BLU RAY DISC

Optical disks share a major part among the secondary storage devices. Blu

ray Disc is a next generation optical disc format. The technology utilizes a

blue laser diode operating at a wavelength of 405 nm to read and write data.

Because it uses a blue laser it can store enormous more amounts of data on it

than was ever possible Data is stored on Blu Ray disks in the form of tiny

ridges on the surface of an opaque 1.1 milli metre thick substrate. This lies

beneath a transparent 0.1mm protective layer. With the help of Blu ray

recording devices it is possible to record upto 2.5 hours of very high quality

audio and video on a single BD.

Blu ray also promises some added security, making ways for copyright

protections. Blu ray discs can have a unique ID written on them to have

copyright protection inside the recorded streams. Blu ray disc takes the DVD

technology one step further, just by using a laser with a nice color.

History of Blu ray Disc

First Generation:

When the CD was introduced in the early 80s, it meant an enormous leap

from traditional media. Not only did it offer a significant improvement in

audio quality, its primary application, but its 650 MB storage capacity also

meant a giant leap in data storage and retrieval. For the first time, there was

a universal standard for pre .recorded, recordable and rewritable media,

offering the best quality and features consumers could wish for themselves,

at very low costs.

Second Generation:

Although the CD was a very useful medium for the recording and

distribution of audio and some modest data .applications, demand for a new

medium offering higher storage capacities rose in the 90s. These demands

lead to the evolution of the DVD specification and a five to ten fold increase

in capacity. This enabled high quality, standard definition video distribution

and recording. Furthermore, the increased capacity accommodated more

demanding data applications. At the same time, the DVD spec used the same

form factor as the CD, allowing for seamless migration to the next

generation format and offering full backwards compatibility.

HDTV (High Definition Video)

This high resolution 16:9 ratio, progressive scan format can now be recorded

to standard miniDV cassettes Consumer high definition cameras are

becoming available but this is currently an expensive, niche market. It is also

possible to capture video using inexpensive webcams. These normally

connect to a computer via USB. While they are much cheaper than DV

cameras, webcams offer lower quality and less flexibility for editing

purposes, as they do not capture video in DV format. Digital video is

available on many portable devices from digital stills cameras to mobile

phones. This is contributing to the emergence of digital video as a standard

technology used and shared by people on a daily basis.MPEG

MPEG, the Moving Picture Experts Group, overseen by the International

Standards Organization (ISO), develops standards for digital video and

digital audio compression. MPEG .1 with a default resolution of 352x240

was designed specifically forVideo .CD and CD .imedia and is often used in

CD .ROMs.

MPEG .1 audio layer .3 (MP3) compression evolved from early

MPEG work. MPEG1 is an established, medium quality format (similar to

VHS) supported by all players and platforms. Although not the best quality

it will work well on older specification machines.

MPEG .2 compression (as used for DVD movies and digital

document.doctelevision set .top boxes) is an excellent format for distributing

video, as it offers high quality and smaller file sizes than DV. Due to the way

it compresses video MPEG .2.encoded footage is more problematic to edit

than DV footage. Despite this, MPEG2 is becoming more common as a

capture format. MPEG 2 uses variable bit rates allowing frames to be

encoded with more or less data depending on their contents. Most editing

software now supports MPEG2 editing. Editing and encoding MPEG2

requires more processing power than DV and should be done on well

specified machines. It is not suitable for internet delivery.

The information density of the DVD format was limited by the wavelength

of the laser diodes used. Following protracted development, blue laser

diodes operating at 405 nanometers became available on a production

basis. Sony started two projects in collaboration with Philips applying the

new diodes: UDO (Ultra Density Optical), and DVR Blue (together

withPioneer), a format of rewritable discs that would eventually become

Blu-ray Disc (more specifically, BD-RE). The core technologies of the

formats are similar.

The first DVR Blue prototypes were unveiled at the CEATEC exhibition in

October 2000 by Sony. A trademark for the "Blue Disc" logo was filed

February 9, 2001.[12] On February 19, 2002, the project was officially

announced as Blu-ray Disc, and Blu-ray Disc Founders was founded by the

nine initial members.

