| Blu-ray is an optical disc format which is set to rival | | | | Blu-ray discs have a maximum capacity of 25GB and |
| HD-DVDin the race to be thede-facto standard | | | | dual-layer discs can hold up to |
| storage medium for HDTV. The HD-DVD vs Blu-ray | | | | 50GB - enough for four hours of HDTV. Like |
| battle resemblesthat between Betamax and VHS and | | | | HD-DVD, Blue laser discs don't requirea caddy and the |
| DVD+RW and DVD-RW. | | | | players and recorders will be able to play current |
| Currently, the major Hollywood film studios are split | | | | DVD discs. Codecssupported by Blu-ray include the |
| evenly in their support for Blu-ray and HD-DVD, but | | | | H.264 MPEG-4 codec which will form part of |
| most of the electronics industry is currently in the | | | | Apple's QuickTime 7, and the Windows Media 9 |
| blue corner. | | | | based VC-1. |
| The key difference between these new players and | | | | The BDA says that although blue laser discs and |
| recorders and current optical disctechnology is that | | | | players are already shipping in |
| Blu-ray, as its name suggests, uses a blue-violet laser | | | | Japan, they won't ship in the US until the end of 2005 |
| to readand write data rather than a red one. Blue | | | | at the very earliest. It is likelythat players will be very |
| light has a shorter wavelength than redlight, and | | | | expensive initially, compared to DVD players. In |
| according to the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA), | | | | Japan, theycost the equivalent of $2000. However, |
| which is made up of,amongst others, Sony, Philips, | | | | as with all new technology, prices willquickly fall - |
| Panasonic, and Pioneer, this means that the laserspot | | | | particularly as Blu-ray will be competing with HD-DVD |
| can be focussed with greater precision. | | | | for that spaceunder your TV. |