Blu-ray Vs HD DVD

HD DVD had a head start in the high definition video market and Blu-ray sales were slow at first. The first Blu-ray player was perceived as expensive and buggy, and there were few titles available. This changed when PlayStation 3 launched, since every PS3 unit also functioned as a Blu-ray player. By January 2007, Blu-ray discs had outsold HD DVDs, and during the first three quarters of 2007, BD discs outsold HD DVDs by about two to one.

The name Blu-ray Disc is derived from the blue-violet laser used to read and write this type of disc. Because of its shorter wavelength (405 nm), substantially more data can be stored on a Blu-ray Disc than on the DVD format, which uses a red (650 nm) laser. A single-layer Blu-ray Disc can store 25 gigabytes (GB), over five times the size of a single layer DVD at 4.7 GB. A dual-layer Blu-ray Disc can store 50 GB, almost six times the size of a dual layer DVD at 8.5 GB.

Blu-ray was developed by the Blu-ray Disc Association, a group of leading companies representing consumer electronics, computer hardware, and motion picture production. The standard is covered by several patents belonging to different companies. As of March 2007, a joint licensing agreement for all the relevant patents had not yet been finalized.

As of November 25, 2007, 415 titles had been released on Blu-ray Disc in the United States (32 of those titles have since been discontinued). As of October 9, 2007, 179 titles had been released in Japan, with 55 titles planned for release.

The Blu-ray standard is currently in a format war with its rival HD DVD, to determine which (if either) of the two formats will become the leading carrier for high-definition content to consumers.

Blue-Ray In The News

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Off the Record: Shopping trip becomes trip to the 'Twilight Zone': On special this particular day were: faux leather recliners, flat-screen tvs, Beringer Merlot, Blue Ray movies, pepperoni pizzas and more! ...
Netflix PS3 streaming arrives tomorrow: With Sony you get a gaming console, integrated wifi, bluetooth for the use of any brand bluetooth kb/mouse or headset, hard drive, blueray, web browser, ...

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Laser and optics

Like its rival format HD DVD, Blu-ray uses a "blue" (technically violet) laser operating at a wavelength of 405 nm to read and write data. Conventional DVDs and CDs use red and near infrared lasers at 650 nm and 780 nm respectively.

The blue-violet laser's shorter wavelength makes it possible to store more information on a 12 cm CD/DVD sized disc. The minimum "spot size" on which a laser can be focused is limited by diffraction, and depends on the wavelength of the light and the numerical aperture of the lens used to focus it. By decreasing the wavelength, increasing the numerical aperture from 0.60 to 0.85 and making the cover layer thinner to avoid unwanted optical effects, the laser beam can be focused to a smaller spot. This allows more information to be stored in the same area. In addition to the optical improvements, Blu-ray Discs feature improvements in data encoding that further increase the capacity.

HD DVD

HD DVD or High-Definition DVD is a high-density optical disc format designed for the storage of data and high-definition video.

HD DVD was designed to be the successor to the standard DVD format and is derived from the same underlying technologies. Since all variants except the 3x DVD employ a blue laser with a shorter wavelength, it can store about 3 1/2 times as much data per layer as its predecessor (maximum capacity: 17 GB per layer instead of 4.7 GB per layer). A 51 GB triple-layer spec has been approved, however no movies are currently scheduled for this disc type.

HD DVD is currently in a "format war" with rival format Blu-ray Disc, to determine which of the two formats will become the leading carrier for high-definition content to consumers.

As of November 27, 2007, 344 HD DVD titles have been released in the USA. As of September 15, 2007, 133 HD DVD titles have been released in Japan, with 21 titles pending to be released.

On March 31, 2006, Toshiba released their first HD DVD player in Japan at ¥110,000 (US$934). That was the first HD player available to consumers, beating Blu-ray to the market by about three months. HD DVD was released in United States on April 18, 2006, with players priced at $499 and $799.

The first HD DVD titles were released on April 18, 2006. They were The Last Samurai, Million Dollar Baby, and The Phantom of the Opera by Warner Home Video and Serenity by Universal Studios. The first independent HD film released on HD DVD was One Six Right.

Backward Compatibility

While it is not compulsory for manufacturers; the Blu-ray Disc Association recommends that Blu-ray Disc drives should be capable of reading standard DVDs for backward compatibility. For instance, Samsung's first Blu-ray Disc drive can read CDs, regular DVDs, and Blu-ray Discs. All other Blu-ray Disc players released are also capable of DVD playback, though not all support CD playback. This includes Sony, Panasonic, Philips, LG, Pioneer and PC-based players from Alienware, Sony, and Dell.

List of Blu-ray Disc devices!

Videos about Blu-ray Vs. HD DVD

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curated content from YouTube

Blu-ray Vs HD DVD

Table of Contents

Blue-Ray In The News

Laser and optics

HD DVD

Backward Compatibility

Videos about Blu-ray Vs. HD DVD

Blue-Ray Discs And Players

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High Defination Discs And Players

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Shoping

Blue-Ray on eBay

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