12-08-2013, 04:55 PM
Blu—Ray DVD
[attachment=57102]
Introduction
Tokyo Japan, February 19, 2002: Nine leading companies today announced that they have jointly established the basic specifications for a next generation large capacity optical disc video recording format called "Blu-ray Disc". The Blu-ray Disc enables the recording, rewriting and play back of up to 27 gigabytes (GB) of data on a single sided single layer 12cm CD/DVD size disc using a 405nm blue-violet laser.
By employing a short wavelength blue violet laser, the Blu-ray Disc successfully minimizes its beam spot size by making the numerical aperture (NA) on a field lens that converges the laser 0.85. In addition, by using a disc structure with a 0.1mm optical transmittance protection layer, the Blu-ray Disc diminishes aberration caused by disc tilt. This also allows for disc better readout and an increased recording density. The Blu-ray Disc's tracking pitch is reduced to 0.32um, almost half of that of a regular DVD, achieving up to 27 GB high-density recording on a single sided disc.
The Blue Laser
A blue laser operates in the blue range of the light spectrum, ranging from about 405nm to 470nm. Most blue laser diodes use indium gallium nitride as the material to create the laser light, although the amount of indium included in the material varies. (Some blue laser diodes use no indium.) Some manufacturers create blue LEDs (light-emitting diodes), which create light in a manner similar to lasers with silicon carbide.
Blue laser beams have a smaller spot size and are more precise than red laser beams, which lets data on blue laser optical storage discs be stored more densely. The spot size of a laser beam is one determining factor, along with the materials in the optical disc and the way the laser is applied to the disc, in the size of the pits the laser makes on an optical disc. Laser beams with larger spot sizes typically create larger pits than those with smaller pit sizes. Blue lasers are desirable because blue light has the shortest wavelength among visible light.
A blue laser operates at a shorter wavelength of about 405nm than a red laser at about 650nm. A nanometer (nm) is one-billionth of a meter, one-millionth of a millimeter, and one-thousandth of a micron. One inch is equal to about 25.4 million nanometers. A human hair is about 50,000nm wide.
Blue Laser Development
Shiju Nakamura is credited with inventing the blue diode laser and blue, green, and white LEDs. Nakamura was working at Nichia Chemical Industries in Japan when he developed the blue laser in 1995. It’s a technology many large corporations had been trying to develop for several years.
Nakamura had worked with LEDs and lasers for several years before tackling blue lasers in the late 1980s. Because most research at the time focused on using zinc selenide as the laser material, Nakamura decided to work with gallium nitride. He spent two years perfecting a technique for growing high-quality gallium nitride crystals, something other researchers had been unable to achieve.
Putting Blue Lasers to Work
Blue lasers could appear in a variety of business applications, including high-density DVDs, laser printers, and lighting situations.
HD DVDs : HD (high-definition) DVDs using blue laser light could lead to five or six times the storage capacity possible using red laser light on a DVD. Blue laser light could create HD CDs, too.
Because blue lasers can increase the capacity of optical discs by five-fold or more, they give manufacturers a few options for their digital files. Manufacturers could choose to burn additional data onto the disc while keeping the same digital quality, potentially making CDs containing 50 to 75 songs. Manufacturers also could choose to use blue laser to increase the quality level of the video or audio recording. Keep in mind that nearly all DVDs using the MPEG-2 standard automatically contain some compression of the video file, which allows the file to fit on the disc. With an HD DVD, manufacturers could choose to use no compression on the video file, which should improve file quality.
Waiting for HD DVD
The unfortunate news is that all of these applications and developments concerning blue lasers remain in the earliest stages. Some of the applications we’ve mentioned here could take until the next decade to become commercially viable. You aren’t going to be able to buy an HD DVD player for a while for several reasons.
First, blue laser devices—like most new types of technology—aren’t cheap to manufacture. It took several years for red and infrared laser devices to become as easily and inexpensively manufactured as they are today; blue laser devices almost certainly will follow that trend in the next few years.
The Blu-ray Impact
Blu-ray is expected to challenge DVD's run as the fastest selling consumer-electronics item in history. If that happens, the impact would be too big for the major players to discount. For example, the number of films sold on DVD more than doubled last year to over 37 million. In addition, almost 2.4 million DVD players were bought in the past year. As Blu-ray is not compatible with DVD, its success could upset the applecart of many players. If the new format turns out to be much popular, the demand for DVD players could come down drastically. Not withstanding the challenge to DVD makers, the new format is seen as a big step in the quest for systems offering higher data storage. It is expected to open up new opportunities for broadcasting industry. Recording of high-definition television video—an application in which more than 10GB of storage space is filled up with just one hour of video—will get a major boost. Conversely, the format could take advantage of the spread of high-definition television. As Blu-ray Disc uses MPEG-2 Transport Stream compression technology, recording for digital broadcasting would become easier. Its adoption will grow in the broadband era as it offers a technology platform to manage stored content. But the real action will begin when the companies involved develop products that take full advantage of Blu-ray Disc's large capacity and high-speed data transfer rate. As that happens, Blu-ray will move beyond being a recording tool to a variety of applications. Adoption of Blu-ray Disc in PC data storage is already being considered.
