Technology and Software

In our previous issue we looked at HD DVD’s. In this issue however we would be looking at Blu-ray. Not many people have heard of this technology much more used it before. Blu-ray also known as Blu-ray Disc (BD) and I bet has got some of you asking what it is. Hmm, Blu-ray disc is like the new kid on the block. A new standard in data and high-definition video storage.

Why Blu-ray is better?

Well for one Blu-ray’s storage capacity is 5times that of traditional DVD’s and can hold up to 25GB on a single-layer disc and 50GB on a dual-layer disc. That is not all; Blu-ray is designed to be extensible which means that in the future more layers can be added to increase its storage capacity to 100GB-200GB (25GB per layer). Yes as much as 200GB is possible with Blu-ray just on one disc. Now imagine this, unlike traditional DVD’s with a 50GB Blu-ray, Up to 9hours of High- Definition (HD) Video and 23hours of Standard Definition (SD), can be stored on just one disc.

Also with Blu-ray, data and video storage is much better, looking at the fact the Blue-Violet laser which is what is used to read and write data is much more precise. Traditional DVD’s use near infra-red laser’s which has a wavelength of about 650nm compared with the much shorter wavelength of Blu-ray which is 405nm.
OK now that I have your interest peaked up; let’s take a critical look at Blu-ray.

Why the name Blu ray?

The name Blu-ray is derived from the technology itself, that is how it makes use of blue- violet laser to read and write data. According to the Blu-ray Disc Association the spelling of "Blu-ray" is not a mistake; the character "e" was intentionally left out so the term could be registered as a trademark.

A critical Look at Blu-ray

Blu-ray is soon to become an industry standard. With the battle between it and HD DVD now over Blu-ray is now the official Disc standard on the market. Yes there was a format war between Blu-ray and HD DVD manufactured by Toshiba, but more of that in the next issue. Blu–ray was developed by the Blu-ray Disc Association made up of the following; Apple Computer, Inc. , Dell Inc., Hewlett Packard Company, Hitachi, Ltd. ,LG , Electronics Inc., Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. , Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, Pioneer Corporation, Royal Philips Electronics, Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., Sharp Corporation ,Sony Corporation, Sun Microsystems, Inc., TDK Corporation, Thomson Multimedia , Twen

High-Definition DVD (HD DVD) is basically a DVD with much more features. The quality of the audio and video is much more advanced and richer than a traditional DVD. It is a high density optical disc designed primarily by Toshiba and NEC to be the successor to the DVD format. It was designed to store High-Definition video and data. HD DVD is simply great and is no surprise that Hollywood loves HD DVD so much. The following would explain why;

1. “ Explosions more explosion-y ,Fireballs richer, more detailed ,Squiggly hot-air effect even squigglier ,Sound of burning robots cracklier” Eric Allard, Special Effects Technician Mission: Impossible III, The Matrix Reloaded

2. “Turner cars land with extra crunchiness, Each water droplet crisper, clearer, fights
Kung-ier, Fu-ier, Custom paint way more pearlescent” Mick Rodgers, Stunt Coordinator, The Fast and the Furious

So what makes HD DVD so great that it would have Hollywood talking about it? Let’s now take a look at the features of HD DVD.

Features of the HD DVD
HD-DVD uses a blue-violet laser with a wavelength of 405nm instead of the red lasers used by DVD with a wavelength of 650nm.What this means is that it can store more data than traditional DVD’s. Why the change in laser color is important here is that with the blue-violet laser that has a shorter wavelength more data can be stored on a small area since the HD DVD pits are smaller and arranged closely together.

Drive Specification

HD DVD is released in single and dual layer, with the physical size being 8cm and 12cm.

PHYSICAL SIZE SINGLE LAYER CAPACITY DUAL CAPACITY
12 cm single sided 15 GB 30 GB
12 cm double sided 30 GB 60 GB
8 cm single sided 4.7 GB 9.4 GB
8 cm double sided 9.4 GB 18.8 GB

General Facts
1. Video codecs-HD DVD supports MPEG-2,MPEG-4 and VC-1
2. Audio codecs- Linear PCM, Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD,
DTS Digital Surround, DTS-HD
3. Stores up to 4 hours for High-Definition video on 15GB
4. Also stores up to 8hours of High Definition on 50GB

HD DVD Players
HD-DVD players hit the market on April 18, 2006, two months before the first Blu-ray player hit the U.S. market in June 2006.

If you are thinking of buying HD DVD player and worried about compatibility problems well don’t be. Most of the HD DVD players are backward compatible with DVD’s which means that they can play both DVD and HD DVD’s.

HD DVD is a great technology however it has not come to stay since its success has been shortly lived. A much more potent competitor, Blu-ray has taken over and is now the official standard of optical disk on the market and is going to take over the market from DVD’s.

We would take a critical look at this new technology that has now kicked HD DVD off the market in our next issue.