Blu-ray Disc
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
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| Blu-ray Disc logo | |
| Media type: | High-density optical disc |
|---|---|
| Encoding: | MPEG-2, H.264, and VC-1 |
| Capacity: | 25 GB (single layer), 50 GB (dual layer) |
| Read mechanism: | 1x@36Mb/s & 2x@72Mb/s |
| Developed by: | Blu-ray Disc Association |
| Usage: | Data storage, high-definition video and Playstation 3 Games |
| Optical disc authoring | |
|---|---|
| Optical media types | |
| Standards | |
A Blu-ray Disc (also called BD) is a high-density optical disc format for the storage of digital media, including high-definition video.
Contents |
[edit] Overview
The name Blu-ray Disc is derived from the blue-violet laser used to read and write this type of disc. Because of this 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. Blu-ray Disc can store 25 GB on each layer, as opposed to a DVD's 4.7 GB. Several manufacturers have released single layer and dual layer (50 GB) recordable BDs and rewritable discs.[1]
Blu-ray Disc is similar to PDD, another optical disc format developed by Sony (which has been available since 2004) but offering higher data transfer speeds. PDD was not intended for home video use and was aimed at business data archiving and backup.
Blu-ray Disc is currently in a "format war" with rival format HD DVD.
[edit] Technical Specifications
- About 9 hours of high-definition (HD) video can be stored on a 50 GB disc.
- About 23 hours of standard-definition (SD) video can be stored on a 50 GB disc.
- On average, a single-layer disc can hold a High Definition feature of 135 minutes using MPEG-2, with additional room for 2 hours of bonus material in standard definition quality. A dual layer disc will extend this number up to 3 hours in HD quality and 9 hours of SD bonus material.
| Physical size | Single layer capacity | Dual layer capacity |
|---|---|---|
| 12 cm, single sided | 25 GB (23.3 GiB) | 50 GB (46.6 GiB) |
| 8 cm, single sided | 7.8 GB (7.3 GiB) | 15.6 GB (14.6 GiB) |
[edit] Laser and optics
The Blu-ray Disc system uses a blue-violet laser operating at a wavelength of 405 nm, similar to the one used for HD DVD, to read and write data. Conventional DVDs and CDs use red and infrared lasers at 650 nm and 780 nm respectively.
[edit] Profiles
The BD-ROM specification defines four profiles of Blu-ray players. All video-based profiles are required to have a full implementation of BD-J.
[edit] 1.0
This is the basic profile that all current Blu-ray players (as of March 2007) are based on. Players based on this profile are only required to have 64 KB of application data area storage, which is typically used for bookmarks and other preference storage[2]. Most players have more than the minimum required 64KB.
[edit] 1.1 (mandatory November 2007)
Profile 1.1 adds a secondary video decoder (for PIP), secondary audio (for commentary) and local storage (for storing audio/video and title updates) of 256 MB. Compliance with this profile will be mandatory for player models introduced to the market after October 31, 2007[3], but existing products will be unaffected. No players compliant with this profile have been announced or released.
Some profile 1.0 players may be upgradeable via firmware update to profile 1.1. When software authored with interactive features dependent on Profile 1.1 hardware capabilities are played on profile 1.0 players some features may not be available or may offer limited capability (i.e. director commentary may provide only audio rather than audio and video). Profile 1.0 players will still be able to play the main feature of the disc, however.
[edit] 2.0 (BD-Live)
Profile 2, also known as BD-Live, adds network connectivity to the list of mandatory functions and increases mandatory local storage capability to one GB. No released players have been announced as compatible with this profile. However it has been speculated that the PS3 will be upgradeable to this profile.
[edit] Hard-coating technology
Because the Blu-ray Disc standard places the data recording layer close to the surface of the disc, early discs were susceptible to contamination and scratches and had to be enclosed in plastic caddies for protection. The consortium worried that such an inconvenience would hurt Blu-ray Disc's market adoption.[4] Blu-ray Discs now use a layer of protective material on the surface through which the data is read.
