What is a blu-ray disc or BD?
Blu-ray Disc (BD) is next-generation optical disc which is considered as the successor of currently used DVDs. BD is developed by a group of international electronics manufacturers under the name of "Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA)". BDA includes - Apple, Dell, Hitachi, HP, JVC, LG, Mitsubishi, Panasonic, Pioneer, Philips, Samsung, Sharp, Sony, TDK and Thomson and many more.
A BD has a whopping five times the storage capacity of a DVD. So it can hold a data of 25GB. It can be single sided or double sided; a double sided disc can contain 50GB of data. BDs primary use is related to hi-definition movies but it is equally useful for data storage. BD is very similar to a traditional DVD disc in look and feel.
Difference from DVDs and CDs
BDรขโ�ฌโ�ขs absolutely of same size. So a player which plays BDs will also play DVDs and CDs. The main difference is use of blue ray laser instead of red ray laser, as in DVDs and CDs. Now a question can arise "what is the benefit of using blue ray laser?" The benefit of using blue laser is its shorter wavelength which is 405nm than a red laser having wavelength of 650nm. So it provides a greater precision than red laser, the higher the precision the smaller will be each storage sector on the disc. This helps BD to store more data in same size.
Industry Support
According to BDA, the association holding the research, 170 media companies, movie and game production houses and computer peripheral manufactures are currently supporting this new technology. Many electronic majors already announced their BD players and other are soon going to announce their players. Currently the price tag is put at $1000 to $1800; this price tag will soon come down.
Applications of BD
Data Storage รขโ�ฌโ�� With a storage capacity of 50GB, mass storage is certainly a fascinating property of BDs. High Definition TV and Video รขโ�ฌโ�� With audience through out world are switching on HDTV (High Definition TV), recording and video will be much easier using BDs. High Definition Camcorder Archiving รขโ�ฌโ�� Home videos will soon be able to record High Definition video with use of BDs. Archiving รขโ�ฌโ�� Mass storage of data, music and images will be no problem with 50 GB space on one disc.
Features of BD
Except some features like backward compatibility with DVDs and CDs, 50 GB storage and use of blue laser, there are many unique features which are included in BD.
1. Strong copyright protection mechanism รขโ�ฌโ�� Unlike CDs and DVDs, industry is trying to make BDs piracy free. For this a mandatory copy protection mechanism is employed.
2. Long life รขโ�ฌโ�� the industry is keen to keep BD format relevant for at least 10 to 15 years. They will try to put all the modifications before making it popular.
3. Cost รขโ�ฌโ�� BDA is claiming the cost of writing and cost of disc will be very close to DVDs, in spite the fact of higher storage. So, the outcome cost per GB will be very low.
4. Anti scratch รขโ�ฌโ�� hard coated BD needs no cartridge and it is robust against scratches and fingerprints.
Conclusion
With a great industry support, Blu-ray Disc will soon become popular due to lots of features it has. BDs for computers are under development while BDs for videos already entered the market. I welcome this new technology and wish it a great future.
Manu Dutt Tripathi is a computer professional from India. http://manudutt.wikispaces.com
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