Blu-Ray Dics Physical Specification Approved and Available to Disc Manufacturers

Blu-ray Disc Founders said that they've approved version 1.0 of the Blu-ray Discs physical format spec. Players and discs are not expected to be available until late 2005. Blu-ray is expected to replace VCRs and current DVD technology within a few years. The format is also likely to become a standard for PC data storage and high-definition movies in the future.

The Blu-ray Disc Founders group consists of 13 member companies: Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Hitachi, LG Electronics, Matsushita Electric Industrial, Mitsubishi Electric, Pioneer, Royal Philips Electronics, Samsung Electronics, Sharp Electronics, Sony, TDK and Thomson.

Blu-ray, also known as Blu-ray Disc (BD) is the name of a next-generation optical disc format jointly developed by thirteen leading consumer electronics. The format was developed to enable recording, rewriting and playback of high-definition television (HDTV). Blu-ray Disc holds up to 25 gigabytes of data or high definition video on a single-layer disc and up to 50 gigabytes on a dual-layer disc. The current DVD disc holds up to 4.7 gigabytes on single-layer discs and up to 8.5 gigabytes on dual-layer discs.

The key applications of Blu-ray Disc, with its huge storage capacity, are recording and playback of high definition video. Blu-ray Disc is also suitable for a variety of applications including PC data storage and is the perfect storage medium to enable digital convergence bridging between PC applications and consumer electronics entertainment devices. The performance of Blu-ray Disc will meet the growing market demand for High Definition TV and offer new opportunities for content providers to create compelling interactive services for consumers.