Both Sony and Panasonic replication methods include proprietary hard-coat technologies. Sony's rewritable media are sprayed with a scratch-resistant and antistatic coating.[5]
TDK also announced a way to remedy the problem in January 2004 with the introduction of a clear polymer coating that gives Blu-ray Discs substantial scratch resistance. The coating was developed by TDK and is called "Durabis". It allows BDs to be cleaned safely with only a tissue. The coating is said to successfully resist "wire wool scrubbing" according to Samsung Optical technical manager Chas Kalsi. It is not clear, however, whether discs will use the Durabis coating as standard or only in premium discs.
Since the claims of Chas Kalsi, several videos have appeared on YouTube of people testing these claims, usually on copies of Talladega Nights included as freebies with some PS3 units. The results seem to support Kalsi entirely with the disc undergoing extensive steel wool scrubbing and vicious attacks with pens and pizza cutters and still achieving normal playback on the PS3 console.
Verbatim announced in July 2006 that their Blu-ray Disc recordable and rewritable discs would incorporate their hard-coat ScratchGuard technology which protects against scratches, abrasion, fingerprints, and traces of grease.[6][7]
Nonetheless, if a scratch does occur, the disc is rendered useless and there is no current way of removing the scratch without causing further irreparable damage. Abrasion cleaners used in video game stores to clean DVD game discs and movies (by removing plastic and thus the scratch) will not work. This is because the data layer is so close to the surface that even if the abrasion cleaner was able to remove the scratch, it would also remove the data layer destroying the disk.
[edit] Ongoing development
Although the Blu-ray Disc specification has been finalized, engineers continue working to advance the technology. Quad-layer (100 GB) discs have been demonstrated on a drive with modified optics. Furthermore TDK announced in August 2006 that they have created a working experimental Blu-ray Disc capable of holding 200 GB of data on a single side, using six 33 GB data layers.[8] Such discs would almost certainly not work on some of today's Blu-ray Disc players, as these devices are only designed and tested on discs that meet the current specification.
[edit] Paper based Blu-ray Disc
On April 15, 2004, Sony Corporation and Toppan Printing, a large Japanese printing company, announced the development of the first paper-based Blu-ray Disc.[9] Compared to normal Blu-ray discs it contained 51% paper, could store 25GB of data, and was developed with environmental concerns in mind as it used less raw material per unit of information during manufacture. Sony and Toppan said they would continue to develop the product for practical use.
[edit] BD-9
BD-9 is a red laser DVD with BD contents on. This disc should be rotated at 3X speed or more to satisfy the minimum transfer rate of 30.24Mbit/sec.
[edit] Software standards
[edit] Codecs
Codecs are compression schemes that reduce data storage requirements; both lossy and lossless compression techniques have been developed and are being used. Depending on the application, either can be used to greatly increase the amount of audio or video storable on fixed bit-capacity media.
The BD-ROM specification mandates certain codec compatibilities for both hardware decoders (players) and the movie-software (content). For video, ISO MPEG-2, H.264/AVC, and SMPTE VC-1 are player-mandatory. (This means all BD-ROM players must be capable of decoding all three video codecs.) MPEG-2 video allows decoder backward compatibility for DVDs. H.264, sometimes called MPEG-4 part 10, is a more recent video codec. VC-1 is a competing MPEG-4 derivative codec proposed by Microsoft (based on Microsoft's previous work in Windows Media 9). BD-ROM titles with video must store video using one of the three mandatory codecs (multiple codecs on a single title are allowed).
The initial version of Sony's Blu-ray Disc-authoring software shipped with support for only 1 video-codec: MPEG-2[citation needed]. Consequently, all launch titles were encoded in MPEG-2 video[citation needed]. A subsequent update allowed the content producers to author titles in any of the 3 supported codecs: MPEG-2, VC-1, or H.264[citation needed]. The choice of codecs affects the producer's licensing/royalty costs, as well as the title's maximum runtime (due to differences in compression efficiency)[citation needed]. Discs encoded in MPEG-2 video typically limit content producers to around two hours of high-definition content on a single-layer (25 GB) BD-ROM. The more advanced video codecs (VC-1 and H.264) typically achieve a video runtime twice that of MPEG-2, with comparable quality.
