Good bye DVD..Hello Blu Ray
A Blu-ray Disc (BD) is a next-generation optical disc format meant for high-density storage of high-definition video and data.
The Blu-ray standard was jointly developed by a group of consumer electronics and PC companies called the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA), spearheaded by Sony. It is currently competing with the HD DVD format for wide adoption as the preferred next generation optical standard, similar to the videotape format war between VHS and Betamax. As of 2006, neither format has succeeded in supplanting the present home video standard, the DVD.
The name Blu-ray is derived from the blue-violet laser it uses to read and write to the chalcogenide disc. A Blu-ray Disc can store substantially more data than a DVD, because of the shorter wavelength (405 nm) of the blue-violet laser (DVDs use a 650-nm-wavelength red laser and CDs an infrared 780 nm laser), which allows more information to be stored digitally in the same amount of space. In comparison to HD DVD, which also uses a blue laser, Blu-ray has more information capacity per layer (25 gigabytes instead of 15), though the ability to effectively manufacture dual-layer Blu-ray pre-recorded media is still in dispute.
The Blu-ray Disc Association unveiled their plans for a May 23, 2006 release date at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in January 2006. Since then, Blu-ray was delayed, but eventually shipped in the U.S. on June 20, 2006.
