4/13/2011

STUDENT: FADI SAKKAL THIRD YEAR FACULTY OF

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY _

ALEPPO UNIVERSITY

BLU-RAY

Supervised By Dr : Marwan Gabaly

Contents
Introduction. 2 Structure of the BD-Video disc ....2 Introduction to Blu-Ray technology .....6 Benefits of the BD-video disc ..7 Blu-ray Competitors 10 HD DVD or Blu-ray - Which one is better.......13 Blue laser optical disk technology ...14 How Does a Blu-Ray Player Work.......17 Disadvantages of Blu-Ray 19 The future direction ..20 Conclusion ....20

Blu-ray
Introduction:

Historical Background:
Blu-Ray discs are one of the newcomers on the optical disc scene. The first optical discs available to consumers were the large video laser discs that were marketed during the early 1970's. By the 1980's the familiar CD became available ... One compact disc was able to hold about 700MB (megabytes) of data ... The first CDs were used for audio albums. In 1997, a new technology emerged that brought digital sound and video into homes all over the world. It was called DVD... one DVD can hold a standardlength movie , this fact made a revolution in the movie industry. DVDs are the identical form factor of a CD but are able to hold much more data. The format was agreed upon because The industry is set for yet another revolution with the introduction of Blu-ray Discs (BD) in 2006. With their high storage capacity, Blu-ray discs can hold and play back large quantities of high-definition video and audio, as well as photos, data and other digital content.

Structure of the BD-Video disc:

Unlike current DVDs, which use a red laser to read and write data, Blu-ray uses a blue laser (which is where the format gets its name). A blue laser has a shorter wavelength (405 nanometers) than a red laser (650 nanometers). The smaller beam focuses more precisely, enabling it to read information recorded in pits that

are only 0.15 microns (m) (1 micron = 10-6 meters) long -- this is more than twice as small as the pits on a DVD. Plus, Blu-ray has reduced the track pitch from 0.74 microns to 0.32 microns. The smaller pits, smaller beam and shorter track pitch together enable a single-layer Blu-ray disc to hold more than 25 GB of information -- about five times the amount of information that can be stored on a DVD. Each Blu-ray disc is about the same thickness (1.2 millimeters) as a DVD. But the two types of discs store data differently. In a DVD, the data is sandwiched between two polycarbonate layers, each 0.6-mm thick. Having a polycarbonate layer on top of the data can cause a problem called birefringence, in which the substrate layer refracts the laser light into two separate beams.

If the beam is split too widely, the disc cannot be read. Also, if the DVD surface is not exactly flat, and is therefore not exactly perpendicular to the beam, it can lead to a problem known as disc tilt, in which the laser beam is distorted. All of these issues lead to a very involved manufacturing process

The problem of disc tilt is virtually eliminated. Because the data is closer to the surface, a hard coating is placed on the outside of the disc to protect it from scratches and fingerprints.

Hard-Coating Technology:
The entry of TDK to the BDF (as it was then), announced on 19 March 2004, was Accompanied by a number of indications that could significantly improve the outlook for Blu-ray. TDK is to introduce hard-coating technologies that would enable bare disk (caddy less) handling, along With higher-speed recording heads and multi-layer recording technology (to increase storage Densities). TDK's hard coating technique would give BDs scratch resistance and allow them to be cleaned of fingerprints with only a tissue, a procedure that would leave scratches on current CDs and DVDs.

Configuration of SL and DL Discs:

Figure shows the outline of a Single Layer BD Read-Only disc and Figure shows the Outline of a Dual Layer BD Read-Only disc. To improve scratch resistance, the cover layer can optionally be protected with an additional hard coat layer. One of the features that differentiate Blu-ray Disc from DVD recording systems is the position of the recording layer within the disc.