For audio, BD-ROM players are required to support Dolby Digital AC-3, DTS, and linear PCM (up to 7.1 channels). Dolby Digital Plus, and lossless formats Dolby TrueHD and DTS HD are player optional. BD-ROM titles must use one of mandatory schemes for the primary soundtrack (linear PCM 5.1, Dolby Digital 5.1 or DTS 5.1.). A secondary audiotrack, if present, may use any of the mandatory or optional codecs.[10] For uncompressed PCM and lossless audio in Dolby TrueHD or DTS-HD Master Audio formats, Blu-ray Discs support encoding in up to 24-bit/192 kHz for a maximum of six channels, or up to eight channels with at most 24-bit/96 kHz sampling.[11]
For users recording digital television programming, the recordable Blu-ray Disc standard's datarate of 54 Mbit/s is more than adequate to record high-definition broadcasts from any source (IPTV, cable/satellite, or terrestrial.) For Blu-ray Disc movies the maximum transfer rate is 48 Mbit/s (1.5x) (both audio and video payloads together), of which a maximum of 40 Mbit/s can be dedicated to video data. This compares favorably to the maximum of 36.55 Mbit/s in HD DVD movies for audio and video data.[12]
[edit] Java software support
At the 2005 JavaOne trade show, it was announced that Sun Microsystems' Java cross-platform software environment would be included in all Blu-ray Disc players as a mandatory part of the standard. Java will be used to implement interactive menus on Blu-ray Discs, as opposed to the method used on DVD video discs, which uses pre-rendered MPEG segments and selectable subtitle pictures, which is considerably more primitive and less seamless. Java creator James Gosling, at the conference, suggested that the inclusion of a Java Virtual Machine as well as network connectivity in BD devices will allow updates to Blu-ray Discs via the Internet, adding content such as additional subtitle languages and promotional features that are not included on the disc at pressing time. This Java Version will be called BD-J and will be a subset of the Globally Executable MHP (GEM) standard. GEM is the world-wide version of the Multimedia Home Platform standard.
[edit] Region codes
The Blu-ray movie region codes are different from the DVD region codes.[13] The following are the region codes for Blu-ray discs:[14]
| Region code | Area |
|---|---|
| A/1 | North America, Central America, South America, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia. |
| B/2 | Europe, Greenland, French territories, Middle East, Africa, Australia and New Zealand. |
| C/3 | India, Nepal, Mainland China, Russia, Central and South Asia. |
[edit] Digital Rights Management
Blu-ray Disc has an experimental digital rights management (DRM) feature called BD+ which allows for dynamically changing keys for the cryptographic protections involved. Should the keys currently in use be "cracked" or leaked, manufacturers can update them and build them into all subsequent discs, preventing a single key discovery from permanently breaking the entire scheme. Blu-ray Disc also mandates a Mandatory Managed Copy system, which allows users to copy content a limited number of times, but requiring registration with the content provider to acquire the keys needed; this feature was originally requested by HP.[16]
The lack of a dynamic encryption model is what made standard DVD's Content Scramble System a disaster from the industry's perspective: once CSS was cracked, all standard DVDs from then on were open to unauthorized decryption. However this controversial technology, together with Self-Protecting Digital Content (SPDC), can allow players judged "bad" to be effectively disabled,[17] preventing their use by their purchaser or subsequent owners.[18] See Advanced Access Content System (AACS).
The Blu-ray Disc Association also agreed to add a form of digital watermarking technology to the discs. Under the name "ROM-Mark", this technology will be built into all ROM-producing devices, and requires a specially licensed piece of hardware to insert the ROM-mark into the media during replication. All Blu-ray Disc playback devices must check for the mark. Through licensing of the special hardware element, the BDA believes that it can eliminate the possibility of mass producing BD-ROMs without authorization.
