The Low Down on Blu-Ray Discs

First there was the VHS, then the DVD and next came the DVDHD, and now we have the latest generation of optic media storage in the Blu-Ray Disc. With up to six times the storage capacity of a conventional DVD, the Blue-Ray Disc (BD) offers superior picture and sound with a better durability.

What is Blu-Ray?

The Blu-Ray Disc trademark stems from the use of a blue-violet colored laser that is a shorter wavelength (405nm) than standard CD or DVD lasers that use a red (650nm) laser. The shorter wavelength allows for a substantial increase in data storage.

Storage and Speed

The Blu-Ray Disc comes in two storage categories: 25GB for a single layer or 50GB for a dual layer disc. The discs also come in a write-once or rewritable formats. The last option to consider would be the writing speed. The discs come in either 2x or 4x writing speeds. The 'x' represents how many times faster than a standard CD the writing speed will be. In laymen terms this means that it will take two to four times longer to burn a single CD than it will take to burn a single BD. The discs come in two sizes; the 12cm (standard CD size) single sided and the mini disc, which is 8cm and has a diminished storage capacity of 7.8 GB single layer and 15.6GB dual layer, with the same write speeds of the standard BD.

Inception

The Blu-Ray Disc Association (BDA) is the governing body that develops and licenses the BD. The BDA is the product of the "Blu-Ray Disc Founder Group" that in May 2002 consisted of nine different electronic companies. Sony spearheaded the group and is still the leading manufacturer of BD technology. On January 4, 2008, Warner Brothers, the last major studio still releasing both the BD an HD DVD formats, announced it would no longer produce HD DVD's, permanently ending the format wars. BD has now become the "Gold Standard" as an optical data storage medium.

Price

The cost of buying these neat little storage devices actually varies quite a bit depending on the quality and manufacturer as well as added features such as a protective hard coating. If you would like to purchase movies at a retail price you should be willing to part with about $25 or more per title. Blank discs will start out at $7 and go as high as $35 depending on the quality and extras. However, the prices are a little better if they are bought in multi-packs. Furthermore the BD rewritable is only available in 2x.

So, now that you know a little more about BD, you will find that for the storage space the cost is pretty effective. I don't think too many people can buy a 50GB external drive for $7. But you never know what the competition will come up with next.