What is Blu-ray?

Blu-ray, also known as Blu-ray Disc (BD) is the name of a next-generation optical disc format. The format was developed to enable recording, rewriting and playback of high-definition video (HD), as well as storing large amounts of data. The format offers more than five times the storage capacity of traditional DVDs and can hold up to 25GB on a single-layer disc and 50GB on a dual-layer disc.

Why the name Blu-ray?

The name Blu-ray is derived from the underlying technology, which utilizes a blue-violet laser to read and write data. The name is a combination of "Blue" (blue-violet laser) and "Ray" (optical ray). According to the Blu-ray Disc Association the spelling of "Blu-ray" is not a mistake; the character "e" was intentionally left out so the term could be registered as a trademark.

History of Blu-Ray Disc

The Blu-ray standard was jointly developed by a group of consumer electronics and PC companies called the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA), spearheaded by Sony. It is currently competing with the HD DVD format for wide adoption as the preferred next generation optical standard, similar to the videotape format war between JVC's VHS and Sony's Betamax. As of 2006, neither format has succeeded in supplanting the present home video standard, the DVD.

What Blu-ray formats are planned?

As with conventional CDs and DVDs, Blu-ray plans to provide a wide range of formats including ROM/R/RW. The following formats are part of the Blu-ray Disc specification: BD-ROM - read-only format for distribution of HD movies, games, software, etc. BD-R - recordable format for HD video recording and PC data storage. BD-RE - rewritable format for HD video recording and PC data storage. There's also plans for a BD/DVD hybrid format, which combines Blu-ray and DVD on the same disc so that it can be played in both Blu-ray players and DVD players.

How much data can you fit on a Blu-ray disc?

A single-layer disc can hold 25GB. A dual-layer disc can hold 50GB. To ensure that the Blu-ray Disc format is easily extendable (future-proof) it also includes support for multi-layer discs, which should allow the storage capacity to be increased to 100GB-200GB (25GB per layer) in the future simply by adding more layers to the discs.

How fast can you read/write data on a Blu-ray disc?

According to the Blu-ray Disc specification, 1x speed is defined as 36Mbps. However, as BD-ROM movies will require a 54Mbps data transfer rate the minimum speed we're expecting to see is 2x (72Mbps). If we assume a maximum disc rotation speed of 10,000 RPM, then 12x at the outer diameter should be possible (about 400Mbps). T his is why the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA) already has plans to raise the speed to 8x (288Mbps) or more in the future.

When will I be able to buy Blu-ray products?

If you live in the US, you will most likely have to wait until June 25, 2006 when Samsung will introduce their Blu-ray player (was recently pushed back from May 23, 2006). Pioneer and Sony plan to introduce their respective Blu-ray players in July. While we've heard very little about the launch plans for the European market, we expect it to follow shortly after the US (some products might launch earlier).

What will Blu-ray products cost?

As with any new technology the first generation of products will likely be quite expensive due to low production volumes. Once mass production of components for Blu-ray products begins the prices are expected to fall quickly. According to the Blu-ray Disc Association, the overall cost of manufacturing Blu-ray Disc media will in the end be no more expensive than producing a DVD.

What about Blu-ray for PCs?

There are plans for BD-ROM (read-only), BD-R (recordable) and BD-RE (rewritable) drives for PCs, and with the support of the worlds two largest PC manufacturers, HP and Dell. It's very likely that the technology will be adopted as the nextgeneration optical disc format for PC data storage and replace technologies such as DVDR, DVDRW, and DVD-RAM.

Parameters Storage capacity Laser wavelength Numerical aperture (NA) Disc diameter Disc thickness Protection layer Hard coating Track pitch Data transfer rate (data) Data transfer rate (video/audio) Video resolution (max) Video bit rate (max) Video codecs

Blu-ray 25GB (single-layer) 50GB (dual-layer) 405nm (blue laser) 0.85 120mm 1.2mm 0.1mm Yes 0.32m 36.0Mbps (1x) 54.0Mbps (1.5x) 19201080 (1080p) 40.0Mbps MPEG-2 MPEG-4 AVC SMPTE VC-1 Linear PCM Dolby Digital Dolby Digital Plus Dolby TrueHD

DVD 4.7GB (single-layer) 8.5GB (dual-layer) 650nm (red laser) 0.60 120mm 1.2mm 0.6mm No 0.74m 11.08Mbps (1x) 10.08Mbps (<1x) 720480/720576 (480i/576i) 9.8Mbps MPEG-2 Linear PCM Dolby Digital DTS Digital Surround

Audio codecs

Parameters Storage capacity

Blu-ray

HD-DVD

25GB (single-layer) 15GB (single-layer) 50GB (dual-layer) 30GB (dual-layer)

Laser wavelength Protection layer Hard coating Track pitch Data transfer rate (data) Data transfer rate Video resolution (max) Video codecs

405nm (blue laser) 405nm (blue laser) 0.1mm Yes 0.32m 36.0Mbps (1x) 54.0Mbps (1.5x) 19201080 (1080p) MPEG-2 MPEG-4 AVC SMPTE VC-1 Linear PCM Dolby Digital Dolby Digital Plus 0.6mm No 0.40m 36.55Mbps (1x) 36.55Mbps (1x) 19201080 (1080p) 28.0Mbps MPEG-2 MPEG-4 AVC SMPTE VC-1 Linear PCM Dolby Digital Dolby Digital Plus Dolby TrueHD

Audio codecs

Blu-ray Advantages
Record high-definition television (HDTV) without any quality loss. Instantly skip to any spot on the disc. Record one program while watching another on the disc. Create playlists. Edit or reorder programs recorded on the disc. Automatically search for an empty space on the disc to avoid recording over a program. Access the Web to download subtitles and other extra features.

Construction of Blu-Ray Disc

Traditional DVDs are built by injection molding the two 0.6-mm discs between which the recording layer is sandwiched. The process must be done very carefully to prevent birefringence. The two discs are molded. The recording layer is added to one of the discs. The two discs are glued together. Blu-ray discs only do the injection-molding process on a single 1.1-mm disc, which reduces cost. That savings balances out the cost of adding the protective layer, so the end price is no more than the price of a regular DVD.

Blu-ray vs. Other New Disc Formats

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.

Parts of a Blu-Ray Disc

A complete Blu-Ray Disc

Working of a Blu-Ray Disc

Cross Section of a Blu-Ray Disc

Supporting Companies

Reference Sites:
www.sony.com www.wikipedia.com www.blu-raydisc.com www.howstuffworks.com