Demo of Blu-Ray Technology
Be sure to click on HD tab, located at bottom of video.
While current optical disc technologies such as DVD, DVD±R,
DVD±RW, and DVD-RAM rely on a red laser to read and write data,
the new format uses a blue-violet laser instead, hence the name
Blu-ray. Despite the different type of lasers used, Blu-ray
products can easily be made backwards compatible with CDs and
DVDs through the use of a BD/DVD/CD compatible optical pickup
unit. The benefit of using a blue-violet laser (405nm) is that
it has a shorter wavelength than a red laser (650nm), which
makes it possible to focus the laser spot with even greater
precision. This allows data to be packed more tightly and stored
in less space, so it's possible to fit more data on the disc
even though it's the same size as a CD/DVD. This together with
the change of numerical aperture to 0.85 is what enables Blu-ray
Discs to hold 25GB/50GB. Recent development by Pioneer has
pushed the storage capacity to 500GB on a single disc by using
20 layers.
Blu-ray is currently supported by about 200 of the world's
leading consumer electronics, personal computer, recording
media, video game and music companies. The format also has
support from all Hollywood studios and countless smaller studios
as a successor to today's DVD format. Many studios have also
announced that they will begin releasing new feature films on
Blu-ray Disc day-and-date with DVD, as well as a continuous
slate of catalog titles every month.
