A Blue ray DVD player can play disks that use the Blue ray technology. The format in these disks that can do the recording, rewriting of data and also the playback of high-definition video. Unlike the normal DVD we see in markets, the Blue ray disk has a much higher storage capacity. A traditional DVD can store around 10GB, but a Blue ray disk could store between 25GB to 50GB. Users can put bonus content as well as various other interactive features to the user.

Blue ray disks with scratch marks can still be played on a Blue ray DVD player mainly because these disks are known to be scratch resistant.

Purchasing a Blue ray DVD player that will satisfy your desires could be difficult especially with the increased number of companies that manufacture such products. Some companies tend to claim that they understand the Blue ray technology and have come up with the best product. This can confuse customers and mislead them to buy the wrong product. It is always necessary to check up on branded products before purchasing one with high quality.

If you are in the look out for a branded Blue ray DVD player, check on leading names such as Sony, Samsung, Panasonic, etc and purchase the best product on offer. In addition to these players, the Playstation-3 comes with a Blue ray DVD player that is already built-in. With different innovations coming up, manufacturers of laptops have also integrated a Blue ray DVD player in some of their models.

In addition, Blue ray disk drives have been incorporated to a few desktop computers.

Playing standard DVD’s can be done on a Blue ray DVD player, but it should be noted that the picture quality won’t be of what a Blue ray disk will give you but of a normal DVD. Blue ray DVD’s can only be played on a Blue ray DVD player, therefore one needs to purchase a player with high quality to get the best.

Blu ray technology has been the answer for this problem. This technology makes use of similar MPEG-2 compression standard as DTV making it greatly compatible with the international standard for digital broadcasting. One dual-layer blu ray disc of fifty GB can store up to 6 hours of HD content. Though blu ray players are now available in the US and are more than capable of playing such high definition content, these lack the facility for recording high-definition content.

For this end, blu ray recorders have been created. These recorders use a 36Mbps data transfer rate which is adequate to record and playback digital high-definition transmissions while still preserving the original picture quality. Blu ray disc recorder can play video discs and at the same time record HD video telecast on television.

Blu ray recorders are currently available only in Japan and started off as almost a revolution to digital broadcasting. Several of the producers of blu ray recorders are Zenith, Yamaha, Sony, Sharp, Samsung, Pioneer, Philips, Panasonic, Mitsubishi, JVC, Hitachi, and Amex.

Customers in the USA and Canada have been waiting for the blu ray recorders for quite some time now. Though it is always speculated, it has not materialized. In the first 6 months of 2009, Panasonic, nevertheless, is slated to introduce the first freestanding blu ray recorder in the United States of America. Expectations for blu ray recorders make the market prospective, but blu ray recorders will encounter tough contests from the rest of the available HD recording tools such as the HD-TIVO and Cable/Satellite HD-DVRs.

Movie studios and other content providers are also demanding certain copy-protection requirements to be met by blu ray recorders. Additionally, as experienced by Japan, the price of blu ray recorders is very much on the higher side than the price of a standalone blu ray player (by now available in the US) which the US market deems to be quite pricey. Another factor to consider here is the price of HD DVRs. A blank 25GB BD-R Disc is fairly pricey.

Despite all the negatives, the introduction of blu ray recorders to the US is a much awaited phenomena.

If you do a search on Amazon, for example, with the keywords of “blu-ray notebook”, you’ll get a list of laptop computers with Blu-ray drives installed on a page titled “Blu-ray Disc Enabled Laptops and Desktops”. This is nothing more than marketing hype.

Blu-ray and High Definition Video

Blu-ray is a disk media format capable of holding up to 25 gigabytes of data for the single-layer type and up to 50 gigabytes of data for the dual-layer type. The type of data is what’s important, not the format of the disk.

After extensive testing, high definition video has been verified to display on most modern computer monitors. The limitation is in the number of pixels the monitors can display and not even the video format itself.

Of course, the computer requires enough installed memory to prevent jerky playback. One gigabyte of memory, as long as all other applications are closed, is sufficient for smooth playback. Anything less and the swap file will start being used. That’s what causes the playback to be choppy. It has nothing to do with the data or the disk.

Why the hype?

Notebooks are being advertised as “Blu-ray enabled” in order to sell more notebooks with Blu-ray optical drives installed instead of the standard DVD drives. The goal is to boost Blu-ray sales, of course, since Blu-ray optical drives are the most expensive optical drives on the market right now.