In addition, Blu-ray Disc players must follow AACS guidelines pertaining to outputs over non-encrypted interfaces. This is set by a flag called the Image Constraint Token (ICT), which would restrict the output-resolution without HDCP to 960×540. The decision to set the flag to restrict output ("down-convert") is left up to the content provider. According to CED Magazine, Sony/MGM and Disney currently have no plans to down-convert, and Fox is opposed to it as well. Warner Pictures is a proponent of the ICT, and it is expected that Paramount will also implement it.[19] Other studios releasing Blu-ray Disc content have not yet commented on whether or not they will use down-conversion. None of the titles released as of Dec 2006 include the use of the ICT. AACS guidelines require that any title that implements the ICT must clearly state so on the packaging.
In January 2007, it was reported that the AACS portion of the DRM protection had been cracked using technique similar to one used against the implementation of the same system on HD DVD.[20][21]
[edit] AnyDVD HD
SlySoft have released AnyDVD HD which allows users to watch Blu-ray Disc movies on non-HDCP compliant PC hardware. The movies can be decrypted on the fly direct from the Blu-ray Disc or can be copied to harddisk. AnyDVD HD is also capable of automatically removing any unwanted logos and trailers. They have stated that AnyDVD HD uses several different mechanisms to disable the encryption, and is not dependent on the use of a single compromised encryption key. They have also stated that AACS has even more flaws in its implementation than CSS, rendering it highly vulnerable, but they will release no details for obvious reasons [1]. Users at Doom9 claim that the program makes use of the host certificate of PowerDVD version 6.5, but SlySoft have confirmed that at least the playback of old titles would be unaffected by the AACS revocation system.
[edit] Applications
[edit] 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 and write CDs, regular DVDs, and Blu-ray Discs. All other Blu-ray Disc players released support DVD playback as well. This includes Sony, Panasonic, Philips, LG, Pioneer and PC-based players from Alienware, Sony, and Dell. LG has also produced a player that is capable of playing both Blu-ray and HD DVD formats.
JVC has developed a three layer technology that allows putting both standard-definition DVD data and HD data on a BD/DVD combo. If successfully commercialized, this would enable the consumer to purchase a disc which could be played on current DVD players, and reveal its HD version when played on a new BD player.[22] This hybrid disc does not appear to be ready for production and no titles have been announced that would utilize this disc structure.
[edit] Stand-alone recorders and game consoles
The first Blu-ray Disc recorder was demonstrated by Sony on March 3, 2003, and was introduced to the Japanese market in April that year. On September 1, 2003, JVC announced Blu-ray Disc-based products at IFA in Berlin, Germany.
In June 2004 Panasonic became the second manufacturer to launch a Blu-ray Disc recorder to the Japanese market. Launching in July the DMR-E700BD was one of the first few units to support writing to existing DVD formats, and to single-side dual-layer Blu-ray Discs with a maximum capacity of 50 gigabytes. The launch price of the recorder was $2,780 USD, with 50 GB disc costing around $69 USD and the 25 GB disc costing around $32 USD.[23][24]
The home video game console system PlayStation 3 (Sony) is shipped with a 2x Blu-ray Disc drive. The drive is read-only as is the case with most game console optical drives. According to Sony's press releases, it supports DVD (8x), CD (24x), and SACD (2x) formats in addition to BD-ROM, BD-R, and BD-RE.
On January 4, 2006, at the Consumer Electronics Show Philips announced their first Blu-ray Disc consumer product to the U.S. market.
