Blu-ray Technology

Blu-ray (not Blue-ray) also known as Blu-ray Disc (BD), is the name of a new optical disc developed by the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA) The format was developed to enable recording, rewriting and playback of high-definition video (HD), as well as storing large amounts of data. It 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 unmatched HD experience.

While current optical disc technologies such as DVD, DVD±R, DVD±RW 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 types of lasers used, Blu-ray products can easily be made compatible with CDs and DVDs . 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 the next-generation digital video disc. It can record, store and play back high-definition video and digital audio, as well as computer data. The advantage to Blu-ray is the sheer amount of information it can hold:

• A single-layer Blu-ray disc, which is roughly the same size as a DVD, can hold up to 27 GB of data -- that's more than two hours of high-definition video or about 13 hours of standard video.
• A double-layer Blu-ray disc can store up to 50 GB, enough to hold about 4.5 hours of high-definition video or more than 20 hours of standard video. And there are even plans in the works to develop a disc with twice that amount of storage.

Movies in Blu-Ray format will have crystal clear, life-like High Definition picture and superb digital sound. This unprecedented high quality combined with a 1080p High-Definition TV will be like nothing you have ever seen before.