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By James Dunn. The Beginning of Blu-Ray. 1 st Blu-ray Disc recorder by Sony 3-3-03 1-4-06 Philips has 1 st consumer product of U.S. Philips Panasonic Sony Dell Samsung. The Basics. Jointly developed by the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA), founded in 2002 Which includes:
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By James Dunn
The Beginning of Blu-Ray • 1st Blu-ray Disc recorder by Sony 3-3-03 • 1-4-06 Philips has 1st consumer product of U.S. Philips Panasonic Sony Dell Samsung
The Basics Jointly developed by the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA), founded in 2002 • Which includes: • 18 Board of Directors: • Apple Panasonic • Dell Pioneer • Hitachi Philips • HP Samsung • 20th Century Fox Sharp • LG Sony • Mitsubishi TDK • Thomson Walt Disney • Warner Bros. Sun Microsystems There are now more than 250 members and supporters of the Association
What is it and what does it do? • It’s the next generation optical disc format • Holds and plays large quantities of high-definition video and audio, as well as photos, data and other digital content. • Uses a violet blue laser to read the disc • The wavelength of the laser is 405nm compared to a DVD’s wavelength which is 650nm (which is red)
Blu-ray vs. DVD capacity • Single-layer DVD: • 4.7 GB of data • Single-layer HD DVD: • 15 GB of data • Single-layer Blu-ray: • 27GB of data
Blu-ray vs. DVD capacity • Double-layer DVD: • 8.5 GB of data • Double-layer HD DVD • 30 GB of data • Double-layer Blu-ray: • 50GB of data
Construction • Same size • DVD data is sandwiched between two polycarbonate layers sometimes causing the laser to split into two separate beams, when split to widely disc is than unable to read. • Another problem with DVDs is disc tilt which is when the disc is not completely flat and not perpendicular to the beam.
Construction • To avoid these beam splits and problems with readability Blu-ray puts the data on the top of the polycarbonate layer. • To avoid problems with tilt the data layer sits closer to the lens with a protected coating to reduces scratches and fingerprints.
Construction • DVD track pitch is .74 microns • Blu-ray track pitch is .32 microns The smaller beam focus more precisely enabling it to read information from pits that are only 0.15 microns vs. 0.4 microns for a DVD
Construction To sum it all up the more data on a disc, the smaller beam, the smaller pits, and the shorter track pitch that’s what makes it possible for the Blu-ray to store 5x the information.
You can really see the difference: • More GB • Smaller pits • Smaller beam • Thinner cover layer • MORE DATA!!
Formats • BD-ROM: • Read only • For pre-recorded • BD-R: • Recordable • For PC storage • BD-RW: • Rewriteable • For PC storage • BD-RE: • Rewriteable • For HDTV recording
DVD Region Codes Region code 0 Informal term meaning "playable in all regions“ 1 Bermuda, Canada, United States and U.S. territories 2 The Middle East, Western Europe, Central Europe, Egypt, French overseas territories, Greenland, Japan, Lesotho, South Africa and Swaziland 3 Southeast Asia, Hong Kong, Macau, South Korea and Taiwan 4 Australasia, Central America, the Caribbean, Mexico, Oceania, South America 5 The rest of Africa, Former Soviet Union, the Indian subcontinent, Mongolia, North Korea 6Mainland China 7 Reserved for future use (found in use on protectedscreener copies of MPAA-related DVDs, and "media-copies" of pre-releases in Asia) 8 International venues such as aircraft, cruise ships, etc.
Blu-ray Region codes • Blu-ray movies have a different region code than that of a DVD: Region code A/1 North America, Central America, South America, Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong and South East Asia B/2 Europe, Greenland, French territories, Middle East, Africa, Australia and New Zealand. C/3 India, Nepal, Mainland China, Russia, Central and South Asia.
DVD’s vs. Blu-ray’s Codes WITH BLU THE WORLD IS LESS DIVIDED
Advantages • A new level of interactivity: • Connect to internet • Instantly download subtitles or other extra features • Record HDTV w/out quality loss • Instantly skip to any spot on the disc • Record one program well watching another • Create playlists • Automatically search for empty space on the disc • Avoiding recording over something already there • Edit programs recorded on the disc
THERE IS ONLY ONE MAIN PROBLEM WITH THE BLU-RAY AND RIGHT NOW THAT IS
Money, money, money!!! • They are not cheap! • BD consumer players • $499-$1500 • BD computer recorders • $699-$1595 • BD Consumer recorders • $2100-$2500 • BD duplication/publishing systems • Starting at $2995 • Movies • $20-40 • Individual disc • BD-R $18-$48 • BD-RE $24-$60