On April 13, 2006, Panasonic announced its first Blu-ray Disc player for the U.S. market, the DMP-BD10 would be shipping together in late 2006 along with their first commercially available plasma 1080p HDTVs.[25]
On September 13, 2006, Panasonic announced a Blu-ray Disc (BD) recorder capable of playing back BDs. The Blu-ray Disc DIGA DMR-BW200 and DMR-BR100 can record high-definition imagery on BD-RE rewritable discs and dub from the built-in hard-disk drive.[26]
On October 18, 2006, VidaBox announced the first Dual HD player / media center capable of playing back both Blu-ray Disc (BD) & HD DVD formats. The VidaBox MAX and VidaBox LUX can have both drives upgraded to play both high-definition formats up to their native 1080p resolutions at 24-bit color.[27]
On December 4, 2006, Sony launched their first standalone Blu-ray Disc player, the BDP-S1, to the U.S. market for $1000 USD.
In December of 2006, Dell introduced its XPS M1710 laptop with a BD-ROM player and burner at a base price of US$3,599.
On January 8, 2007 Samsung announced their second generation Blu-ray player BD-P1200 and is expected to retail for $799 and will be available by March 2007.
On February 26, 2007 Sony announced their second generation Blu-ray player BDP-S300 for the U.S. market. The player is expected to have all the features of the BDP-S1 along with CD playback in a smaller chassis for $599 USD.
[edit] PC data storage
Originally, Blu-ray Disc drives in production could only transfer approximately 4.5 MB/s or 36 Mbit/s (54 Mbit/s required for BD-ROM), but 2x speed drives with a 9 MB/s or 72 Mbit/s transfer rate are now available. Rates of 8x (288 Mbit/s) or more are planned for the future. First devices used AT Attachment but newest ones support Serial ATA.
[edit] Corporate support
Blu-ray Disc has gained a large amount of support in the corporate world,[28] with companies such as Hewlett-Packard, Apple Inc., Dell, and Panasonic supporting it. Blu-ray Disc was first developed[29] by Sony Corporation in 2002 as a next generation data and video storage format alternative to DVD.
In a recent interview with Gamespot, when quizzed on the new LG HD DVD/Blu-ray combo players, Sir Howard Stringer CEO of Sony had this to say: "It's an expensive way of showing Universal discs. The three biggest box-office winners of this year were, in order: Sony, Disney, and Fox. Those are the three Blu-ray players. When you consider that those three successful studios will be delivering last year's successful box office in home video this year, then that's an enormous advantage. The fourth is Warner, and they release in both formats, so it doesn't hurt. If you are going to be buying discs, you are going to be buying an awful lot of Blu-ray discs going forward—if you want Pirates of the Caribbean or James Bond or Da Vinci Code or Spider-Man. Universal is the only one with HD DVD. I don't feel terribly intimidated."
[edit] Blu-ray Disc / HD DVD comparison
The primary rival to Blu-ray Disc is HD DVD, championed by Toshiba, NEC Corporation, Microsoft, and Intel. HD DVD has a lower disc capacity per layer (15 GB vs 25 GB). However the majority (about 80%[30]) of Blu-ray titles are in 25 GB single layer format while almost all (over 95%[31]) HD DVD movies are in 30 GB dual layer format. In 2007 only 46%[32] Blu-ray movies were released in 25GB Discs so far (03/2007). The Blu-ray Disc version of the Adam Sandler movie Click was released on October 10, 2006 as the first ever dual-layer release. Sony's goal is to use 50 GB dual-layer discs to store up to nine hours of HD video content. Alternatively, studios releasing movies on Blu-ray Disc can choose to use VC-1 or H.264/AVC instead of MPEG-2 as an alternative way to put four hours of high-definition content on a (single layer) BD.
In terms of audio/video compression, Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD are similar on the surface: both support MPEG-2, VC-1, and H.264 for video compression, and Dolby Digital (AC-3), PCM, and DTS for audio compression. The first generation of Blu-ray Disc movies released used MPEG-2 (the standard currently used in DVDs, although encoded at a much higher video resolution and a much higher bit rate than those used on conventional DVDs), while initial HD DVDs releases used the VC-1 codec. Due to greater total disc capacity, the Blu-ray Disc producers may choose in the future to utilize a higher maximum video bit rate, as well as potentially higher average bit rates. In terms of audio, there are some differences. Blu-ray Disc allows conventional AC-3 audiotracks at 640 kbit/s, which is higher than HD DVD's maximum of 504 kbit/s. Nevertheless, Dolby Digital Plus support is mandatory for standalone HD DVD players at a maximum of 3 Mbit/s, while optional for BD players with support at a bitrate of 1.736 Mbit/s.[33]
Both HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc support the 24p (traditional movie) frame rate, but technical implementations of this mode are different between the formats. Blu-ray Disc supports 24p with its native timing, while HD DVD uses 60i timing for 24p (encoded progressively, replacing missing fields with "repeat field flags"). Decoders can ignore the “flags” to output 24p.[34] There is no impact on picture resolution or storage space as a result of this, as the HD DVD format uses the same video information—it simply adds notational overhead.
