A Kind Of Blu – Introducing Blu-ray and HD DVD-R Recordables – CDROM2GO.COM
A Kind Of Blu – Introducing Blu-ray and HD DVD-R RecordablesNow that I’ve been keeping you up to date on the latest blue laser formats, Blu-ray and HD DVD, I’ll get you up to speed on the latest recordable formats BD-R (Blu-ray recordable) and HD-DVD recordable discs. Previously I’ve been writing about next generation “Read Only” formats Blu-ray and HD DVD but now I will explore the recordable side. Being in the duplication industry I’m excited to learn more about these latest technologies but I may be getting ahead of myself. The technology is here but the market always lags years behind. Nevertheless I will briefly touch on how this technology works and what it will mean to the industry and consumers alike.BD-R technology will initially come in two formats BD-R (recordable) and BD-RE (Rewritable) with both single layer and double layer types a possibility. A typical BD-R will hold 25.02GB on a single layer and 50.05GB on a dual layer disc. These increased capacities are quite a step up from the current DVD R formats that hold 4.7GB Single Layer and 8.5GB Dual Layer. The increased capacity is due to the shorter wavelength of the blue laser allowing it to read much smaller pits of information than a red laser can. With smaller pits Blu-ray discs and BD-R can pack in much more information. What can this increase in capacity be used for? Data back up and personal media archival to name a couple and I’m sure a host of other applications will surface to gobble up this expanded storage capacity. Also Standard DVD and DVD-R cannot hold High Definition video since it requires 5 times more bandwidth than a standard DVD can hold. Blu-ray and BD-R can adequately provide the necessary bandwidth, which in turn will allow high definition movies or video to be recorded or copied. This will for sure be very important in the new high definition age.Not to be out done, Blu-rays persistent rival HD DVD, has it’s own recordable version HD DVD-R. An advantage this format might have is that the same production lines that produce DVD-R can easily be converted over to HD DVD-R. HD DVD-R like Blu-Ray uses a Blu laser to read information from the disc allowing for increased capacity however, HD DVD-R only has a capacity of 15GB single layer and 30GB for dual layer but still adequate enough to store large amounts of data including high definition video. HD DVD products are planned to launch the Spring of 2006 at the same time other HD DVD products will be launched. Don’t get too excited, it may take a couple of years before you decide to start making HD DVD-R copies.If you do decide to fork over the money for new technology at least you might be supported. Sonic Solutions, a leader in digital software, announced at last years Consumer Electronic Show that it will support BD-R in both Sonic and Roxio consumer software applications. Once the video formats have been finalized Sonic will release its line of consumer and professional software applications for copy and playback of the new high definition interactive media.Hopefully at the upcoming Consumer Electronic Show I’ll learn more about both new formats. Stay tuned for more articles on Blu-ray, HD DVD, BD-R and all that jazz…