For DVD, the recording layer is sandwiched between two 0.6-mm thick layers of plastic typically polycarbonate. The purpose of this is to shift surface scratches, fingerprints and dust particles to a position in the optical pathway where they have negligible effect - i.e. well away from the point of focus of the laser. However, burying the recording layer 0.6 mm below the surface of the disc also has Disadvantages. Due to the injection molding process used to produce them, disc substrates suffer from Stress-induced birefringence, which means that they split the single incident laser light into two separate beams. If this splitting is excessive, the drive cannot read data reliably from the disc. Consequently, the injection molding process has always been a very critical part of CD and DVD production. Another critical manufacturing tolerance, particularly for DVDs, is the flatness of the disc, because the laser beam becomes distorted if the disc surface is not perpendicular to the beam axis - a condition referred to as disc tilt. This distortion increases as the thickness of the cover layer increases and also increases for higher numerical To overcome these disadvantages, the recording layer in a Blu-ray Disc sits on the surface of a 1.1-mm thick plastic substrate, protected by a 0.1-mm thick cover layer. With the substrate material no longer in the optical pathway, birefringence problems are eliminated. In addition, the closer proximity of the recording layer to the drive's objective lens reduces disc tilt sensitivity. This only leaves the problem of surface scratching and fingerprints, which can be prevented by applying a specifically.

Dual Layer Disc:

Figure shows the outline of a Dual Layer BD Read-Only disc. To improve scratch resistance, the cover layer can optionally be protected with an additional hard coat layer. The different layers are shown. A spacing layer is used to separate the two information discs. Also he different transmission stack are shown

Introduction To Blu-Ray Technology:

The Objective of Blu-ray the standards for 12-cm optical discs, CDs, DVDs, and Blu-ray rewritable discs (BD-RE Standard) were established in 1982, 1996, and 2002, respectively. The recording capacity required by applications was the important issue when these standards were decided (See fig). The requirement for CDs was 74 minutes of recording 2- channel audio signals and a capacity of about 800 MB. For DVDs, the requirement as a video disc was the recording of a movie with a length of two hours and fifteen minutes using the SD (Standard Definition) with MPEG-2 compression. The capacity was determined to be 4.7 GB considering the balance with image quality. In the case of the Blu-ray *1) Disc, abbreviated as BD hereafter, a recording of an HDTV digital broadcast greater than two hours is needed since the BS digital broadcast started in 2000 and terrestrial digital broadcast has begun in 2003. It was a big motivation for us to realize the recorder using the optical disc. In a DVD recorder, received and decoded video signals are compressed by an MPEG encoder and then recorded on the disc. To record in the same fashion for an HDTV broadcast an HDTV MPEG-2 encoder is required. However, such a device for home use has not yet been produced. In the case of BS digital broadcasts, signals are sent as a program stream at a fixed rate, which is 24 Mbps for one HDTV program.

In the program stream of BS digital broadcast there is a case that the additional data stream is multiplexed, and it is desirable to record and read the data as is. Two hours of recording requires a recording capacity of 22 GB or more. This capacity is about 5 times that of DVDs, which cannot achieve this capacity by merely increasing their recording density. To obtain this capacity we have developed a number of techniques such as: employing a blue-violet laser, increasing the numerical aperture of objective lens, making the optical beam passing substrate thin, 0.1 mm, and evenly thick, using an aberration compensation method of pickup adapted to the substrate thickness and dual layer discs, improving the modulation method, enhancing the ability of the error correction circuit without sacrificing the efficiency, employing the Viterbi decoding method for reading signals and improving the S/N ratio and the inter symbol interference, using the on-groove recording and highly reliable wobbling address system, developing high speed recording phase change media, etc. In addition, the convenient functions of a recording device have also been realized in the application formats.

These techniques are described in this paper. Furthermore, the key concepts of the Blu-ray standard such as the reason for employing 0.1 mm thick transparent layer and a dual layer recording disc will be described in each dedicated chapter. Following the rewritable system, the planning of a read-only system and writeonce system has already started. In addition to high picture quality, the introduction of core and new functions is indispensable for the spread of the next generation package media. For example, during the switch from VHS to DVD, digital recording and interactive functions were newly introduced. Consequently, it is anticipated that the specifications of BD-ROM will provide high performance inter activeness and a connection to broadband services, reflecting the demands of the movie industry.