Comparison of Storage Technologies
While current optical disc technologies such as CD, DVD, DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD-RW and DVD+RW use a red laser to read and write data, the new format uses a blue laser instead, hence the name Blu-ray. The benefit of using a blue laser is that it has a shorter wavelength (405 nanometer) than a red laser (650 nanometer), which means that it's possible to focus the laser beam with even greater precision. This allows data to be packed more tightly on the disc and makes it possible to fit more data on the same size disc. Despite the different type of lasers used, Blu-ray Disc Recorders will be made compatible with current red-laser technologies and allow playback of CDs and DVDs.
Future Developments
Despite the impending tug-of war, the industry is excited about the future prospects of this technological innovation. The industry is of the view that Blu-ray has the potential to replicate, if not better, the DVD success story. The expected upswing in high-definition television adoption and broadband implementation could act as the catalyst. Aware that the recession in economies across the globe could come in the way of high-definition television broadband penetration, major players are exploring the ways to make Blu-ray compatible with DVDs. Cost can dampen the sales in the first year. Owing to the patent and the technology involved, Blu-ray is likely to cost more than DVDs. But sooner than later, it will move towards commodity pricing. Once that happens, Blu-ray holds the promise to steal a march over its immediate predecessor.
Conclusion
In conclusion the Blue-ray Disc is a technology platform that can store sound and video while maintaining high quality and also access the stored content in an easy-to-use way. Blue lasers have a shorter wavelength, which means the laser beam can be focused onto a smaller area of the disc surface. In turn, this means less real estate is needed to store one bit of data, and so more data can be stored on a disc. This will be important in the coming broadband era as content distribution becomes increasingly diversified. Companies involved in the development will respectively make products that take full advantage of Blue-ray Disc's large capacity and high-speed data transfer rate. They are also aiming to further enhance the appeal of the new format through developing a larger capacity, such as over 30GB on a single sided single layer disc and over 50GB on a single sided double layer disc. Adoption of the Blue-ray Disc in a variety of applications including PC data storage and high definition video software is also being considered. There is a lot of talk about blue-laser-based systems being focused around high-definition television, which has heavy data needs. But Blue-ray Disc groups are also considering development of write-once and read-only formats for use with PCs.
[attachment=57102]
Introduction
Tokyo Japan, February 19, 2002: Nine leading companies today announced that they have jointly established the basic specifications for a next generation large capacity optical disc video recording format called "Blu-ray Disc". The Blu-ray Disc enables the recording, rewriting and play back of up to 27 gigabytes (GB) of data on a single sided single layer 12cm CD/DVD size disc using a 405nm blue-violet laser.
By employing a short wavelength blue violet laser, the Blu-ray Disc successfully minimizes its beam spot size by making the numerical aperture (NA) on a field lens that converges the laser 0.85. In addition, by using a disc structure with a 0.1mm optical transmittance protection layer, the Blu-ray Disc diminishes aberration caused by disc tilt. This also allows for disc better readout and an increased recording density. The Blu-ray Disc's tracking pitch is reduced to 0.32um, almost half of that of a regular DVD, achieving up to 27 GB high-density recording on a single sided disc.
The Blue Laser
A blue laser operates in the blue range of the light spectrum, ranging from about 405nm to 470nm. Most blue laser diodes use indium gallium nitride as the material to create the laser light, although the amount of indium included in the material varies. (Some blue laser diodes use no indium.) Some manufacturers create blue LEDs (light-emitting diodes), which create light in a manner similar to lasers with silicon carbide.
Blue laser beams have a smaller spot size and are more precise than red laser beams, which lets data on blue laser optical storage discs be stored more densely. The spot size of a laser beam is one determining factor, along with the materials in the optical disc and the way the laser is applied to the disc, in the size of the pits the laser makes on an optical disc. Laser beams with larger spot sizes typically create larger pits than those with smaller pit sizes. Blue lasers are desirable because blue light has the shortest wavelength among visible light.
A blue laser operates at a shorter wavelength of about 405nm than a red laser at about 650nm. A nanometer (nm) is one-billionth of a meter, one-millionth of a millimeter, and one-thousandth of a micron. One inch is equal to about 25.4 million nanometers. A human hair is about 50,000nm wide.
Blue Laser Development
Shiju Nakamura is credited with inventing the blue diode laser and blue, green, and white LEDs. Nakamura was working at Nichia Chemical Industries in Japan when he developed the blue laser in 1995. It’s a technology many large corporations had been trying to develop for several years.
Nakamura had worked with LEDs and lasers for several years before tackling blue lasers in the late 1980s. Because most research at the time focused on using zinc selenide as the laser material, Nakamura decided to work with gallium nitride. He spent two years perfecting a technique for growing high-quality gallium nitride crystals, something other researchers had been unable to achieve.
