1ST Generation
The Compact Disc (CD for short) is been
here for over 20 years now. With the help of a 780 nanometer (red) laser the
data on the single layer gets read. The first CD’s were meant for audio, and
later on the CD-ROM came into place giving us 650/700 Megs of space per disc.
2ND Generation
The development of DVD (Digital Versatile Disc) introduced an
enormous upgrade of capacity, giving enough room (4,7 Gigabytes) for high
quality sound and multimedia on a single disc. The throughput is much higher
and a 650 nanometer laser is used. Now there are also 2 layers for even more
capacity. This gives plenty of room to put an entire movie on a single DVD
3RD eneration
Blu-ray owes its name from the colourn of the 405 nanometers used
laser (Blu/Violet) to read and write data on the Blu-ray Disc (BD). Blu-ray can contain 27GB, which can be at
36MB/s on single speed. Blue lasers are not new. The first blue laser diode was
developed in 1996 by Shuji Nakamura, researcher at Nichia Corp., Japan.
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). The format is also likely to become a standard for PC data storage and
high-definition movies in the future.
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" and optical ray
"Ray". According to the Blu-ray Disc Association, the spelling of
"Blu-ray" is not a mistake. The character "e" is
intentionally left out because a daily-used term can't be registered as a
trademark.
Who
developed Blu-ray?
The Blu-ray Disc format was developed
by the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA), a group of leading consumer electronics
and PC companies with more than 100 members from all over the world. The Board
of Directors currently consists of:
Dell Inc.
Hewlett Packard
Company
Hitachi, Ltd.
LG Electronics
Inc.
Matsushita
Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
Mitsubishi
Electric Corporation
Pioneer
Corporation
Royal Philips
Electronics
Samsung
Electronics Co., Ltd.
Sharp
Corporation
Sony
Corporation
TDK Corporation
Thomson
Multimedia
Twentieth
Century Fox
Walt Disney
Pictures
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 software, games and movie distribution.
BD-R -
recordable format for HDTV recording and PC data storage.
BD-RE -
rewritable format for HDTV recording and PC data storage.
How much
data can you fit on a Blu-ray Disc?
A single-layer
disc can fit 23.3GB, 25GB or 27GB.
A dual-layer
disc can fit 46.6GB, 50GB or 54GB.
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 much
video can you record on a Blu-ray Disc?
Over 2 hours of
high-definition television (HDTV) on a 25GB disc.
About 13 hours
of standard-definition television (SDTV) on a 25GB disc.
How fast can
you record a Blu-ray Disc?
According to the Blu-ray Disc v1.0 specification, 1x speed will
require a 36Mbps data transfer rate, which means it will take about 1 hour and
33 minutes to record 25GB. The Blu-ray Disc Association are currently working
on the v2.0 specification, which will support 2x speed to cut the time it takes
to copy content from one disc to another in half. In the future, the data
transfer rate is expected to be raised to 8x or more.
What video
codecs will Blu-ray support?
The Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA) is still in the process of
finalizing the BD-ROM specification, but they have stated that MPEG-4 AVC High
Profile (previously called FRExt) and Microsoft's VC-1 video codec (the
proposed SMPTE standard based on WMV9) will be mandatory. They will also
include MPEG-2 support for playback of HDTV recordings and DVDs. Please note
that this simply means that all Blu-ray players and recorders will have to
support playback of these video codecs, it will still be up to the movie
studios to decide which video codec(s) they use for their releases. The BDA
expects the BD-ROM specification to be finished some time in the beginning of
2005.
What audio codecs will Blu-ray support?
The Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA) still hasn't made a final
decision about what audio codecs will be included in the BD-ROM specification,
but according to the BDF technical spokesman Richard Doherty, the included
audio codecs should offer a significant improvement over the audio formats
supported by the current DVD spec. They are currently looking into advanced audio
codecs, including lossless codecs.
Will Blu-ray
Discs require a cartridge?
No, the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA) and TDK have successfully
developed a new hard-coating technology dubbed "Durabis" that makes
the discs even more resistant to scratches and fingerprints than existing DVDs,
without requiring a cartridge to protect the discs. This development will
enable manufacturers to downsize PC drives and lower their overall media
production costs.
When will I
be able to buy a Blu-ray Disc recorder?
You'll probably have to wait until 2006-2007 for Blu-ray recorders
to become commonly available. The driving force behind the development of
Blu-ray Disc recorders is the need to record HDTV programming and currently the
only country where HDTV is well established is Japan. There's still only a few
different Blu-ray Disc recorders available to consumers in Japan, but as you can see in our
Blu-ray Recorders section, most well-known consumer electronics companies have
their own prototype Blu-ray Disc recorder in development, so we expect to see
more Blu-ray recorders on the Japanese market during 2005.
According to
Sony of America's senior vice president Mike Fidler, products based on the
Blu-ray Disc format are not likely to be available in the United States until late 2005 or
early 2006.
What will a
Blu-ray Disc recorder cost?
As with any new technology, the first generation of Blu-ray Disc
recorders will be very expensive, but the prices have already begun falling.
The Sony BDZ-S77 is currently priced at 222,000 yen ($2,150), while the
Panasonic DMR-E700BD is priced at 189,000 yen ($1,830). The discs required to
record high-definition video are priced at about 2,700 yen ($26) per disc. The
explanation for the high retail prices is that the recorders are targetted for
businesses and enthusiasts rather than regular consumers.
According to the Blu-ray Disc Association, the overall cost of
manufacturing a Blu-ray Disc will in the end be no more expensive than
producing a DVD. The reduced injection molding costs offset the additional cost
of applying the cover layer and hard coat, while the techniques used for
applying the recording layer remain the same. As soon as manufacturers start
mass production of blue-laser components, which is expected to begin in 2005,
the production costs should fall and eventually be within 10% of DVDs.
Will Blu-ray
replace VHS?
Yes, that's the expectation. The Blu-ray Disc recorder represents a
major leap forward in video recording technology as it enables recording of
high-definition television (HDTV). It also offers a lot of new innovative
features not possible with a traditional VCR:
- Random access, instantly jump to any spot on the disc
- Searching, quickly browse and preview recorded programs in real-time
- Create playlists, change the order of recorded programs and edit recorded video
- Automatically find an empty space to avoid recording over programs
- Simultaneous recording and playback of video (enables Time slip/Chasing playback)
- Enhanced interactivity, enables more advanced programs and games
- Broadband enabled, access web content, download subtitles and extras
- Improved picture, ability to record high-definition television (HDTV)
- Improved sound, ability to record surround sound (Dolby Digital, DTS, etc)
No comments:
Post a Comment