Benefits of the BD-Video disc: Capacity:

One single-layer disc equals five DVDs in data capacity

The BD-Video disc boasts a data storage capacity of 25 GB* in a single layer and 50 GB* in dual layer, because it uses the shorter wavelength blue-violet laser and a high-density objective lens to enable higher-density data reading. When a multilayer system is adopted in the future, the storage capacity can increase to 100 GB* and even 200 GB*. One BD-Video disc can store a huge amount of data so users can enjoy many hours of high-definition content and high-quality surround sound that could not previously be provided by other media.

HD Image quality video:

In addition to the MPEG-2 format used by DVD-Video, the BD-Video disc uses video codes, such as MPEG4 AVC and VC-1, which deliver high image quality using high compression rates. The data transfer speed is 48 Mbps, which is about three times faster than DVD. A future plan also calls for a further increase in the data transfer speed. These technologies allow long-time playback of content with high-definition image quality.

High-quality surround sound:

The BD-Video disc optionally supports nextgeneration surround sound formats like Dolby Digital Plus. Connecting a BD-Video player to an AV center using an HDMI* cable enables linear PCM multi-channel data transfer. This makes it possible to reproduce high-quality 7.1-channel surround sound with each channel offering DVDAudio quality, delivering a surround sound experience that rivals the quality of BD-J for extensive interactive functions The BD-Video disc is equipped with an extended function based on Java

technology, called BD-J, to provide various interactive features. For example, this can be used to program various operations, such as displaying a pop-up menu while playing a BD-Video disc, and activating a keyword search. With unlimited application possibilities, BD-J offers interactive enjoyment that is simply not possible with conventional AV software.

Extensive support for both hardware and software:

The Blu-ray Disc specifications have been established mainly by leading electronics, PC and gaming manufacturers around the world, including Panasonic. These companies will support BD promotion by introducing a variety of hardware. A number of major motion picture production companies have expressed their support.

Durability:
Blu-ray discs are hard-coated with a protective film. This makes the discs more durable and scratch-resistant than standard DVDs and CDs.

Advanced operations BD-Live Technology:

Blu-ray technology is also much more interactive than standard DVD. Using an Internet connection and Java-based software architecture, Blu-ray offers the ability to download new content and access interactive features from your player.

Blu-ray is Backward Compatible:

Standard DVDs and CDs will play on all Blu-ray players, so there is no need to get rid of your old discs.

Picture-in-picture:
With picture-in-picture, a small sub-window is displayed over the main image. There are four picture-in-picture modes, each offering a distinct function. They include enhanced commentary, backstage pass function and peek behind the animation and audio mixing.

 DATA RATE
For high-definition movies a much higher data rate is needed than for standard definition. With the BD formats choices for both NA and wavelength we have been able to realize a format with 5X higher data rate while only doubling the rotation rate of DVD-ROM discs. The following numbers offer a comparison: Data bit length: 111.75 nm (25GB) (267 nm for DVD) Linear velocity: 7.367 m/s (Movie application) (3.49 m/s for DVD). User data transfer rate: 53.948 Mbit/s (Movie application) (10.08 Mbps for DVD) The BD system has the potential for future higher speed drives. The BD-RE (rewritable) standard is now available; to be followed by the BD-R (recordable) and BD-ROM formats in mid-2004, as part of version 2.0 of the Bluray specifications. BD-ROM pre-recorded media are to be available by late 2005. Looking further ahead in time, Blu-ray Discs with capacities of 100GB and 200GB are currently being researched, with these capacities achieved by using four and eight layers respectively

Blu-ray Competitors:
Will Blu-ray replace previous DVDs? Its manufacturers hope so. In the meantime, JVC has developed a Blu-ray/DVD combo disc with an approximate 33.5-GB capacity, allowing for the release of video in both formats on a single disc. But Blu-ray is not alone in the marketplace. A few other formats are competing for a share of the DVD market. The other big player is HD-DVD, also called AOD (Advanced Optical Disc), which was developed by electronics giants Toshiba and NEC. HD-DVD was actually in the works before regular DVD. but it didn't begin real development until 2003. The advantage to HD-DVD is that it uses the same basic format as the traditional

