It doesn't seem like it was that long ago when VHS tapes outnumbered DVDs at your local video rental store.

Now you can't even find VHS tapes in many outlets. Over the past 6 months I've watched the Blu-ray section expand at my local Blockbuster. So, should we all run out and get a Blu-ray player because the DVD is going the way of the video tape? I say not so fast.
I have a Blu-ray player via Sony's Playstation 3. It's not like I went out and bought a player. I will talk about the Playstation 3 in greater depth in another post some other time.
The cost of Blu-ray discs and players has leveled off recently and you can get relatively inexpensive players. The picture is very nice, your TV has to be newer and accept HDMI or composite connections to play Blu-ray in it's HD glory.
Not all discs are the same. Depending on the movie and the transfer some films look much better than others. If you rent or buy an older selection (pre 2006) it may look about the same as your standard DVD. But some movies really pop on Blu-ray.
Blu-ray also offers a ton of extras that DVDs can't because a Blu-ray disc can hold much more information.
That said, I still don't think it's worth the purchase. Why? Because I don't think the format war is over and when I asked who wins between DVD and Blu-ray, I really think it may be neither. I believe the format of the future is digital downloads.
More and more of us are using our Tivo's, Cable boxes, Playstation 3s, Apple TVs or other devices to download and watch what we used to rent or buy. In fact you can rent or buy this way, of course it requires high speed internet. The content is available in HD, and you don't have to worry about returning it to the store.
So my advice is hold off, don't feel pressured to buy Blu-ray, thinking it's going to take over DVD just yet. Of course if you have to have one, shop around and find a good deal, consider a Playstation 3, something that will do more than just playback.