Instead of buying a new notebook in order to use it with a Blu-ray optical drive, you’d be better off buying a USB external Blu-ray optical drive. You can then use it with any computer you have access to as long as that computer has USB ports. All of the computers built within the last three or four years have USB ports.

The Future Blu-ray Technology

Several companies continue to work on advancing the storage capacity of Blu-ray disks. One disk-producing company has even developed a 10-layer Blu-ray disk capable of holding 250 gigabytes of data, although it hasn’t been demonstrated yet. Another company has already demonstrated a four-layer, 100 gigabyte disk which should be able to work on the current Blu-ray optical drives with merely a firmware upgrade.

If anything would cause you to pause before buying into the hype, it’s the fact that the technology continues to evolve. The answer to the original question is no, you don’t need a Blu-ray compatible computer in order to use or play Blu-ray disks. You just need a method of reading the data on the disks and that can be done with an external optical drive as well as an internal one.

Blu-ray Disc is a next-generation, optical disc format that enables the ultimate high-def entertainment experience.

Blu-ray Disc provides these key features and advantages: Maximum picture resolution. Blu-ray Disc delivers full 1080p* video resolution to provide pristine picture quality.

Largest capacity available anywhere (25 GB single layer/50 GB dual layer). Blu-ray Disc offers up to 5X the capacity of today’s DVDs.

Best audio possible. Blu-ray Disc provides as many as 7.1 channels of native, uncompressed surround sound for crystal-clear audio entertainment.

Enhanced interactivity. Enjoy such capabilities as seamless menu navigation, exciting, new bonus features, and network/Internet connectivity.

Broadest industry support from brands you trust. More than 90% of major Hollywood studios, virtually all leading consumer electronics companies, four of the top computer brands, the world’s two largest music companies, PLAYSTATION® 3 and the leading gaming companies, all support Blu-ray Disc.

The largest selection of high-def playback devices. Blu-ray Disc is supported by many of the leading consumer electronics and computing manufacturers. That means you can maximize the use of your HDTV and your home entertainment system with the widest selection of high-def playback devices—including players, recorders, computers, aftermarket drives and the PLAYSTATION® 3 game console.

Backward compatibility**. Blu-ray Disc players enable you to continue to view and enjoy your existing DVD libraries. Disc robustness. Breakthroughs in hard-coating technologies enable Blu-ray Disc to offer the strongest resistance to scratches and fingerprints.

*HDTV required. As with other optical media devices, user factors and other circumstances may limit Blu-ray Disc playback. Some content may require HDMIcompatible TV for high-definition playback.

**Product-dependent feature.

2. Why is the format called Blu-ray Disc?

The name Blu-ray came from the fact that the laser beam which reads the data from the new discs is blue instead of red which is used for current DVDs and CDs. This new blue laser is at the heart of Blu-ray Disc technology (i.e. blue ray of light).

3. What is the difference between Blu-ray Disc and DVD?

Just as DVD meant a five to 10 times increase in storage capacity compared to CD, Blu-ray Disc represents an increase over DVD capacity by five to 10 times. This is due, among other reasons, to the usage of a blue instead of a red laser and improved lens specifications, allowing for a much smaller focus laser beam which enables the recording of much smaller and higher density pits on the disc.

Due to the fact that the data layer on a Blu-ray Disc is placed much “closer” to the laser lens than in DVD, there is less distortion resulting in significantly improved tolerances. Hence, more precision and ultra-high storage densities are now possible.

4. What is the difference between 1080i and 1080p?

Blu-ray Disc offers 1080p video resolution—HDTV video quality that far surpasses any other medium or broadcast format available today. With a resolution of up to 1920×1080 and up to 54 Mbps bandwidth (roughly double that of a normal HDTV broadcast), no other format can match the video quality of Blu-ray Disc. Furthermore, due to the overwhelming capacity of a Blu-ray Disc, no tight compression algorithms that may alter the picture quality are required, as with other formats that offer less recording space. Depending on the application, Blu-ray Disc also supports other video formats, including standard-definition TV.1080i refers to the resolution of a picture with interlaced (i) fields, which fit together to form one full frame and produces an image that has a TV-like quality. 1080p refers to the resolution of the picture with progressive (p), multiple full frames, producing an image that appears more like film.