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DVD and can therefore be manufactured with the same equipment saving on costs. HD-DVD matches the storage capacity of Blu-ray. A rewritable, single-layer HD-DVD can hold 15 GB of data, a double-layer disc can hold 30 GB, and a triple-layer disc can hold 45 GB (that's compared to 27 GB and 50 GB for Bluray). The read-only versions hold slightly less data. Also, HD-DVD offers the interactive capabilities of Blu-ray, with HDI. Blu-ray and HD-DVD are the two major competitors in the market, but there are other contenders, as well. Warner Bros. Pictures has developed its own system, called HD-DVD-9. This system uses a higher compression rate to put more information (about two hours of highdefinition video) on a standard DVD. Taiwan has created the Forward Versatile Disc (FVD), an upgraded version of today's DVDs that allows for more data storage capacity (5.4 GB on a single-sided disc and 9.8 GB on a double-sided disc). And China has introduced the Enhanced Video Disc (EVD), another high-definition video disc. There are also professional versions of the blue laser technology. Sony has developed XDCAM and Pro Data (Professional Disc for Data). The former is designed for use by broadcasters and AV studios. The latter is primarily for commercial data storage (for example, backing up servers). It seems that the future holds a whole lot more than 25 to 54 GB on a single disc. According to T3: Pioneer goes beyond Blu-Ray, Pioneer is developing an optical disc that will blow away the hard disc in most of our PCs in terms storage capacity, holding 500 GB of data. How so? Pioneer's lasers are ultraviolet, which have an even shorter wavelength than the blue. The table below compares some of the principal characteristics of the Blu-ray Disc format with the DVD format:

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Characteristic Capacity per layer (GB) Max number of layers Max number of sides

DVD 4.7 2 2

BD 25 2 2 1.1 + 0.1 405 0.85 No Yes More complex 36.55 (1x)

Substrate + cover layer (mm) 0.6 + 0.6 Laser wavelength (nm) Numerical aperture Cartridge Hard coating needed Complexity to read DVD 650 0.65 No No -

Maximum Data Rate (MBps) 11.08 (1x) Maximum Recording Time (SDTV) Singlelayer Duallayer Triplelayer Singlelayer Duallayer Triplelayer

2 hours 13 hours 4 hours 26 hours 39 hours 2 hours 4 hours 6 hours

Maximum Recording Time (HDTV)

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HD DVD or Blu-ray - Which one is better?

HD DVDs and Blu-ray discs are similar in terms of the higher storage capacities and a superior picture quality offered by them. Their storage capacities are higher than those of CDs and DVDs. However, a single layer HD DVD can store 15 GB data whereas a single layer Bluray disc stores 25 GB data. The storage capacity offered by a disc format is closely linked to the method used to write on the discs. Although there is no difference between the wavelengths of the laser beams used to write on HD DVDs and Bluray discs, the ways of focusing the beams onto the discs differ. Both HD DVDs and Blu-ray discs require a laser beam of wavelength 405 nanometers, to write data on them. However, for HD DVDs, the beam is focused through a lens of numerical aperture of 0.65 nanometers while the aperture is of 0.85 nanometers for Blu-ray discs. HD DVDs offer a maximum bit rate of 36.5 Mbits/sec for raw data transfer while Blu-ray discs offer maximum bit rates of 53.9 Mbits/sec. The maximum bit rates for the transfer of audio and video data is around 48 Mbits/sec for Blu-ray discs while it is about 30.2 Mbits/sec for HD DVDs. The use of lossy audio codecs such as Dolby Digital and DTS and lossless codecs like Linear PCM are mandatory for both HD DVDs and Blu-ray discs. Most of the audio titles released on Blu-ray discs include Dolby-Digital tracks while those on HD DVDs include Dolby Digital Plus tracks. Both offer a maximum video resolution of 1920x1080. Both support the same three video compression standards, namely MPEG-2, VC-1 and AVC. As the HD DVD specification has no region coding, an HD DVD manufactured in any part of the world can work in any player. Also there are no restrictions on playing imported HD DVDs in any HD DVD player. It implies that discs from American retailers can be obtained by customers in other regions of the world. On the other hand, Blu-ray discs employ three region codes. About 66% of Blu-ray disc titles are region-free, while 33% use region codes. In 2007, a hybrid technology supporting both the disk formats was introduced by

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Warner Bros. It was known as Total HD and was designed to support both the formats on a single disc. A disc of the Total HD technology would place a Blu-ray layer over an HD DVD layer, where the Blu-ray layer would act like a two-way mirror, reflecting enough light for the Blu-ray reader to read and the HD DVD player to ignore. However, later that year, the hybrid technology was declared to be on hold. Let us hope for the design of a disk format that will incorporate the positive attributes of both the Blu-ray discs and HD DVDs and eliminate their shortfalls. Let us wait and watch to see such a technology in action!

