By the late 1990s blue lasers were used for making the masters for DVD discs, but this process used hugely expensive special laser-beam recorders the size of a wardrobe and needing a super-clean, vibration-free environment in which to work properly. The challenge for optical drive … [Read more...]
DVD Forum and the Blu-ray Disk Association (BDA)
The DVD Forum was set up in August 1997 as a voluntary association of hardware manufacturers, software firms and other users of DVDs. The big manufacturers were predicting that beyond-DVD discs and drives would be a reality at the start of the next century. In the event, that proved … [Read more...]
Blu-ray vs HD-DVD – the war of the blue laser optical disks
Shuji Nakamura's blue laser diode exactly fit requirements for next generation DVDs: accurate, reliable, small and affordable both for manufacturing and running costs. It was a brilliant invention, and it offered the opportunity for a single, industry wide high-definition optical storage … [Read more...]
Blu-ray Region Codes
Blu-ray Region codes: DVD region codes were introduced to try to give movie studios some control over global distribution for their movie releases. The system wasn't entirely successful, but the studios have persisted. Though boundaries have changed, Blu-ray too has regional coding. The … [Read more...]
Blu-Ray – the Hi-Def Blue Laser Disk Technology
Optical disks have come a long way. They began back in the 1980s with the humble CD, which was great for music, computer software and data. Unfortunately it turned out to be poor for movies, though there was some limited success withVideoCD in Asian markets. DVDs came to the rescue in the … [Read more...]
HD-DVD (High Definition Digital Versatile Disk) – blue laser optical disk
Despite High Definition Digital Versatile Disc HD-DVD) being the original DVD Forum approved successor to the DVD format, it was ultimately doomed, eventually consigned to history by the rival Blu-ray Disk (BD) technology. Originally called Advanced Optical Disc (AOD), the technology's … [Read more...]
Blu-ray Disks (BD) – blue laser optical disk technology
Optical disc technologies such as DVD, DVD-R, DVD-RW, and DVD-RAM employ a 650 nm red laser, bond 0.6mm-thick discs and use lenses with a numerical aperture (NA) of 0.6. By employing a short wavelength (405nm) blue violet laser, the Blu-ray Disc (BD) successfully minimises its beam … [Read more...]
Blu-ray region codes – map and explanation
Blu-ray Disks (BDs) can contain a region code, similar to the DVD region code but with different boundaries. Region codes place geographical restrictions on where in the world a Blu-ray movie can be played. For example, a BD system bought in the USA region would play only Blu-ray movie disks with … [Read more...]