By James Dunn

The Beginning of Blu-Ray 1 st Blu-ray Disc recorder by Sony Philips has 1 st consumer product of U.S. Philips PanasonicSony Dell Samsung

The Basics Jointly developed by the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA), founded in 2002 –Which includes: 18 Board of Directors: –ApplePanasonic –DellPioneer –HitachiPhilips –HPSamsung –20 th Century FoxSharp –LGSony –MitsubishiTDK –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. territoriesBermudaCanadaUnited States 2 The Middle East, Western Europe, Central Europe, Egypt, French overseas territories, Greenland, Japan, Lesotho, South Africa and SwazilandMiddle EastWestern EuropeCentral EuropeEgyptFrench overseas territories GreenlandJapanLesothoSouth AfricaSwaziland 3 Southeast Asia, Hong Kong, Macau, South Korea and TaiwanSoutheast AsiaHong KongMacauSouth KoreaTaiwan 4 Australasia, Central America, the Caribbean, Mexico, Oceania, South AmericaAustralasiaCentral AmericaCaribbeanMexicoOceaniaSouth America 5 The rest of Africa, Former Soviet Union, the Indian subcontinent, Mongolia, North KoreaAfricaSoviet UnionIndian subcontinentMongoliaNorth Korea 6Mainland ChinaMainland China 7 Reserved for future use (found in use on protected screener copies of MPAA-related DVDs, and "media-copies" of pre-releases in Asia)protectedscreenerMPAADVDsAsia 8 International venues such as aircraft, cruise ships, etc.aircraftcruise ships

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 AsiaNorth AmericaCentral AmericaSouth AmericaKoreaJapan TaiwanHong KongSouth East Asia B/2 Europe, Greenland, French territories, Middle East, Africa, Australia and New Zealand.EuropeGreenlandFrench territoriesMiddle EastAfricaAustraliaNew Zealand C/3 India, Nepal, Mainland China, Russia, Central and South Asia.IndiaNepalMainland ChinaRussiaCentralSouth 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

IN THE END ITS BLU