Blue laser optical disk technology:

Optical disc technologies such as DVD, DVD-R, DVD-RW, and DVD-RAM employ a 650 nm red laser, bond 0.6mm-thick discs and use lenses with a numerical aperture (NA) of 0.6. By employing a short wavelength (405nm) blue violet laser, the Blu-ray Disc (BD) successfully minimizes its beam spot size, reducing the lens' NA to 0.85 and so making it possible to focus the laser spot with much greater precision.

As a consequence, the Blu-ray Disc's tracking pitch is reduced to 0.32m, less than half that of a regular DVD, and the minimum mark length is 0.14-micron, down from DVD's 0.4-micron. In addition, by using a disc structure with a 0.1mm optical transmittance protection layer, the Blu-ray Disc diminishes aberration caused by disc tilt, allowing for disc better readout and an increased recording density. This allows data to be packed more tightly on a Blu-ray Disc than on a DVD. A single-layer disc can hold 25GB, which can be used to record over 2 hours of

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HDTV or more than 13 hours of SDTV. There are also dual-layer versions of the discs that can hold 50GB. All this is achieved on media that is the same physical size as a CD/DVD. The track format of Recordable Blu-ray Disc is groove-recording, i.e., recording data only on groove or in groove tracks. For the groove recording method, lands are sandwiched between adjacent grooves to block heat transfer between the grooves during recording, preventing signal quality deterioration in one groove track due to the influence of recording data in an adjacent groove tracks with a narrow track pitch. The track pitch between grooves in Recordable Blu-ray Disc is 0.32m. The recordable layer(s) for a Recordable Blu-ray Disc employ either organic or inorganic materials. For a single-layer Recordable Blu-ray Disc, the thickness from the disc surface to the recording layer is 100m. For a dual-layer Recordable Blu-ray Disc, the thickness from the disc surface to the front layer (Layer 1) is 75m, and that to the rear layer (Layer 0) is 100m. For the dual-layer disc, the laser beam must be transmitted through the front layer for data recording/playback on the rear layer. While recording Layer 0, the laser beam is severely out of focus for Layer 1 resulting in a very low optical density which prevents affecting the recording characteristics of Layer 1. Therefore, the front layer is required to provide an optical transmittance of 50% or more, regardless of its recorded state (whether data-recorded or blank).

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The Recordable Blu-ray Disc specification allows for multiple variations in the recording capacity. According to the Specifications Book, the 120mm single-layer type has three different discs with capacities of 23.3, 25 and 27GB, while the duallayer type has capacities of 46.6, 50 and 54GB. The three different capacities of each type have been realized by using different linear recording densities, but all using the same track pitch. The minimum length of marks recordable on a disc is 0.160, 0.149 and 0.138m, in the order of the recording capacity. With the rapid growth of HDTV globally after 2003, the consumer demand for recording HD programming rose quickly. Blu-ray was designed with this application in mind and has a data transfer rate of 36MBps and utilizes the MPEG2 transport stream compression used by digital broadcasts. This makes it highly compatible with global standards for digital TV, and means that HDTV broadcasts can be recorded directly to the disc without any quality loss or extra processing. In addition, by fully utilizing an optical disc's random access features, it's possible to playback video on a disc while simultaneously recording HD video. While the format itself is not compatible with previous DVD technologies, Blu-ray products are made backwards compatible through the use of a BD/DVD/CD compatible optical pickup, thereby allowing playback of CDs and DVDs. Initial indications were that DVD Forum member Warner Bros. and other contentproduction companies were firmly in the HD-DVD camp, since it would allow Hollywood studios to repurpose their content one more time, without having first to incur high investment costs in transitioning to brand-new replication equipment. However, by the end of 2005 the BD format had taken the lead, with most major movie studios having committed to releasing films in the format by the following year. In January 2006 Sony announced its intention to start selling Blu-ray Disc players in the USA in the summer of that year, a few months later than rival Toshiba's planned launch of its first HD-DVD player. This seemed a coup for the HD-DVD camp, but slow take-up of the technologies from a wary consumer market meant that this proved no great advantage. It was clear by then that one of the technologies would fail, picking the winner was tough, and few were willing to make a costly gamble on a system and media that might soon be defunct.

