Bluray?
 

I was at the video / dvd rental store last night. I saw "Bluray". Is this a new dvd format?

Blu-ray, also known as Blu-ray Disc (BD), is the name of a next-generation optical disc format jointly developed by the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA), a group of the world's leading consumer electronics, personal computer and media manufacturers (including Apple, Dell, Hitachi, HP, JVC, LG, Mitsubishi, Panasonic, Pioneer, Philips, Samsung, Sharp, Sony, TDK and Thomson). The format was developed to enable recording, rewriting and playback of high-definition video (HD), as well as storing large amounts of data. The format offers more than five times the storage capacity of traditional DVDs and can hold up to 25GB on a single-layer disc and 50GB on a dual-layer disc. This extra capacity combined with the use of advanced video and audio codecs will offer consumers an unprecedented HD experience.

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.

Blu-ray is currently supported by more than 170 of the world's leading consumer electronics, personal computer, recording media, video game and music companies. The format also has broad support from the major movie studios as a successor to today's DVD format. Seven of the eight major movie studios have already announced titles for Blu-ray, including Warner, Paramount, Fox, Disney, Sony, MGM and Lionsgate. The initial line-up is expected to consist of over 100 titles and include recent hits as well as classics such as Batman Begins, Desperado, Fantastic Four, Fifth Element, Hero, Ice Age, Kill Bill, Lethal Weapon, Mission Impossible, Ocean's Twelve, Pirates of the Caribbean, Reservoir Dogs, Robocop, and The Matrix. 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.

in other words, you can cram way much more stuff on the same size disk

Will my current DVD player be able to read a Bluray dvd?

No, but the Bluray and HD-DVD players will be backward compatable to the current DVDs.

what you gotta see is the new menuing system with BD...

i have been tracking this since they showed a prototype in CES close to 3 years ago...

this year, i actually got to play with a couple players...

very cool...

only downside is, i gotta buy a new TV... :(

Wow, where have I been?
http://www.courthouseawarenessnews.c...0in%20sand.jpg

Do NOT be a first adopter with this one!!!!

There is a second format HD-DVD that's competing with Blue-Ray. Only one of them is likely to win because the market will not stand having two formats. VHS vs. Betamax anyone?

Oh, Sony = Blue-Ray & Sony = Betamax

I bet Sony will screw this one up too. They already screwed up the PS3, minidisk, blah, blah, blah

Proprietary formats = bad.

Sweet, met my three equal sign goal I was going for!

i forgot, the new up and coming sony playstation 3 will come with a BD player...

so for around $500, you get a new kick ass gaming system AND a new format player as well...

personally, i'm looking forward for PS9... ;)

there was recent talk of PS3 not including a BD player as they didnt want to be caught nothing being able to play the standard that got accepted. which is why xbox360 doesnt include a HD-dvd player. MS supposedly says they will support a HD format via an external disk player but some critics question that based on the inablity of the hardware to read it meaning they would also have to roll out a firmware upgrade also.

at anyrate, yes blue disk is one of the 2 formats set to come out, but there also need to mention the HD-dvd format also set to come out as a competeing format.

he who is willing to sell the media the cheepest wins.

sorry... got my $$$ ready to get the first PS3...

i've seen it. it works. screw HD-DVD... lol...

really, movie companies have lined themselves up to which camp they wanna fall into.

right now the BD camp is bigger than the HD DVD camp. and since sony owns a few movie companies...

this wont be a VHS vs BETA again.

sony is THROWING tons of it weight behind the BD market. they already are shipping PRO CAMERA gear that uses BD (google HD CAM) gear to read AND write.

i saw a dell and compaq with BD drives. i think a no-name maker had a section of the BD booth at the CES 2006, with a RW drive... NERO has BD support.




btw, i'm also getting an HD DVD player too... i just have to upgrade my HDTV to ones that have HDMI... :eek:

Sony will win this one for sure. It's got the backing of most Studios and most consumer product companies. HD DVD is also very limiting compared to Blu-ray from a capacity standpoint.

I work at Disney and we're already challenged w/ the capacity on Blu-ray at 50 gigs a disk. These new discs will be amazing from what you can do vs. today's DVD players.

No offense, but I really hope they both flop. I'm not a ludite by any stretch of the imagination, but throwing two formats that aren't compatable in any way into the marketplace is just plain bad for the consumer. That and all the flags that are on the formats that can be turned on to limit consumer freedoms (like punishing HDTV early adoptors by downsampling analog HD). Look up the "Image Constraint Token" to see what I'm talking about. Both camps claim they won't use it, but I don't see why it's in there if not.

I totally get it but what people don't understand is that Toshiba has a lot to lose if Blu-ray takes off. The reason being that they get a royalty for every DVD and DVD player sold based on its patent. HD-DVD is an "extension" of this as it uses the same technology as old DVDs. Blu-ray is new world technology that will allow massive amounts of data per disk. Next stage IIRC will be over 100 gigs per disk. We won't even need harddrives w/ this much space available.

The kicker is "will the consumer upgrade?" We are betting they will due to the upgrade of many TV's to HD and analog stations giving up their signals for HD broadcast. I can tell you as someone that just got on the HD bandwagon that I'd rather watch a so-so show on HD than a show I really like on analog. I know it sounds weird but the quality of HD is just phenomenal, especially live sports. You can literally see the beads of sweat on the faces of the basketball players during the game. If PS3 comes out w/ Blu-ray technology, it will take off...