Blu-ray Disc: Successor to DVD
What is a blu-ray or BD disc?
Blu-ray Disc (BD) is a next-generation optical disc that is considered the successor to DVDs in use today. BD is developed by a group of international electronic product manufacturers under the name “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 25GB data. It can be one or two-sided; a double-sided disc can hold 50GB of data. The main use of BD is related to high definition movies, but it is equally useful for data storage. BD is very similar to a traditional DVD disc in appearance.
Difference of DVD and CD
BD is absolutely the same size. Therefore, a player that plays BD will also play DVDs and CDs. The main difference is the use of blue-ray lasers instead of red-ray lasers, as in DVDs and CDs. Now a question may arise “what is the benefit of using blue ray lasers?” The benefit of using a blue laser is its shorter wavelength, which is 405nm than a red laser that has a wavelength of 650nm. So it provides higher precision than red laser, the higher the precision, the smaller each storage sector on the disk. This helps BD to store more data in the same size.
Industry support
According to BDA, the association conducting the research, 170 media companies, film and game producers, and computer peripheral manufacturers are currently supporting this new technology. Many electronics careers have already advertised their BD players and others will soon announce their players. Currently, the price is between $ 1000 and $ 1800; this price will soon drop.
BD Applications
Data storage: With a storage capacity of 50GB, mass storage is without a doubt a fascinating property of BDs.
High Definition TV and Video: With audiences around the world switching to HDTV (High Definition TV), recording and video will be much easier with BDs.
High Definition Camcorder Archive – Home videos will soon be able to record high definition video with the use of BD.
Archiving: Mass storage of data, music and pictures will not be a problem with 50 GB of disk space.
BD Features
Except for some features like DVD and CD backward compatibility, 50GB of storage, and use of blue laser, there are many unique features that are included in BD.
1. Strong copyright protection mechanism: Unlike CDs and DVDs, the industry is trying to make BDs piracy-free. For this, a mandatory copy protection mechanism is employed.
2. Long live: the industry wants to maintain the relevance of the BD format for at least 10 to 15 years. They will try to put all the modifications before making it popular.
3. Cost: BDA states that the cost of writing and the cost of the disc will be very close to that of DVDs, despite the fact of greater storage. Therefore, the result cost per GB will be very low.
4. Anti-Scratch: The hard-coated BD requires no cartridges and is resistant to scratches and fingerprints.
conclusion
With a lot of support from the industry, Blu-ray Disc will soon become popular due to the large number of functions it has. BDs for computers are in development, while BDs for videos have already entered the market. I welcome this new technology and wish it a great future.