Currently, five Hollywood studios exclusively support Blu-ray Disc: Columbia Pictures, MGM, Disney, Lionsgate and 20th Century Fox (Columbia Pictures and MGM are owned by Sony Pictures). Four Hollywood studios support both Blu-ray and HD DVD: Paramount Pictures, DreamWorks, Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema (the former two are owned by Viacom, and the latter two by Time Warner). Two Hollywood studios exclusively support HD DVD: Universal Studios and the Weinstein Company.
A Table Comparing The High Definition Optical Media Formats
DVD included for comparison
| Disc | Blu-ray Disc | HD DVD | DVD | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Laser wavelength | 405 Nanometers | 650 Nanometers | |||
| Numerical aperture | 0.85 | 0.65 | 0.6 | ||
| Storage capacity | single layer | 25 GB | 15 GB | 4.7 GB | |
| dual layer | 50 GB | 30 GB | 8.5 GB | ||
| Playback time in (note 1) | SD with MPEG-2 at 5Mbits/s | 22.2 hours | 13.3 hours | 3.8 hours | |
| HD with | AVC or VC-1 at 13Mbits/s | 8.5 hours | 5.1 hours | - | |
| MPEG-2 at 20Mbits/s | 5.6 hours | 3.3 hours | - | ||
| Mandatory Video codecs | MPEG-4 AVC (H.264) / VC-1 / MPEG-2 | MPEG-1 / MPEG-2 | |||
| Mandatory Audio codecs | lossless | Linear PCM | Linear PCM / Dolby TrueHD (note 2) | Linear PCM | |
| lossy | Dolby Digital / DTS | Dolby Digital Plus / Dolby Digital / DTS | Dolby Digital / MPEG Audio (Europe) | ||
| Maximum bitrate | Raw data transfer | 54.0 Mbit/s | 36.55 Mbit/s | 10.08 Mbit/s | |
| Audio+Video | 48.0 Mbit/s | 30.24 Mbit/s | |||
| Video | 40.0 Mbit/s | 29.4 Mbit/s | 9.8 Mbit/s | ||
| Secondary video decoder (PIP) | Optional (Profile 1.1, mandatory November 2007) | Required | - | ||
| Internet support | Optional (Profile 2.0) | Required | - | ||
| Video resolution (maximum) | 1920×1080 24p or 50/60i HDTV | 720×480 and 720×576 50/60i SDTV | |||
| Content protection system | AACS-128bit / BD+ | AACS-128bit | CSS 40-bit | ||
| Protective Hardcoating | Required | Optional | |||
note 1: Playback times are quoted for dual layer discs, for single layer discs divide by two.
note 2: All HD DVD players are required to be able to decode Dolby TrueHD to two channels, however all current players handle 5.1 decoding.
[edit] Other optical data storage technologies
- HD DVD
- AVCHD
- Digital Multilayer Disk – the successor technology to Fluorescent Multilayer Disc
- Enhanced Versatile Disc
- Forward Versatile Disc – Taiwanese backed red laser format
- Fluorescent Multilayer Disc
- Holographic Versatile Disc - standards with 200 and 300 GB storage are under development and prototypes expected in 2008
- Protein-coated disc
- Tapestry Media
- Versatile Multilayer Disc
- Ultra Density Optical
- Professional Disc for DATA (PDD or ProDATA)
[edit] Released titles
The first Blu-ray Disc titles were released on 20 June 2006. They included the following titles from the following companies:
- Sony titles
- MGM titles
- Warner Bros. titles
- Disney titles
As of April 4, 2007, 213[35] titles have been released on Blu-ray Disc in Region A. The earliest releases used MPEG-2 video compression.