The first consumer device arrived in stores on April 10, 2003: the Sony

BDZ-S77, a $3,800 (US) BD-RE recorder that was made available only in

Japan. But there was no standard for prerecorded video, and no movies were

released for this player. Hollywood studios insisted that players be equipped

with digital rights management before they would release movies for the

new format, and they wanted a new DRM system that would be more secure

than the failed Content Scramble System (CSS) used on DVDs.

On October 4, 2004, the name "Blu-ray Disc Founders" was officially

changed to the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA), and 20th Century

Fox joined the BDA's Board of Directors. The Blu-ray Disc physical

specifications were completed in 2004.

In January 2005, TDK announced that they had developed an ultra-hard yet

very thin coating polymer for Blu-ray Discs; this was a significant technical

advance because a far tougher protection was desired in the consumer

market to protect bare discs against scratching and damage compared to

DVD, while technically Blu-ray Disc required a much thinner layer for the

denser and higher frequency blue laser. Cartridges, originally used for

scratch protection, were no longer necessary and were scrapped.

The BD-ROM specifications were finalized in early 2006.

AACS LA, a consortium founded in 2004, had been developing the DRM

platform that could be used to securely distribute movies to consumers.

However, the final AACS standard was delayed, and then delayed again

when an important member of the Blu-ray Disc group voiced concerns. At

the request of the initial hardware manufacturers, including Toshiba,

Pioneer, and Samsung, an interim standard was published that did not

include some features, such as managed copy.

Blu-ray (not Blue-ray) also known as Blu-ray Disc (BD), is the name

of a new optical disc format jointly developed by the Blu-ray Disc

Association (BDA), a group of the world's leading consumer electronics,

personal computer and media manufacturers (including Apple, Dell, Hitachi,

HP, JVC, LG, Mitsubishi, Panasonic, Pioneer, Philips, Samsung, Sharp,

Sony, TDK and Thomson). 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. This extra capacity combined with the use of

advanced video and audio codecs will offer consumers an unprecedented

HD experience. 

While current optical disc technologies such as DVD, DVD±R, DVD±RW,

and DVD-RAM rely on a red laser to read and write data, the new format

uses a blue-violet laser instead, hence the name Blu-ray. Despite the

different type of lasers used, Blu-ray products can easily be made backwards

compatible with CDs and DVDs through the use of a BD/DVD/CD

compatible optical pickup unit. The benefit of using a blue-violet laser

(405nm) is that it has a shorter wavelength than a red laser (650nm), which

makes it possible to focus the laser spot with even greater precision. This

allows data to be packed more tightly and stored in less space, so it's

possible to fit more data on the disc even though it's the same size as a

CD/DVD. This together with the change of numerical aperture to 0.85 is

what enables Blu-ray Discs to hold 25GB/50GB. Recent development by

Pioneer has pushed the storage capacity to 500GB on a single disc by using

20 layers. 

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 and

countless smaller studios as a successor to today's DVD format. Many

studios have also announced that they will begin releasing new feature films

on Blu-ray Disc day-and-date with DVD, as well as a continuous slate of

catalog titles every month. For more information about Blu-ray movies,

check out our Blu-ray movies and Blu-ray reviewssection which offers

information about new and upcoming Blu-ray releases, as well as what

movies are currently available in the Blu-ray format. 

Front of an experimental 200GB rewritable Blu-ray Disc.

Blu-ray Disc (BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to

supersede the DVD format, in that it is capable of storing high-

definition video resolution (1080p). The plastic disc is 120 mm in diameter

and 1.2 mm thick, the same size as DVDs and CDs. Conventional (pre-BD-

XL) Blu-ray Discs contain 25 GB per layer, with dual layer discs (50 GB)

being the industry standard for feature-length video discs. Triple layer discs

(100 GB) and quadruple layers (128 GB) are available for BD-XL re-writer

drives. The name Blu-ray Disc refers to the blue laser (specifically, a violet

laser) used to read the disc, which allows information to be stored at a

greater density than is possible with the longer-wavelength red laser used

for DVDs. The main application of Blu-ray Discs is as a medium for video

material such asfeature films and physical distribution of video games for

the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Besides the hardware

specifications, Blu-ray Disc is associated with a set of multimedia formats.

