I took this article out of my local free computer magazine, Computor Edge, and was written by Matthew Beale and Frost and Sullivan analyst Rajesh Kannan (so nobody can sue me). I hope you enjoy the information:
Imagine trying to balance some 12,000 floppy disks in the palm of your hand. That was the successful pitch for quaint, old-fashioned DVD technology in the late '90s, referencing its storage capacity of 4.7GB on a single-sided disk. These days, users are looking at 27GB, and more storage-intensive dual-layer discs are also on the way.
For consumers devouring HD-TV, and companies always on the lookout for the next leap forward in storage technology, Blu-Ray- a next-generation optical disc format- has competition, including HD-DVD, 3-D fluorescent multi-layer optical media, and holographic media, among several others.
Blu-Ray- with products hitting shelves this year- has attracted formidable allies, however, including such industrial heavyweights as Dell, HP, Phillips, and Sony. DVD players are currently available for as low as $30, but such market penetration for Blu-Ray goods, if the format survives, would be years away.
Consumers interested in testing out next-generation DVD needn't get the blues- as long as they have $3000-$4000 to buy in and earn the honor of being an early adopter. In the meantime, the rest of us are just trying to figure out the difference between today's red-laser DVD and the hyped power of blue laser light.
Is Blu-Ray an inevitable part of our marriage of technology and entertainment (or technology and business), or will it just be a casualty in yet another standards war?
To sort things out, ComputorEdge recently spoke with Frost and Sullivan analyst Rajesh Kannan about all things Blu.
All Things Blu ComputorEdge: How would you describe Blu-Ray to a reader somewhat unfamiliar with the technology?
Rajesh Kannan: Blu-Ray Disc (BD) is a next-generation optical disc format jointly developed by 13 leading consumer electronics and PC companies (Dell, Hitachi, HP, LG, Mitsubishi, Panasonic, Pioneer, Philips, Samsung, Sharp, Sony, TDK, and Thompson). The format was developed to enable recording, rewriting and playback of high-definition television (HDTV).
Current optical-disc technologies, such as DVD, DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD-RW, DVD+RW, and DVD-RAM, use a red laser to read and write data; the new format utilizes a blue laser diode operating at a wavelength of 405nm to read and write data. Conventional DVDs and CDs use red infrared lasers at 650nm and 780nm, respectively. Blu-Ray makes it possible to record more than two hours of HDTV, or more than 13 hours of standard-definition TV, on a 25GB disc. There are also plans for higher-capacity discs that are expected to hold up to 50GB of data.
The blue laser has a shorter wavelength than CD or DVD systems, and this shrinking makes it possible to store more information on a 12cm disc (CD/DVD size). The minimum spot size to which a laser can be focused is limited by diffraction, and depends on the wavelength of the light and the numerical aperture (NA) of the lens used to focus it. By decreasing the wavelength (moving toward the violet end of the spectrum), using a higher NA (higher quality) dual-lens system, and making the disc thinner (to avoid unwanted optical effects), the laser beam can be focused much tighter at the disc surface. This allows more information to be physically contained in the same area.
In addition to the optical improvements, Blu-Ray discs feature improvements in data encoding and closer track and pit spacing, allowing for even more data to be packed in.
CE: How significant and advancement is Blu-Ray technology? Will it replace DVD? What do you think HD-DVD and Blu-Ray's other emerging and potentially competitive technologies?
RK: Blu-Ray is a good convergence format, so consumers can expect a seamless transition between the living room and home office, between media and data. Blu-Ray discs might eventually hold 100GB of information (dual-layer, dual-sided), which allows software vendors to integrate novel, as yet unrealizable, ideas.
Yes, it definitely has the potential to replace DVD, but the standards war with HD-DVD means that it is unclear which will prevail. HD-DVD seems to have the edge right now, and that might mean Blu-Ray has to find other markets, as HD-DVD seems to be the favorite to win the consumer video market.
Having said that, the pie is large, and there are several application markets where each can dominate.
CE: What are Blu-Ray's advantages?
RK: DVDs are flying off the shelves all over the world, and this mass-market penetration on their part (along with expected growth in their uptake) will drive Blu-Ray adoption and production.
