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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). It is
currently competing with the HD DVD format for wide adoption as the
prefered next generation optical standard.
The name Blu-ray
is derived from the blue-violet laser it uses to read and write to the
disc. A Blu-ray Disc will be able to 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) but
may initially be more expensive to produce.
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
has been delayed, and Blu-ray products are not expected to hit U.S.
stores until June 20, 2006.
BDA member
Sony has also postponed the release date of their PlayStation 3 console,
which uses Blu-ray technology for reading games, until around November 17,
2006. The media format was also the main reason for Sony's price increases
of its PS3 models to USD
499 and 599. For these reasons, many regard Sony support of Blu-ray
in its gaming console as a bold move.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blu-ray
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