The first releases using VC-1 and AVC were introduced in September 2006, [36] MPEG-2 is almost exclusively used on DVDs. [clarify]
The first movies using dual layer discs (50 GB) were introduced in November 2006. Since January 2007, new releases on dual layer disc have represented about half of all new releases. [37]
[edit] See also
- Competing technologies: HD DVD, EVD, FVD
- Blu-ray Disc Association
- Format war
- Holographic Versatile Disc
- Professional Disc for DATA (PDD or ProDATA)
- Protein-coated disc
- Fluorescent Multilayer Disc
- PH-DVD
- Comparison of high definition optical disc formats
[edit] Royalties
As of 03/07 patent royalties are under negotiation and have not been determined.
[edit] References
- ^ SONY NOW SHIPPING 50GB DUAL LAYER BLU-RAY DISC MEDIA IN THE U.S.. Sony. Retrieved on December 1, 2006.
- ^ {cite web | http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=9919531&&#post9919531}
- ^ Profile 1.1 delay.
- ^ Blu-Ray & HD DVD Frequently Asked Questions (2006). Retrieved on November 27, 2006.
- ^ Sony to ship blank Blu-ray Discs this month (2006). Retrieved on August 24, 2006.
- ^ Verbatim introduces Blu ray in Q3 (2006). Retrieved on August 24, 2006.
- ^ Verbatim to release BD-R, BD-RE media (2006). Retrieved on August 24, 2006.
- ^ TDK ANNOUNCES BLUE LASER DISC TECHNOLOGY TO SUPPORT 200 GB CAPACITY (2006). Retrieved on November 27, 2006.
- ^ TOPPAN and Sony Successfully Develop 25GB Paper Disc (2007). Retrieved on February 5, 2007.
- ^ Dolby Audio Coding for Future Entertainment Formats If Dolby Digital Plus is used, it must be accompanied by an AC-3 soundtrack (which provides the "core" bitstream.) (PDF)
- ^ (March 2005). "White Paper Blu-ray Disc Format". Retrieved on 2006-06-27.
- ^ Blu-ray FAQ
- ^ 日本ではHDアナログ出力制限が無効に――AACSのコンテンツ運用規定が決定 (Japanese) (2005). Retrieved on April 3, 2006.
- ^ The Authoritative Blu-ray Disc (BD) FAQ: What is Regional Playback Control? (2006). Retrieved on August 29, 2006.
- ^ Blu-ray Disc for Video (2006). Retrieved on January 14, 2007.
- ^ The High Definition DVD FAQ (2006-02-05). Retrieved on May 30, 2006.
- ^ HP to Support HD DVD High-definition DVD Format and Join HD DVD Promotions Group (2005-12-16). Retrieved on May 28, 2006.
- ^ The DVD War Against Consumers (2006-05-30). Retrieved on May 31, 2006.
- ^ Sweeting, Paul (2006). High-def ‘down-converting’ forced. Retrieved on April 3, 2006.
- ^ Block, Ryan (2007). Blu-ray cracked too?. Retrieved on January 22, 2007.
- ^ Blu-ray DRM defeated. The Register. Retrieved on January 22, 2007.
- ^ Blu-ray/ DVD Combo ROM Disc Technology (2006). Retrieved on May 30, 2006.
- ^ Matsushita unveils DVD recorder adopting Blu-ray Disc format+ (2006). Retrieved on August 25, 2006.
- ^ Panasonic Unveils Blu-ray Recorder (2006). Retrieved on August 25, 2006.
- ^ Panasonic DMP-BD10 Blu-ray Disc Player (2006). Retrieved on August 25, 2006.