High-definition video may be stored on Blu-ray Discs with up to 1080p

resolution (1920×1080 pixels), at up to 60 (59.94)fields or 24 frames per

second. Older DVD discs had a maximum resolution of 480i, (NTSC,

720×480 pixels) or 576i, (PAL, 720×576 pixels).

The format was developed by the Blu-ray Disc Association, a group

representing makers of consumer electronics, computer hardware, and

motion pictures. Sony unveiled the first Blu-ray Disc prototypes in October

2000, and the first prototype player was released in April 2003 in Japan.

Afterwards, it continued to be developed until its official release in June

2006.

During the high definition optical disc format war, Blu-ray Disc competed

with the HD DVD format. Toshiba, the main company that supported HD

DVD, conceded in February 2008, releasing its own Blu-ray Disc player in

late 2009.

According to Media Research, high-definition software sales in the US were

slower in the first two years than DVD software sales. Blu-ray faces

competition from video on demand.

Future prospects and market trends

According to Media Research, high-definition software sales in the US were

slower in the first two years than DVD software sales. 16.3 million DVD

software units were sold in the first two years (1997–98) compared to 8.3

million high-definition software units (2006–07). One reason given for this

difference was the smaller marketplace (26.5 million HDTVs in 2007

compared to 100 million SDTVs in 1998). Former HD DVD

supporter Microsoft has stated that they are not planning to make a Blu-ray

Disc drive for the Xbox 360. The 360's successor Xbox One features a Blu-

ray drive, as does the PS4, with both supporting 3D Blu-ray after later

firmware updates.

Shortly after the "format war" ended, Blu-ray disc sales began to increase. A

study by The NPD Group found that awareness of Blu-ray Disc had reached

60% of U.S. households. Nielsen VideoScan sales numbers showed that for

some titles, such as 20th Century Fox's Hitman, up to 14% of total disc sales

were from Blu-ray, although the average Blu-ray sales for the first half of

the year were only around 5%. In December 2008, the Blu-ray Disc version

of The Dark Knight sold 600,000 copies on the first day of its launch in the

United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. A week after the

launch, The Dark Knight BD had sold over 1.7 million copies worldwide,

making it the first Blu-ray Disc title to sell over a million copies in the first

week of release.

Blu-ray Disc sales in United States and

Canada

Year Cumulative sales (millions)

2006 1.2

2007 19.2

2008 82.9

2009 177.2

2010 350

According to Singulus Technologies AG, Blu-ray is being adopted faster

than the DVD format was at a similar period in its development. This

conclusion was based on the fact that Singulus Technologies has received

orders for 21 Blu-ray dual-layer machines during the first quarter of 2008,

while 17 DVD machines of this type were made in the same period in 1997.

[59]According to GfK Retail and Technology, in the first week of November

2008, sales of Blu-ray recorders surpassed DVD recorders in Japan.

[60] According to the Digital Entertainment Group, the total number of Blu-

ray Disc playback devices (both set-top box and game console) sold in the

U.S. had reached 28.5 million by the end of 2010.[58]

Blu-ray faces competition from video on demand [61]  and from new

technologies that allow access to movies on any format or device, such

as DigitalEntertainment Content Ecosystem or Disney's Keychest.[62] Some

commentators have suggested that renting Blu-ray will play a vital part in

keeping the technology affordable while allowing it to move forward.[63] In

an effort to increase sales, studios are releasing movies in combo packs with

Blu-ray Discs and DVDs as well as digital copies that can be played on

computers and iPods. Some are released on "flipper" discs with Blu-ray on

one side and DVD on the other. Other strategies are to release movies with

the special features only on Blu-ray Discs and none on DVDs.