5. Will Blu-ray Disc products play my existing DVDs and CDs?

The Blu-ray Disc system uses the same 12 cm and 8 cm disc sizes to support backward compatibility with your CDs and DVDs and other optical disc formats. Therefore, it is anticipated that most Blu-ray Disc hardware products will play your existing DVDs and CDs.

6. What is an HDMI connector?

HDMI delivers uncompressed high-definition video and multichannel digital audio signals through a single cable to compatible components, producing the best Blu-ray Disc experience possible.

7. Will PLAYSTATION® 3 play Blu-ray Disc movies?

Yes! PLAYSTATION 3 is a fully functional Blu-ray Disc player, so you can watch, listen and enjoy your favorite high-def movies and music in full 1080p resolution and in as many as 7.1 channels of surround sound. Of course, that’s in addition to having the industry’s ultimate console for high-def gaming.

8. What home theater equipment is needed for optimal Blu-ray Disc performance?

For the optimal Blu-ray Disc performance, your entertainment system should include:

Blu-ray Disc Player (Blu-ray Discs will not play on standard DVD players)
HDTV with 720p, 1080i or higher resolution
Surround sound speaker system—5.1 channel or 7.1 channel
HDMI connector cables
High-quality analog cables or digital optical cables

9. What is BD-Live?

BD-Live is a collection of online interactive features that content providers may include with a Blu-ray Disc movie to enhance your enjoyment of that movie, providing you a compelling new world of extended interactivity. BD-Live includes access to studio-specified Internet sites that provide you the ability to, for example, download current movie trailers or other exclusive content, play movie related games, enhance the content of their disc, chat with other viewers, play games with other BD-Live connected players, and much more. A computer can be a great BD-Live player because it is typically connected to the Internet and is a high performance platform with input devices specifically designed for user interactivity.

10 . What is Bonus View?

Bonus View also referred to as ‘Profile 1.1’ refers to a collection of features available on all Blu-ray player models introduced after October 31, 2007. These offer consumers the ability to enjoy Picture-in-Picture (PiP) and secondary audio features on compatible Bonus View discs. Also see Bonus View section for details, titles and more.

11 . What equipment do I need to access BD-Live?

Your Blu-ray player must have an Ethernet port and must be connected to the Internet. You will also need a Blu-ray Disc that is enabled with BD-Live functionality.

12 . Do all Blu-ray player models support BD-Live?

Not all Blu-ray players have a network connection. Please refer to your player’s instruction manual or website for further details.

13. Do all movie titles have BD-Live content?

As BD-Live has just launched, the number of available titles that support this feature will be expanding throughout this year. Please refer to the Blu-ray disc’s technical specification to find out if the disc is BD-Live enabled.

14. How do I access BD-Live?

Select the BD-Live button on the Blu-ray Disc menu to connect to the Internet and initiate the BD-Live application.

15. Do I have to register to enjoy BD-Live?

Some studios require a simple registration process that is available on the player or online.

16. Why would I want a Blu-ray Disc drive on my PC?

• PCs with Blu-ray Disc capability provide a flexible and powerful solution for watching high definition (HD) movies and experiencing BD-Live features.
• Notebook PCs allow you to enjoy the benefits of Blu-ray Disc on the road as well as in the living room.
• Blu-ray Disc on computers provides you with much larger burning and backup capacity than CD or DVD.
• The computer is an excellent platform for experiencing exciting, interactive BD-Live features, since computers typically include a wired or wireless network connection, powerful processors and extra storage space.
• The HD Camcorder market is growing rapidly. Using Blu-ray Disc on personal computers provides the best way to edit, share and archive HD content.

17 . What can I do with a computer that supports Blu-ray Disc?

1) Watch Blu-ray Disc movies in up to full 1080p HD resolution with your desktop computer or on the go with your notebook computer
2) Watch Blu-ray Disc movies at home by connecting your PC to a home theatre system, HD television, monitor, or projector (Note: HDMI or DisplayPort connections are required on the PC and the monitor).
3) Connect and interact with studio special features as well as other Blu-ray Disc movie viewers using Blu-ray Discs that feature BD-Live capabilities.
4) Play games and experience interactive bonus content that are included with Blu-ray Disc movies.
5) Back up or share up to 50GB of data on one dual layer disc. This makes it easy to back up your entire photo or music library on one disc. One 50GB Blu-ray Disc replaces up to 5 dual layer or 10 single layer DVDs.
6) Create, edit, and share HD home movies for playback on your PC, PlayStation 3, or other Blu-ray Disc player.
7) Create, view, and share your photos on your television screen at the highest resolution supported by the TV.

