Blu-ray Frequently Asked Questions Blu-ray FAQs:
What is Blu-ray?
Why the name Blu-ray?
Who developed Blu-ray?
What Blu-ray formats are available?
What can I print on the disc?
How much data can you fit on a Blu-ray disc?
How much video can you fit on a Blu-ray disc?
How fast can you read/write a Blu-ray disc?
How many Blu-ray discs can I copy and print per hour?
Does Blu-ray discs require a cartridge?
Where can I buy Blu-ray products?
What is Blu-ray?
Blu-ray, also known as Blu-ray Disc (BD) is the name of a next-generation optical disc format. The format was developed to enable recording,
rewriting and playback of high-definition video (HD), as well as storing large amounts of data. The format offers more than five times the
storage capacity of traditional DVDs and can hold up to 25GB on a single-layer disc and 50GB on a dual-layer disc.
Why the name Blu-ray?
While current optical disc technologies such as DVD rely on a red laser to read and write data, the new format uses a blue-violet laser instead,
hence the name Blu-ray. The name is a combination of "Blue" (blue-violet laser) and "Ray" (optical ray). According to the
Blu-ray Disc Association the spelling of "Blu-ray" is not a mistake, the character "e" was intentionally left out so the term
could be registered as a trademark.
The correct full name is Blu-ray Disc, not Blu-ray Disk (incorrect spelling)
The correct shortened name is Blu-ray, not Blu-Ray (incorrect capitalization) or Blue-ray (incorrect spelling)
The correct abbreviation is BD, not BR or BRD (wrong abbreviation)
Who developed Blu-ray?
The Blu-ray Disc format was developed by the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA), a group of leading consumer electronics, personal computer and media
manufacturers, with more than 180 member companies from all over the world. The Board of Directors include:
Apple Computer, Inc.
Dell Inc.
Hewlett Packard Company
Hitachi, Ltd.
LG Electronics Inc.
Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
Pioneer Corporation
Royal Philips Electronics
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
Sharp Corporation
Sony Corporation
Sun Microsystems, Inc.
TDK Corporation
Thomson Multimedia
Twentieth Century Fox
Walt Disney Pictures
Warner Bros. Entertainment
What Blu-ray formats are available?
As with conventional CDs and DVDs, Blu-ray provides a wide range of formats including read only ROM, recordable and rewritable. The following
formats are part of the Blu-ray Disc specification:
BD-ROM - read-only format for distribution of HD movies, games, software.
BD-R - recordable format for HD video recording and data storage.
BD-RE - rewritable format for HD video recording and data storage.
BD-R DL - dual layer recordable format for HD video recording and data storage.
BD-RE DL - dual layer rewritable format for HD video recording and data storage.
What can I print on the disc?
Recordable Blu-ray discs (BD-R) are available with white inkjet and thermal printable surfaces so you can print anything from a logo with a
few lines of text to full surface artwork including photographic images on the disc. Silk-screen and Litho printing is also available as part
of the Blu-ray replication process (BD-ROM).
How much data can you fit on a Blu-ray disc?
A single-layer disc can hold 25GB compared to a 4.7GB single layer DVD.
A dual-layer disc can hold 50GB compared to a 8.5GB dual layer DVD.
To ensure that the Blu-ray Disc format is easily extendable (future-proof) it also includes support for multi-layer discs, which should allow the storage capacity to be increased to 100GB-200GB (25GB per layer) in the future simply by adding more layers to the discs.
How much video can you fit on a Blu-ray disc?
Over 9 hours of high-definition (HD) video on a 50GB
disc.
About 23 hours of standard-definition (SD) video on a 50GB disc.
A single layer Blu-ray disc holds the equivalent content of 36 CDs/5.75 DVDs!
How fast can you read/write a Blu-ray disc?
The original Blu-ray Disc specification defines a 1x read/write speed (4.29 MB of data per second) however this has been expanded to include 2x,
4x and 6x.
BD-R (25 GB) write speed examples:
1x (CLV) = 93 minutes
2x (CLV)* = 45 minutes
4x (CLV)** = 23 minutes
6x (CAV, 2.5x-6x) = 21 minutes
*current BD-RE maximum write speed
**current BD-R DL maximum write speed
Blu-ray also has the potential for much higher speeds, as a result of the larger numerical aperture (NA) adopted by Blu-ray Disc. The large NA value effectively means that Blu-ray will require less recording power and lower disc rotation speed than DVD and HD-DVD to achieve the same data transfer rate. While the media itself limited the recording speed in the past, the only limiting factor for Blu-ray is the capacity of the hardware. If we assume a maximum disc rotation speed of 10,000 RPM, then 12x at the outer diameter should be possible. This is why the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA) already has plans to raise the read/write speed to 8x or more in the future.
How many Blu-ray discs can I copy and print per hour?
Our range of professional Blu-ray duplicators are fitted with 4x Blu-ray writers so they can produce approximately three 25 GB Blu-ray discs per
drive, per hour.
Blu-ray throughput examples including disc handling and print:
Rimage 8100N = 12
Rimage 7100N = 6
Rimage 5300N = 6
Rimage 5100N = 3
Xpress XL = 36
Xpress XP = 12 or 16
Xpress XE = 6
X100 = 6
Versa Copier Pro = 12
VersaCopier = 9
Do Blu-ray discs require a cartridge?
No, the development of new low cost hard-coating technologies has made the cartridge obsolete. Blu-ray instead relies on hard-coating for protection, which when applied makes the discs even more resistant to scratches and fingerprints than today's DVDs, while still preserving the same look and feel. Blu-ray also adopts a new error correction system which is more robust and efficient than the one used for DVDs.
Where can I buy Blu-ray products?
If you have any Blu-ray requirements just give us a call on 01491 636373.
