01-25-2006, 12:29 AM
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 | Administrator | | Join Date: Oct 2005
Posts: 128
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| Get ready for Blu-ray Discs
Blu-ray Disc (BD) is a next-generation optical disc format meant for storage of high-definition video and high-density data. The Blu-ray standard was jointly developed by a group of consumer electronics and PC companies called the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA). As compared to the HD DVD format, its main competitor, Blu-ray has more information capacity per layer, 25 instead of 15 gigabytes, but may initially be more expensive to produce.
Blu-ray gets its name from the shorter wavelength (405 nm) of a "blue" (technically blue-violet) laser that allows it to store substantially more data than a DVD, which has the same physical dimensions but uses a longer wavelength (650 nm) red laser.
Blu-ray unveiled their plans for a Spring 2006 launch at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in January 2006.
Variations and sizes
 
Blu-ray discs with and without cartridge
A single-layer Blu-ray disc (BD) can fit 23.3, 25, or 27 GB; this is enough for approximately four hours of high-definition video with audio. A dual-layer BD can fit 46.6, 50, or 54 GB, enough for approximately eight hours of HD video. Capacities of 100 GB and 200 GB, using four and eight layers respectively, are currently being researched; TDK has already announced a prototype four-layer 100 GB disc.
The BD-RE (rewritable) standard is available, along with the BD-R (recordable) and BD-ROM formats, which became available in mid-2004, as part of version 2.0 of the Blu-ray specifications. BD-ROM pre-recorded media are to be available by early 2006.
Also, in addition to 12 cm discs, an 8 cm variation for use with camcorders is planned that will have a capacity of 15 GB
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