Putting Blue Lasers to Work
Blue lasers could appear in a variety of business applications, including high-density DVDs, laser printers, and lighting situations.
HD DVDs : HD (high-definition) DVDs using blue laser light could lead to five or six times the storage capacity possible using red laser light on a DVD. Blue laser light could create HD CDs, too.
Because blue lasers can increase the capacity of optical discs by five-fold or more, they give manufacturers a few options for their digital files. Manufacturers could choose to burn additional data onto the disc while keeping the same digital quality, potentially making CDs containing 50 to 75 songs. Manufacturers also could choose to use blue laser to increase the quality level of the video or audio recording. Keep in mind that nearly all DVDs using the MPEG-2 standard automatically contain some compression of the video file, which allows the file to fit on the disc. With an HD DVD, manufacturers could choose to use no compression on the video file, which should improve file quality.
Waiting for HD DVD
The unfortunate news is that all of these applications and developments concerning blue lasers remain in the earliest stages. Some of the applications we’ve mentioned here could take until the next decade to become commercially viable. You aren’t going to be able to buy an HD DVD player for a while for several reasons.
First, blue laser devices—like most new types of technology—aren’t cheap to manufacture. It took several years for red and infrared laser devices to become as easily and inexpensively manufactured as they are today; blue laser devices almost certainly will follow that trend in the next few years.
The Blu-ray Impact
Blu-ray is expected to challenge DVD's run as the fastest selling consumer-electronics item in history. If that happens, the impact would be too big for the major players to discount. For example, the number of films sold on DVD more than doubled last year to over 37 million. In addition, almost 2.4 million DVD players were bought in the past year. As Blu-ray is not compatible with DVD, its success could upset the applecart of many players. If the new format turns out to be much popular, the demand for DVD players could come down drastically. Not withstanding the challenge to DVD makers, the new format is seen as a big step in the quest for systems offering higher data storage. It is expected to open up new opportunities for broadcasting industry. Recording of high-definition television video—an application in which more than 10GB of storage space is filled up with just one hour of video—will get a major boost. Conversely, the format could take advantage of the spread of high-definition television. As Blu-ray Disc uses MPEG-2 Transport Stream compression technology, recording for digital broadcasting would become easier. Its adoption will grow in the broadband era as it offers a technology platform to manage stored content. But the real action will begin when the companies involved develop products that take full advantage of Blu-ray Disc's large capacity and high-speed data transfer rate. As that happens, Blu-ray will move beyond being a recording tool to a variety of applications. Adoption of Blu-ray Disc in PC data storage is already being considered.
Comparison of Storage Technologies
While current optical disc technologies such as CD, DVD, DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD-RW and DVD+RW use a red laser to read and write data, the new format uses a blue laser instead, hence the name Blu-ray. The benefit of using a blue laser is that it has a shorter wavelength (405 nanometer) than a red laser (650 nanometer), which means that it's possible to focus the laser beam with even greater precision. This allows data to be packed more tightly on the disc and makes it possible to fit more data on the same size disc. Despite the different type of lasers used, Blu-ray Disc Recorders will be made compatible with current red-laser technologies and allow playback of CDs and DVDs.
Future Developments
Despite the impending tug-of war, the industry is excited about the future prospects of this technological innovation. The industry is of the view that Blu-ray has the potential to replicate, if not better, the DVD success story. The expected upswing in high-definition television adoption and broadband implementation could act as the catalyst. Aware that the recession in economies across the globe could come in the way of high-definition television broadband penetration, major players are exploring the ways to make Blu-ray compatible with DVDs. Cost can dampen the sales in the first year. Owing to the patent and the technology involved, Blu-ray is likely to cost more than DVDs. But sooner than later, it will move towards commodity pricing. Once that happens, Blu-ray holds the promise to steal a march over its immediate predecessor.
Conclusion
In conclusion the Blue-ray Disc is a technology platform that can store sound and video while maintaining high quality and also access the stored content in an easy-to-use way. Blue lasers have a shorter wavelength, which means the laser beam can be focused onto a smaller area of the disc surface. In turn, this means less real estate is needed to store one bit of data, and so more data can be stored on a disc. This will be important in the coming broadband era as content distribution becomes increasingly diversified. Companies involved in the development will respectively make products that take full advantage of Blue-ray Disc's large capacity and high-speed data transfer rate. They are also aiming to further enhance the appeal of the new format through developing a larger capacity, such as over 30GB on a single sided single layer disc and over 50GB on a single sided double layer disc. Adoption of the Blue-ray Disc in a variety of applications including PC data storage and high definition video software is also being considered. There is a lot of talk about blue-laser-based systems being focused around high-definition television, which has heavy data needs. But Blue-ray Disc groups are also considering development of write-once and read-only formats for use with PCs.