18 . What features in a PC are important for experiencing Blu-ray Disc?

Several features are key to fully enjoying the benefits of Blu-ray Disc including the following:

1) High Definition Display Devices

• Resolution and Color

While Blu-ray Disc movies can also be enjoyed with lower resolution displays, the best viewing experience is achieved with high definition displays at either 1920 x 1080 (full HD) or 1920 x 1200 (WUXGA) resolution to deliver the full cinematic production experience intended for the viewer. Since most new notebooks
and computer monitors sold have HD displays this means that Blu-ray Disc is not only a great experience in the home theater environment but also on the road.

• Connectivity

It is recommended that Blu-ray Disc-equipped PCs intended for use with home theater systems, high definition televisions, monitors, and projectors support HDMI or DisplayPort or DVI connections with HDCP support. Some notebooks or all-in-one systems might support Blu-ray Disc playback only
on their own internal displays.

2) Blu-ray Disc optical drive and playback software that can play Blu-ray Disc movies.
If you plan to purchase a Blu-ray Disc drive separately from your computer and want to know if your computer is capable of playing back Blu-ray Disc movies, there are software tools available that will test your system configuration and inform you if it can provide the required performance.

3) PCs with a recordable Blu-ray Disc drive and disc burning software can burn BD-R (write-once) and BD-RE (rewritable) discs. This can be a terrific backup option as well as long term storage for HD home movies. Note: Some computer Blu-ray Disc drives are designed only to read (i.e., play) Blu-ray Disc movies, while others can both read and write.

4) Blu-ray Disc authoring software for creating and editing HD content and burning discs that are playable in compatible Blu-ray Disc players.

5) Graphics processor designed specifically for the demanding high video bit rate (up to 40Mbits/sec) and other Blu-ray Disc movie features like picture-in-picture. Look for GPUs that specifically indicate support for Blu-ray Disc.

6) Surround-sound audio output capability, surround sound support in the playback software and surround speaker configuration are recommended for the best listening experience.

19 . Will my current computer support Blu-ray Disc?

Several software vendors offer a free downloadable system evaluation tool.

Visit the following URLs for more information:

Cyberlink Blu-Ray Support
Corel Win DVD
Arcsoft DVD Guide (Download)

20 . What is the storage capacity of a Blu-ray Disc?

The physical size is the same as a DVD or CD. A single-layer Blu-ray Disc can hold 25GB. A dual-layer disc can hold 50GB, with a “GB” equal to one billion bytes.

21 . What read/write speeds are available?

The 1x transfer rate for a Blu-ray Disc drive is 4.5 MB/sec. All drives support at least “2x” transfer rate (9 MB/sec), with some recent models supporting up to 8x, or 36 MB/sec. Blu-ray Disc has the potential for much higher speeds in the future. For comparison, a 40x CD-ROM delivers about 6 MB/sec. This means that your data can be written to the disc much faster when using a Blu-ray Disc drive than a CD or DVD.

22 . When will I be able to get a BD-Live capable player for my PC?

If you have a Blu-ray Disc drive in your computer, and that computer is connected to the internet and your player software contains BD-Live capability, you are able to take advantage of BD-Live features delivered on Blu-ray Discs from content providers. BD-Live compatible player software is shipping now from a number of software vendors.

23 . What vendors are shipping (or have announced) Blu-ray Disc-enabled computers and products?

Multiple vendors are selling Blu-ray Disc enabled computers today. Several companies are selling internal and external Blu-ray Disc drives that support many OS Platforms including Windows XP, Vista, MacOS and Linux.

24 . What is the current availability of application software for playback, recording and editing?

At the time of this writing, we are aware that at least the following companies are selling Blu-ray Disc software applications:

Playback:
• Corel (Windows)
• CyberLink (Windows)
• Arcsoft (Windows)

Burning/Backup:
• Sonic Solutions/Roxio (Mac/Windows)
• NCH (Mac/Windows)
• Nero (Windows)
• CyberLink (Windows)
• Corel (Windows)
• ArcSoft (Windows)

Editing/Creation:
• Arcsoft (Windows)
• Corel (Windows)
• CyberLink (Windows)
• Nero (Windows)
• Roxio (Windows)

25 . How does regional coding work in the computer space? Is playback s/w sensitive to regional coding?