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How Does a Blu-Ray Player Work? When a Blu-Ray disc is inserted into a player, the player's laser will scan the data packets near the center of the disc to get all of the basic information that it needs to play the disc. This data also contains information about how the disc is encrypted, allowing the player to decrypt the data, which was originally encrypted as a measure against piracy. Once the player has the necessary data and encryption details it can then begin playing the disc, reading the data packets as the disc spins and converting them to digital video and audio information. This information is then sent to the television, monitor or other device connected to the Blu-Ray player, generally through the use of separate component cables or an HD cable connection.

Read/ write Data:

Blu-ray also has a higher data transfer rate -- 36 Mbps (megabits per second) -than today's DVDs, which transfer at 10 Mbps. A Blu-ray disc can record 25 GB of material in just over an hour and a half.

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The Blu-ray disc overcomes DVD-reading issues by placing the data on top of a 1.1-mm-thick polycarbonate layer. Having the data on top prevents birefringence and therefore prevents readability problems. And, with the recording layer sitting closer to the objective lens of the reading mechanism A DVD uses a red laser beam that makes light waves with a wavelength of 650 nanometers (0.00000065 meters, or less than one hundredth the width of a human hair). That's considerably shorter than the wavelength of invisible, infrared light that a CD player uses (780 nanometers), which is why DVDs can store more than CDs. A Blu-ray player uses an even more precise laser than a DVD player, with a beam of blue light shooting out of it instead of red or infrared. Blue light has a much shorter wavelength (about 450 nanometers) than red light so a blue laser can write things that are far smaller. That means Blu-ray discs can store movies in a much higher quality format known as High Definition (HD), store much longer movies on a single disc, or just store more altogether. If you can fit four, half-hour episodes of Friends on a DVD, you can fit 24 episodes (a whole series) on a Blu-ray disc.

Disadvantages of Blu-Ray: High Prices

Unlike a DVD player, which can run you anywhere from $20 to $200 for a nice up convert player, most Blu-Ray players cost $400 or more. You can find some that are less expensive, but they tend to be the slower, buggier models which are not the final 2.0 spec. This should change soon, as many new players are being released that are profile 2.0. $400 still seems it will be the starting point for most of those though, so I wouldnt expect a huge price drop until the Christmas Holliday season begins. Also Buying a Blu-Ray disk is around $10 more than a DVD in 2010. Blu-Ray disks are new and, like any new electronic media, they are more expensive than the old media. According to Blue-Ray "Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)," the cost

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of manufacturing a Blu-Ray disk is no more than the cost of manufacturing DVDs. Although the price of a Blu-Ray disk should go down over time.

Firmware Updates
Possibly the biggest drawback to Blu-Ray has to do with reliability issues. Unlike with DVD players, Blu-ray players need occasional firmware updates. Doing a firmware update is a complicated issue for the average consumer unless the player has an Ethernet port to connect directly to the internet like you computer does. If the player does not have an Ethernet port, then you have to go to the manufacturers website and burn a file to a CD. This has to be done every time you buy a Blu-Ray movie which requires an update to play. A second problem with these firmware updates is that they sometimes fix playability issues with some movies, but may screw up things that worked beforehand. This force you to wait until another update is issued which hopefully fix everything again. Also, many consumers dont always follow directions and turn off the player before the update is completed. Usually, they do it because they thought it was done or finished, but in fact it was still installing. This almost always leads to a non-working Blu-Ray player which must be sent in for repairs.

