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Blu-ray Disc ('''BD''') is a next-generation Optical Disc format meant for storage of High-definition Video and high-density data. The Blu-ray standard was jointly developed by a group of consumer electronics and PC companies called the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA). As compared to the HD DVD format, its main competitor, Blu-ray has more information capacity per layer, 25 instead of 15 gigabytes, but may initially be more expensive to produce.

The name Blu-ray is derived from the blue-violet Laser it uses to read and write to the disc. A Blu-ray disc will be able to store substantially more data than a DVD , because of the shorter Wavelength (405 Nm ) of the read-laser (DVDs use a 650-nm-wavelength red laser and CD 's 780 nm). Blu-ray unveiled their plans for a Spring 2006 launch at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in January 2006. It was expected to be released on May 23 , 2006 but the release date has been changed to June 2006.

After working with the Blu-ray technology, Sony realized that additional effort would be necessary, and announced that the release date of their PlayStation 3 would be postponed until November of 2006. The Blu-ray Disc Association followed suit by also postponing the release date of Blu-ray products in U.S. stores until June of 2006.


PHYSICAL FORMAT



Variations and sizes


The BD-RE (rewritable) standard is available, along with the '''BD-R''' (recordable) and BD-ROM formats, which became available in mid-2004, as part of version 2.0 of the Blu-ray specifications. BD-ROM pre-recorded media are to be available by June 2006.


The table below details the current and planned media sizes and capacities.


Laser and optics


Blu-ray systems use a blue-violet Laser operating at a Wavelength of 405 nm, similar to the one used for HD DVD , to read and write data. Conventional DVD s and CD s use red and Infrared lasers at 650 nm and 780 nm respectively.

The Blue-violet Laser 's shorter wavelength makes it possible to store more information on a 12 cm CD/DVD sized disc. The minimum " Spot Size " on which a laser can be focused is limited by Diffraction , and depends on the wavelength of the light and the Numerical Aperture of the Lens used to focus it. By decreasing the wavelength, using a higher numerical aperture (0.85, compared with 0.6 for DVD , and 0.65 for HD DVD ), higher quality, dual-lens system, and making the cover layer thinner to avoid unwanted optical effects, the laser beam can be focused much more tightly at the disk surface. This produces a smaller spot on the disc and allows more information to be physically contained in the same area.


Hard-coating technology

100-gigabyte four-layer Blu-Ray disc.]]
Because the Blu-ray standard places data so close to the surface of the disc, early discs were susceptible to dust and scratches and had to be enclosed in plastic caddies for protection. Such an inconvenience, the consortium worried, would hobble Blu-ray's adoption in the face of the rival HD DVD standard; HD DVDs can be handled bare (caddyless) like CDs and DVD s, making them familiar to consumers as well as attractive to manufacturers and distributors who might be deterred by additional costs of caddies.


SOFTWARE STANDARDS


Codecs


The Codec s used to encode video and audio largely determine the amount of space needed to store the content on the disc. Some or all of the initial movies released in Blu-ray format will use MPEG-2 .

The BD-ROM format specifies at least three video , the standard used for DVD s; MPEG-4 's H.264/AVC codec; and VC-1 , a codec based on Microsoft 's Windows Media 9 . The first of these only allows for about two hours of high-definition content on a single-layer BD-ROM, but the addition of the two more advanced codecs allows up to four hours per layer.

For audio, BD-ROM supports linear (uncompressed) PCM , Dolby Digital , Dolby Digital Plus , DTS , DTS-HD, and Dolby TrueHD .

In order to remain backward-compatible, BD-RE (and by extension, BD-R) will by and large support the MPEG-2 codec. For users recording digital television broadcasts, the Blu-ray's baseline datarate of 36 Mbit/s will be more than adequate to record high definition signals. Support for new codecs will evolve as new codecs are encapsulated by broadcasters into their MPEG2 transport streams and consumer set top boxes capable of decoding them are rolled out.


Java software support


At the 2005 JavaOne trade show, it was announced that Sun Microsystems ' Java cross-platform software environment would be included in all Blu-ray players as a mandatory part of the standard. Java will be used to implement interactive menus on Blu-ray discs, as opposed to the method used on DVD video discs, which uses pre-rendered MPEG segments and selectable subtitle pictures and is considerably more primitive. Java creator James Gosling , at the conference, suggested that the inclusion of a Java Virtual Machine as well as network connectivity in BD devices will allow updates to Blu-ray discs via the Internet, adding content such as additional subtitle languages and promotional features that are not included on the disc at pressing time. This Java Version will be called BD-J and will be a subset of the Globally Executable MHP (GEM) standard. GEM is the world-wide version of the Multimedia Home Platform standard.


Region codes



Digital rights management


Blu-ray has an experimental (AACS).

The Blu-ray Disc Association also agreed to add Digital Watermarking technology to the discs. Under the name "ROM-Mark", this technology will be built into all ROM -producing devices, and prevent content from being reproduced in the event that a watermark is detected. Through licensing, the BDA believes that it can eliminate the possibility of mass producing BD-ROMs without authorization.


APPLICATIONS


Compatibility


While it is not compulsory for manufacturers, the Blu-ray Disc Association recommends that Blu-ray drives should be capable of reading DVDs for Backward Compatibility .

JVC has developed a three layer technology that allows putting both standard-definition DVD data and HD data on a BD/DVD combo disc. If successfully commercialized, this would enable the consumer to purchase a disc which could be played on current DVD players, and reveal its HD version when played on a new BD player.

Another aspect of compatibility is more problematic. Due to AACS copy protection, the Blu-ray players will only output HD content via HDMI and DVI -D connections, meaning that older HDTV models with Component, RGB D-Sub, and DVI-A inputs (currently, majority of HDTVs in US) will only display video at standard definition or not at all.

The situation with computer compatibility is even worse. In order to display HD content on a computer monitor, both monitor and Video Card must be HDCP compliant. Although there are a few HDCP compliant monitors on the market, there are no HDCP compliant video cards. Even the latest cards from ATI and NVidia , labeled HDCP ready, are not HDCP compliant (as of April 2006).


Stand-alone recorders and games consoles

The first Blu-ray recorder was unveiled by Sony on March 3 , 2003 , and was introduced to the Japanese market in April that year. On September 1 , 2003 , JVC and Samsung Electronics announced Blu-ray based products at IFA in Berlin , Germany . Both indicated that their products would be on the market in 2005.

Sony has announced that the PlayStation 3 will be shipped with a Blu-ray drive, likely read-only as for all game console optical drives. It is expected to read all DVD and CD formats in addition to BD-ROM, BD-R, and BD-RE. The target release date for PS3 is in early November 2006.



PC data storage


Blu-ray drives currently in production can transfer approximately 36 Mbit /s (54 Mbit/s for BD-ROM), but 2x speed prototypes with a 108 Mbit/s transfer rate are in development. Rates of 8x or more are planned for the future.
BDR-101A]]


Other drives expected in the market can be found here (Blu-ray.com showcase) with PC information updates here: Blu-ray.com forums "PC Data Storage"


Corporate support


HD DVD initially received more support than Blu-ray from film studios and distributors. This early lead, however, has now faded. The two formats are now neck to neck with the amount of support they hold in the industry.