The Blu-Ray disc camp seems to have more friends than HD-DVD, whose principal backers are NEC and Toshiba. Blu-Ray's champions include Sony, Matsushita Electric Industrial (Panasonic's parent), Royal Philips Electronics, Samsung Electronics, Hewlett-Packard, and Dell. Dell and HP's backing for Blu-Ray for next-generation DVDs might be especially crucial because of the companies' huge presence?s in the personal computing market, lending weight to Blu-Ray's aim to be the next PC-DVD format. But this might be changing in HD-DVD's favor, so the jury is still out.
CE: How about Blu-Ray's disadvantages or weaknesses?
RK: HD-DVD discs have 3.5 times the storage capacity of current SD-DVD (standard-definition DVD). With VC-9 and MPEG-4 compression, they can hold 1,080-pixel resolution at 19 megabits per second, which is only a bit more than twice as much as SD-DVD. This leaves HD-DVD with plenty of room for audio improvement with no loss in play times. Since Blu-Ray still uses MPEG-2, it will require six times the bit rate as SD-DVD to hold a full 1,080 pixels, leaving very little room for audio improvement.
CE: Do you see Blu-Ray winning a standards war and finding its way into American homes and businesses anytime soon? What are the prospects for business usage?
RK: While magnetic recording is the preferred choice for archival recording (libraries, archived music and movies), the increase in areal densities in optical discs make them prime candidates for archival storage on account of their durability and ease of use. With Blu-Ray currently leading in the optical storage pack, this leaves it in position to exploit the lucrative archival storage market.
CE: What are Blu-Ray's prospects for the consumer market?
RK: Aiding sales of next-generation DVD recorders (of course, their standard will be determined later) are shipments of high-definition televisions and the rollout of high-definition content to be used with those sets. About 20 million sets are expected to ship this year, and 77 million users by 2008. Users who record high-definition TV require on of the two- Blu-Ray or HD-DVD- since the high storage demands for such shows will require more than current DVDs.
Commercial applications for Blu-Ray optical discs will range from consumer videos to archival storage. Colombia TriStar Home Entertainment, a Sony subsidiary, will launch all its new titles on Blu-Ray discs by early 2006 when the format is officially released, citing a rising tide of high-definition pay-per-view content on cable and satellite channels, such as HBO and Showtime. This huge pent-up demand for high-definition content will ensure that Blu-Ray will be a mass market from the onset.
So there you have it! I hope you learned something (took me forever to type this darn thing). Don't let this article bias your opinion on Blu-Ray v. HD-DVD. Like the article says, "the jury is still out."
Imagine trying to balance some 12,000 floppy disks in the palm of your hand. That was the successful pitch for quaint, old-fashioned DVD technology in the late '90s, referencing its storage capacity of 4.7GB on a single-sided disk. These days, users are looking at 27GB, and more storage-intensive dual-layer discs are also on the way.
For consumers devouring HD-TV, and companies always on the lookout for the next leap forward in storage technology, Blu-Ray- a next-generation optical disc format- has competition, including HD-DVD, 3-D fluorescent multi-layer optical media, and holographic media, among several others.
Blu-Ray- with products hitting shelves this year- has attracted formidable allies, however, including such industrial heavyweights as Dell, HP, Phillips, and Sony. DVD players are currently available for as low as $30, but such market penetration for Blu-Ray goods, if the format survives, would be years away.
Consumers interested in testing out next-generation DVD needn't get the blues- as long as they have $3000-$4000 to buy in and earn the honor of being an early adopter. In the meantime, the rest of us are just trying to figure out the difference between today's red-laser DVD and the hyped power of blue laser light.
Is Blu-Ray an inevitable part of our marriage of technology and entertainment (or technology and business), or will it just be a casualty in yet another standards war?
To sort things out, ComputorEdge recently spoke with Frost and Sullivan analyst Rajesh Kannan about all things Blu.
All Things Blu ComputorEdge: How would you describe Blu-Ray to a reader somewhat unfamiliar with the technology?
Rajesh Kannan: Blu-Ray Disc (BD) is a next-generation optical disc format jointly developed by 13 leading consumer electronics and PC companies (Dell, Hitachi, HP, LG, Mitsubishi, Panasonic, Pioneer, Philips, Samsung, Sharp, Sony, TDK, and Thompson). The format was developed to enable recording, rewriting and playback of high-definition television (HDTV).
Current optical-disc technologies, such as DVD, DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD-RW, DVD+RW, and DVD-RAM, use a red laser to read and write data; the new format utilizes a blue laser diode operating at a wavelength of 405nm to read and write data. Conventional DVDs and CDs use red infrared lasers at 650nm and 780nm, respectively. Blu-Ray makes it possible to record more than two hours of HDTV, or more than 13 hours of standard-definition TV, on a 25GB disc. There are also plans for higher-capacity discs that are expected to hold up to 50GB of data.