The future direction:

Blu-ray is currently supported by about 200 of the world's leading consumer electronics, personal computer, recording media, video game and music companies. The format also has support from all Hollywood studios. The biggest benefit of Blu-ray technology is the superior image resolution and picture quality. In the future, there is the possibility that there will be a four-fold increase in resolution, which will be known as ultra-high definition. It gives consumers increased storage capacity with great resolution going forward, the real challenge in the adoption of this technology will be the relatively high cost of Blu-ray disc players. Their price will only reduce when there is mass production and when the manufacturing cost of Blu-ray diodes comes down. Design, development and up gradation to BDR/RE lines from conversion of DVDRW lines at a minimal CAPEX has resulted in Moser Baer India leading the nascent Blu-Ray industry. It is the high prices of BD recorders/players (almost eight to ten times that of DVD recorders/players) that is slowing the growth of this market segment. Globally, prices are still higher when compared to India where it

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is available for $1.5 per disc. Also, Blu-ray faces competition from video on demand and other technologies that allow access to movies on any format or device, such as Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem. Will Blu-ray replace previous DVDs in the future ? Lets see

CONCLUSION:
Anyone old enough to recall fond memories of Rubik's Cubes, Family Ties, and Duran Duran likely remembers another '80s phenomenon: the VHS vs. Betamax war. The two competing video-recording technologies emerged together in the 1970s, when Sony's (NYSE: SNE) Betamax VCR, a pioneer in the industry, fought for market share against a rival VHS version developed by Matsushita (NYSE: MC). VHS technology quickly gained widespread acceptance, while Betamax followed a divergent path into obscurity. In 1988, with less than 5% of the market, Sony finally threw in the towel by announcing plans to market a VHS-based recorder. While the end came slowly, the decision would prove to be a death knell for the Betamax name. Fast-forward to today. The growing popularity of high-definition television (HDTV) has fostered a new wave of recording technology, soon to supplant the VCR, and possibly even DVD. Again, two competing technologies are vying for acceptance, but this time Sony appears to be on the winning side. The Blu-ray Disc Founders (not to be confused with the effusively painted Blue Man Group) is a consortium of 13 leading electronics firms. It has developed a superior optical disc known as the Blu-ray Disc (BD). As opposed to the red lasers currently used to produce DVDs, blue beams have a shorter wavelength, allowing for enhanced precision and more tightly compressed data. While a typical DVD holds 4.7 GB of information, a BD contains 25 GB enough storage for two hours of HDTV or 13 hours of standard television. Dual-layer discs under development will hold an astounding 54 GB. Aside from greater storage capacity, Blu-ray discs will also contain more interactive features.

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The world's two foremost computer manufacturers, Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) and Motley Fool Stock Advisor holding Dell Computer (NASDAQ: DELL), were formally added to the Blu-ray alliance, virtually ensuring the future adoption of BD technology for PC data storage. The competing format, known as HD-DVD, is simultaneously under joint development by Toshiba and NEC. Though HD-DVD technology appears to be an underdog at this point, it has recently gained notoriety by winning the support of the DVD forum, a confederation of DVD-related companies. Blu-ray, has already earned an early endorsement from Columbia TriStar Pictures (Hollywood), which has committed to using the Blu-ray technology. Though BDs are not yet mainstream, and pro forma revenue projections are still being formulated, the technology is moving quickly. The Sony BDZ-S77, a BD recorder, is already on the shelves in HDTV-dominated Japan, and LG Electronics intends to introduce its brand to U.S. consumers as early as the third quarter of this year. Further, with consumers clamoring for faster transfer speeds and storage capacity (two of the more notable advantages of BD technology), it's possible that the industry is headed to a point where BD sales will one day outstrip DVDs. It's too early to call the game just yet, but this will be an interesting technological development to follow. In summary Blu-ray is the high definition replacement for DVD, and takes full advantage of the capabilities of HDTVs and the internet to deliver higher quality audio and video with better content, more features, and greater convenience. If you own or are shopping for an HDTV, consider that a new Blu-ray player will let you experience the best picture and sound quality available, the best special features and the convenience of internet-based streaming video. As a last word: Every few years a new technology dramatically changes the way we experience home entertainment. DVDs brought us significantly better picture and sound than VHS tapes, as well as scene by scene access and extras like director commentary

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all in a durable, easy to store format. Now, with the popularity of High Definition Televisions (HDTVs), Blu-ray players and discs are delivering another wave of innovation in home entertainment.

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