| is Blu-ray? No, it's not a creature of the deep or any | | | | DVD systems use the same red laser with a |
| mythical beast. Blu-ray is a third-generation digital | | | | wavelength of 650 nanometers). The shorter |
| media or data storage technology from the Blu-ray | | | | wavelength means more precise data recording, |
| Disc Association, an assembly of corporate media and | | | | which allows more data to be packed on the Blu-ray |
| electronics technology leaders. Blu-ray discs are | | | | disc surface than a comparable CD or DVD surface. |
| currently competing with HD-DVD to become the | | | | In fact, a standard single-layer Blu-ray disc can store |
| new optical disc format. They have much more | | | | as much as 25 GB of digital data, more than five |
| storage capacities and data transfer speeds than | | | | times the storage capacity of conventional DVDs. A |
| conventional DVD's and CD's. | | | | dual-layer Blu-ray disc can store a maximum of 50 GB |
| Blu-ray Disc Versus Other Optical Discs | | | | of digital data. On the drawing board are |
| A Blu-ray disc, looks much like any other optical disc, | | | | quadruple-layer Blu-ray discs with 100 GB digital data |
| including first-generation CDs, second-generation | | | | storage capacities. |
| DVDs, and the competing third-generation HD DVDs. | | | | Blu-ray Support |
| A Blu-ray disc system uses a blue-violet laser with a | | | | To enjoy the considerable benefits of a Blu-ray disc, |
| wavelength of 405 nanometers to write and read | | | | one must have a Blu-ray disc player (either |
| data on the optical disc. This laser is the source of | | | | standalone or software-based) that supports reading |
| Blu-ray’s name and the technology which | | | | of the Blu-ray disc. Blu-ray video players need to |
| differentiates Blu-ray from previous generation optical | | | | have an MPEG-2 codec (which makes a player |
| media. The 405 nanometer blue-violet laser is also | | | | capable of playing DVDs and HD DVDs), a VC-1 |
| used for writing and reading data on third-generation | | | | codec, and an AVC or MPEG-4 codec. Movies stored |
| HD DVD discs, which have smaller data storage | | | | in Blu-ray discs will use any one of the |
| capacity per layer. Older optical media require a red | | | | above-mentioned codecs. One movie can also have |
| laser for data storage and retrieval. | | | | more than one codec, as long as each codec used is |
| Blu-ray Storage Capacity | | | | supported by Blu-ray technology. |
| The Blu-ray disc system uses a shorter wavelength | | | | This article may be republished freely as long as this |
| than conventional optical discs (CD systems use a red | | | | copyright notice and box of resource links are |
| laser with a wavelength of 780 nanometers whereas | | | | included at the bottom. |