They were so easy to avoid, those blue-topped packages separating themselves from regular DVDs with their higher prices and promises of a higher-definition picture.

These days, though, Blu-ray – Sony's HD format – seems far more prominent, with Blockbuster devoting shelves to discs for sale and rent, and Netflix offering Blu-ray rentals for a $1 monthly surcharge.

Blu-ray can't help but intrigue movie fans on the lookout for crystal-clear imagery. And Blu-ray players, now priced under $200 in some instances, seem to be catching the eyes of holiday shoppers who, in this down economy, are seeking gifts in a price range that says "I care about you" rather than "marry me."

Though actual sales figures for Black Friday and the Thanksgiving holiday weekend were hard to come by last week, industry analysts said anecdotally that Blu-ray players sold well. The Consumer Electronics Association, a nonprofit industry trade group, reported that 200,000 Blu-ray players were shipped to retailers in the week leading up to Black Friday – a figure that nearly quadrupled weekly numbers from September.

With Sony's victory over Toshiba's HD DVD this year in the battle of HD formats, and with studios regularly releasing catalog Blu-ray titles along with new releases, Blu-ray is no longer ignorable. But is it inevitable?

Andrew Tate thinks so, and is "saving for a player," he said. The 21-year-old Plumas Lake resident's devotion to movies was evident on a recent weeknight outing with pals that included a showing of "Quantum of Solace" at Sacramento's Regal Natomas Stadium 16 and the subsequent purchase of a "Nightmare on Elm Street" DVD from the Wal-Mart across the parking lot.

"I waited until the last minute to switch" from VHS to DVD, Tate said. "And I realized that I missed a lot."

Tate's friend, Pete Smalls, plans to hold out.

"I spent all this time getting this amazing DVD collection together," mostly by buying used discs, said Smalls, 30, of Sacramento. He knows Blu-ray players can play DVDs, but he's heard they look bad on those players.

But buying a Blu-ray player – or a Sony PlayStation 3, which also plays Blu-ray discs – shouldn't force you to ditch your DVD collection, especially since Blu-ray titles number only 1,000, compared with nearly 100,000 on DVD. Judging by a comparison test of the formats conducted at the Home Theater Co., a locally owned, custom electronics retailer on Power Inn Road, DVDs still look good on a Blu-ray player. Just not as good as a Blu-ray disc.

Conducted with the help of Home Theater Co. sales manager Sam Schiller, the test involved watching the 2008 release "Hellboy II: The Golden Army" on DVD and then on Blu-ray, via a $1,000 Denon Blu-ray player and projected on a 110-inch screen in the Home Theater Co.'s luxe screening room.

Though director Guillermo del Toro's special effects-laden comic book film looked fine on DVD, it truly sprang to life once Schiller inserted the Blu-ray disc. Del Toro's signature tiny flying creatures suddenly appeared far more lifelike, and more distinguishable from the backdrop, in the HD format.

But when Schiller played the 2004 Brad Pitt epic "Troy" on DVD on the same Denon player, it too looked exceptionally vivid. That's because, Schiller points out, the presentation quality in both formats depends on the quality of the film transfer.

Other factors include the year the film was made (you can put older films on Blu-ray, but you can't replace the lower-tech cameras used to shoot them), whether visual and audio components have been calibrated properly to suit a room, and size of the screen. Differences between the 1080p (lines of resolution) Blu-ray format and lower- resolution DVD grow more noticeable on a bigger screen.

"It's like taking a wallet-size photo that looks great, and now we take it to 8 by 10 and say, "Why are these dots all over the place?' " Schiller said. "It's because you're enlarging the image, and the image starts to degrade more."

Call Bee movie critic Carla Meyer, (916) 321-1118. Hear her discuss the week's movies at 4:40 p.m. on Fridays on NewsTalk 1530 (KFBK).