- ^ Panasonic will Launch a Blu-ray Disc Recorders with BD Playback (2006). Retrieved on October 13, 2006.
- ^ VidaBox Introduces World’s First Dual HD-DVD & Blu-Ray Player / Media Center (2006). Retrieved on October 18, 2006.
- ^ http://www.blu-raydisc.com/general_information/Section-14009/Index.html
- ^ Sony Corporation - Product & Technology Milestones-Recording Media (2007). Retrieved on February 7, 2007.
- ^ Blu-ray disc size.
- ^ HD DVD disc size.
- ^ Blu-ray disc size in 2007.
- ^ Dolby Digital plus True HD whitepaper at www.dolby.com
- ^ High Definition Facts. Retrieved on December 1, 2006.
- ^ Total available Region A titles.
- ^ Full Specs in for Warner's Sept 26 Lineup; Studio to Go VC-1 for Blu-ray?, BLU-RAY NEWS, High-Def Digest, 30 August 2006
- ^ Frequently updated list of hostorical release dates and disc capacities, BLU-RAY NEWS, High-Def Digest, 3 April 2007
[edit] External links
- Blu-ray Disc Association
- The Authoritative Blu-ray Disc FAQ by Hugh Bennett
- Next-generation DVD battle begins at BBC News Online
- Blu-ray at How Stuff Works — Includes pictures and a comparison of HD-DVD and Blu-ray.
- TDK Blu-ray Disc Prototypes — 200 GB BD-RE with 6 Layers
- JVC Announcement of BD/DVD combo discs — JVC Develops World's First Blu-ray/ DVD Combo ROM Disc Technology
- The High Definition DVD FAQ — FAQ for Blu-ray, HD DVD, EVD, FVD...
- Volume Unique Keys for released Blu-ray titles.
- Blu-ray vs. HD-DVD - technical explanation
- How Stuff Works: Blu-ray disks
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| Magnetic tape |
VERA (1952) - 2 inch Quadruplex videotape (1956) - 1 inch type A videotape (1965) - 1/4 inch Akai (1967) - U-matic (1969) - Cartrivision (1972) - Video Cassette Recording (aka VCR) (1972) - V-Cord (1974) - VX (aka "The Great Time Machine") (1974) - Betamax (1975) - 1 inch type B videotape (1976) - 1 inch type C videotape (1976) - VHS (1976) - VK (1977) - SVR (1979) - Video 2000 (1980) - CVC (1980) - VHS-C (1982) - M (1982) - Betacam (1982) - Video8 (1985) - MII (1986) - D1 (1986) - S-VHS (1987) - D2 (1988) - Hi8 (1989) - D3 (1991) - D5 (1994) - Digital-S (D9) (199?) - S-VHS-C (1987) - W-VHS (1992) - DV (1995) - Betacam HDCAM (1997) - D-VHS (1998) - Digital8 (1999) - HDV (2003) |
| Optical discs |
LaserDisc (1978) - Laserfilm (1984) - CD Video - VCD (1993) - DVD-Video (1996) - MiniDVD - CVD (1998) - SVCD (1998) - FMD (2000) - EVD (2003) - FVD (2005) - UMD (2005) - VMD (2006) - HD DVD (2006) - Blu-ray Disc (BD) (2006) - DMD (2006?) - AVCHD (2006) - Tapestry Media (2007) - Total Hi Def (2007) - HVD (TBA) - PH-DVD (TBA) - SVOD (TBA) - Protein-coated disc (TBA) - Two-Photon 3-D (TBA) |
| Grooved Videodiscs |
Baird Television Record aka Phonovision (1927) - TeD (1974) - Capacitance Electronic Disc aka CED (1981) - VHD (1983) |
Categories: Optical disc authoring | Articles with unsourced statements since April 2007 | All articles with unsourced statements | Wikipedia articles needing clarification | 120 mm discs | 80 mm discs | High-definition television | Video storage | Java virtual machine | 2006 introductions | Computer storage media | Audio storage | DVD | Consumer electronics
