Blu-ray discs have become affordable for the common PC user.

However, there are still unseen costs that need to be considered when planning an upgrade. In many cases, the Blu-ray drive will require a SATA interface. This Serial form of Advanced Technology Attachment is a huge leap for the inclusion of external hard drives and even allows drive swapping without having to reboot the PC.

But the cost associated with allowing the PC to use this technology, and other hardware and software demands, can sneak up on the unsuspecting enthusiast and make the cost of playing movies on a PC more expensive at first.

Also, it’s worth remembering that real media is still noticeably more expensive than HD-DVD products. This is not a prohibitive problem and if the plan is simply to watch Blu-ray movies, it can be dismissed with the acceptance that quality costs.

However, as the temptation to burn Blu-ray discs grows more tempting and friends’ frowns on the limitations of their system begin to worsen, the prospect of making full use of the format could bring unfortunate regrets. In other words, look before you jump and spend your money in the way that gives you the most long-term satisfaction.

This could well lead to investigations of Blu-ray Combo drives. These devices can, in addition to playing movies, write to CDs and DVDs, but more importantly, they will write to Blu-ray discs. One of these discs allows approximately six times the capacity of a DVD in single-layer format and double that in dual-layer format. While this may whet the appetite of moviegoers, the idea of ​​burning all six Star Wars episodes on one disc should take its place behind the advantages for PC operators of being able to store up to fifty GB of data on one disc. In addition, there is also the option of using rewritable discs that can be recorded over and over again.

Whether providing a high-resolution movie presentation or increasing business efficiency, the Blu-ray player and recorder is becoming a standard feature of the PC package. The technology is still flourishing and will continue to bear fruit for some time.