Written by James Fohl
If you are a fan of the digital age, then chances are that you tend to keep up with the information regarding the latest news in home entertainment. One of the biggest announcements in the past couple of years is the fact that new video formats are in the works, with the ultimate goal of replacing DVD as the movie media of choice. The reason why the DVD format is nearing the end of its life is because high definition television sets, which the DVD format can not take full advantage of.
One of the top contenders in this new media race is the Bluray disc. I did not spell that wrong, it is in face spelled Bluray, and not Blue Ray. Bluray is one of two major competitors in the media race, the other format is something called HD DVD. Bluray has been around since 2003, when the first Bluray recorders were shown to the public, however Blueray video players have yet to make it to the market.
Bluray gets its name because of the color of laser that is used when reading a Bluray disc. While normal CDs use a red laser, Bluray discs use a blue laser. But unlike other digital formats that utilize a blue laser, Bluray uses a laser with a much smaller wave length; one that is a mere four hundred and five nanometers, compared to CDs and DVDs that use a much wider wave length of six hundred and fifty nanometers for DVDs and seven hundred eighty nanometers for CDs.
While CDs can hold six hundred fifty megabytes on a single disc, and most DVDs hold around 4.7 gigabytes of information, a single layer Bluray disc can hold up to twenty seven gigabytes, while a dual layer disc can hold up to a massive fifty four gigabytes. While that sounds like a lot of computer data, when it translates into high definition video, a single layer Bluray disc will hold around four hours of high definition footage, while a dual layer disc will be able to hold up to eight hours of high definition video. The fifty four gigabyte discs however are not the limit. Bluray is a very new technology, and some companies are already displaying prototype discs that are capable of holding over one hundred gigabytes.
One of the funny things about the Bluray format is the fact that even though the discs are capable of holding so much information, they are the same size as regular DVDs and CDs. That means that if you put a new Bluray disc next to a DVD, you won't be able to tell which is which; it is kind of the same ordeal as when DVDs were first released, and how they were the same size as regular CDs.
One problem that is causing some problems with the Bluray format is the fact that the discs are very easily damaged. This is due to the fact that since the Bluray discs hold so much information, the data is written extremely close to the edges of the disc. Since the data is so tightly packed onto the disc, a small piece of dirt could easily make a Bluray disc unreadable. Because of this, the very early Bluray discs were encased in protective caddies that prevented the discs from being damaged. The caddies caused a lot of commotion in the video industry, and as a result Toshiba, one of the biggest supporters of the Bluray disc format created a special polymer coating that protected the discs from scratches. As a result of this polymer, the discs are now as relatively safe as normal DVDs and CDs.
As mentioned earlier, no Bluray video players are currently on the market. This is because Bluray discs are still expensive to produce; the cheapest Bluray movies will still cost nearly thirty US dollars. Because of the high cost of the Bluray discs, a lot of companies aren't jumping forward to support the format. The first Bluray players are expected to be released near the end of May, 2006 and are going to be very expensive when compared to DVD players.
Whether the Bluray format will succeed has yet to be determined. It's number one rival, the HD DVD is set to be released a couple months before Bluray is released, and will be a bit cheaper. Also more movies will initially be released in the HD DVD format. In the end, it will be the consumer's decision on which format succeeds, and which format fades away, like past video formats such as Betamax and Laser Disc.