The blue laser has a shorter wavelength than CD or DVD systems, and this shrinking makes it possible to store more information on a 12cm disc (CD/DVD size). The minimum spot size to which a laser can be focused is limited by diffraction, and depends on the wavelength of the light and the numerical aperture (NA) of the lens used to focus it. By decreasing the wavelength (moving toward the violet end of the spectrum), using a higher NA (higher quality) dual-lens system, and making the disc thinner (to avoid unwanted optical effects), the laser beam can be focused much tighter at the disc surface. This allows more information to be physically contained in the same area.
In addition to the optical improvements, Blu-Ray discs feature improvements in data encoding and closer track and pit spacing, allowing for even more data to be packed in.
CE: How significant and advancement is Blu-Ray technology? Will it replace DVD? What do you think HD-DVD and Blu-Ray's other emerging and potentially competitive technologies?
RK: Blu-Ray is a good convergence format, so consumers can expect a seamless transition between the living room and home office, between media and data. Blu-Ray discs might eventually hold 100GB of information (dual-layer, dual-sided), which allows software vendors to integrate novel, as yet unrealizable, ideas.
Yes, it definitely has the potential to replace DVD, but the standards war with HD-DVD means that it is unclear which will prevail. HD-DVD seems to have the edge right now, and that might mean Blu-Ray has to find other markets, as HD-DVD seems to be the favorite to win the consumer video market.
Having said that, the pie is large, and there are several application markets where each can dominate.
CE: What are Blu-Ray's advantages?
RK: DVDs are flying off the shelves all over the world, and this mass-market penetration on their part (along with expected growth in their uptake) will drive Blu-Ray adoption and production.
The Blu-Ray disc camp seems to have more friends than HD-DVD, whose principal backers are NEC and Toshiba. Blu-Ray's champions include Sony, Matsushita Electric Industrial (Panasonic's parent), Royal Philips Electronics, Samsung Electronics, Hewlett-Packard, and Dell. Dell and HP's backing for Blu-Ray for next-generation DVDs might be especially crucial because of the companies' huge presence?s in the personal computing market, lending weight to Blu-Ray's aim to be the next PC-DVD format. But this might be changing in HD-DVD's favor, so the jury is still out.
CE: How about Blu-Ray's disadvantages or weaknesses?
RK: HD-DVD discs have 3.5 times the storage capacity of current SD-DVD (standard-definition DVD). With VC-9 and MPEG-4 compression, they can hold 1,080-pixel resolution at 19 megabits per second, which is only a bit more than twice as much as SD-DVD. This leaves HD-DVD with plenty of room for audio improvement with no loss in play times. Since Blu-Ray still uses MPEG-2, it will require six times the bit rate as SD-DVD to hold a full 1,080 pixels, leaving very little room for audio improvement.
CE: Do you see Blu-Ray winning a standards war and finding its way into American homes and businesses anytime soon? What are the prospects for business usage?
RK: While magnetic recording is the preferred choice for archival recording (libraries, archived music and movies), the increase in areal densities in optical discs make them prime candidates for archival storage on account of their durability and ease of use. With Blu-Ray currently leading in the optical storage pack, this leaves it in position to exploit the lucrative archival storage market.
CE: What are Blu-Ray's prospects for the consumer market?
RK: Aiding sales of next-generation DVD recorders (of course, their standard will be determined later) are shipments of high-definition televisions and the rollout of high-definition content to be used with those sets. About 20 million sets are expected to ship this year, and 77 million users by 2008. Users who record high-definition TV require on of the two- Blu-Ray or HD-DVD- since the high storage demands for such shows will require more than current DVDs.
Commercial applications for Blu-Ray optical discs will range from consumer videos to archival storage. Colombia TriStar Home Entertainment, a Sony subsidiary, will launch all its new titles on Blu-Ray discs by early 2006 when the format is officially released, citing a rising tide of high-definition pay-per-view content on cable and satellite channels, such as HBO and Showtime. This huge pent-up demand for high-definition content will ensure that Blu-Ray will be a mass market from the onset.
So there you have it! I hope you learned something (took me forever to type this darn thing). Don't let this article bias your opinion on Blu-Ray v. HD-DVD. Like the article says, "the jury is still out."