Much like DVD, all Blu-ray Disc players are required to support region playback coding regardless of the type of player (i.e., hardware or software). Use of region playback codes is optional for content providers, and not all titles use them. The Blu-ray Disc format specifies only three regions (A, B and C), while DVD had eight, thereby expanding the geographical size of each region. The region of any region-protected Blu-ray Disc purchased should match the region of the world for which the player is configured. Like any Blu-ray Disc player, Blu-ray Disc-equipped computer systems are required to support regional coding. Computer systems can be reset to a different region up to five times to accommodate relocations to different parts of the world.

With the advent of the Compact Disc at the beginning of Nineteen Eighties, the world underwent a dramatic change. It offered excellent audio quality and its 650MB storage capacity was a great leap in data storage and retrieval. This was the first time people had access to pre-recorded, recordable and rewritable media at low costs. It enabled widespread recording and distribution of audio. However, in the 1990’s, the demand for higher storage capacities arose and led to the development of the DVD which was a 5 – 10 x increase in storage capacity. Even though the know-how was novel, the latest DVD format made use of the same form factor as the Compact Disc that made easy the transformation to next generation format. This increased the DVD’s popularity with the clients.

Today, the blu ray discs are yet another revolution in technology. This novel optical disc system is an important creation of the Blu Ray Disc Association (BDA) which includes Dell, Hp, Hitachi, LG, Samsung, Apple, JVC, Panasonic, Mitsubishi, Sony, Pioneer, Philips, Thomson, Sharp and TDK. The BDA boasts 180 of the world’s leading consumer electronics, media and personal computer manufacturers.

Blu ray discs offer an increase in storage capacity with its 25GB on a single-layer disc to its 50GB on a dual-layer disc. It is the last word in user experience and facilitates rewriting, recording, playback and distribution of HD videos.

The fact that the blu ray discs are based on the bare disc physical form factor renders it compatible with compact discs and DVDs.

The blu ray discs, as the name suggests, uses a blue-violet laser to read and write data unlike the current technology which uses red laser.

The wavelength of a blue-violet laser (405nm) is way shorter than that of a red laser (650nm) and this has made it easier to concentrate the laser spot with superb accuracy. The plus point in this is that it allows storing of data in very little space compactly giving the user extra space to add more data even though the size of the disc is similar to that of a normal CD/DVD.

Presently supported by some of the world’s leading consumer electronics, personal computer, video game, recording media, and music companies, these new generation blu ray discs have also won the support of Hollywood studios and other smaller studios, some of whom have already announced the release of new movies on blu ray discs.

A Blue ray DVD player can play disks that use the Blue ray technology. The format in these disks enable recording, rewriting of data and also the playback of high-definition video. Since the Blue ray disks can store larger amounts of data, it has an advantage over the traditional DVD with regard to storage capacity. A traditional DVD can store around 10GB, whereas a Blue ray disk stores between 25GB to 50GB. Users can put bonus content as well as various other interactive features to the user.

Blue ray disks with scratch marks can still be played on a Blue ray DVD player mainly because these disks are known to be scratch resistant.

With the high increase of Blue ray products coming into the market, consumers could be mislead by some salespeople into buying the wrong product. Since branded products are of good quality and usually come with a guarantee, it is always better to purchase one as it will give you less trouble in the long run.

If you are in the look out for a branded Blue ray DVD player, check on leading names such as Sony, Samsung, Panasonic, etc and purchase the best product on offer. In addition to these players, the Playstation-3 comes with a Blue ray DVD player that is already built-in. With different innovations coming up, manufacturers of laptops have also integrated a Blue ray DVD player in some of their models.

In addition, Blue ray disk drives have been incorporated to a few desktop computers.

A Blue ray DVD player with the backward compatibility gives you the opportunity of watching DVD’s using the same player, but with lesser picture quality. Although DVD’s and CD’s work in a Blue ray DVD player, one must keep in mind that Blue ray DVD’s can’t be played in any other player unless it has the blue ray technology.