83-408: SD Blu-ray disc is a Blu-ray disc on which the main feature is standard-definition video instead of the high-definition video found on typical Blu-ray discs. This is often due to the highest quality version of the feature content only being available in standard definition. This can include content that was shot on standard definition video, animation produced digitally in standard definition, or
166-682: A BD player. Japanese optical disc manufacturer Infinity announced the first "hybrid" Blu-ray Disc/(standard) DVD combo, to be released on February 18, 2009. This disc set of the TV series Code Blue featured four hybrid discs containing a single Blu-ray Disc layer (25 GB) and two DVD layers (9 GB) on the same side of the disc. In January 2007, Hitachi showcased a 100 GB Blu-ray Disc, consisting of four layers containing 25 GB each. It claimed that, unlike TDK's and Panasonic 's 100 GB discs, this disc would be readable on standard Blu-ray Disc drives that were currently in circulation, and it
249-531: A PC monitor or an LCD or plasma-based television set, with the interlaced images displayed using the same mode as the progressive images. Progressive scan is used for scanning and storing film-based material on DVDs , for example, as 480p 24 or 576p 25 formats. Progressive scan was included in the Grand Alliance 's technical standard for HDTV in the early 1990s. It was agreed that all film transmission by HDTV would be broadcast with progressive scan in
332-425: A cable) typically have a SATA interface. More recent half-height Blu-Ray writers have reached writing speeds of up to 16× ( constant angular velocity ) on single-layer BD-R media, while the highest reading speeds are 12×, presumably to prevent repeated physical stress on the disc. Slim type drives are limited to 6× speeds (constant angular velocity) due to spacial and power limitations. The Blu-ray format has
415-521: A chain reaction in the industry, with major American retailers such as Best Buy , Walmart , and Circuit City and Canadian chains such as Future Shop dropping HD DVD in their stores. Woolworths , then a major European retailer, dropped HD DVD from its inventory. Major DVD rental companies Netflix and Blockbuster said they would no longer carry HD DVD. Following these new developments, on February 19, 2008, Toshiba announced it would end production of HD DVD devices, allowing Blu-ray Disc to become
498-510: A consortium founded in 2004, had been developing the DRM platform that could be used to distribute movies to consumers while preventing copying. However, the final AACS standard was delayed, and then delayed again when an important member of the Blu-ray Disc group voiced concerns. At the request of the initial hardware manufacturers, including Toshiba, Pioneer, and Samsung, an interim standard
581-683: A day before CES 2008, Warner Bros. , the only major studio still releasing movies in both HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc format, announced that it would release only in Blu-ray after May 2008. This effectively included other studios that came under the Warner umbrella, such as New Line Cinema and HBO —though in Europe, HBO's distribution partner, the BBC , announced it would continue to release product on both formats while keeping an eye on market forces. This led to
664-603: A dual-layer disc. It is similar in concept to the MiniDVD and Mini CD . Recordable (BD-R) and rewritable (BD-RE) versions of Mini Blu-ray Disc have been developed specifically for compact camcorders and other compact recording devices. " Blu-ray Disc recordable " (BD-R) refers to two optical disc formats that can be recorded with an optical disc recorder . BD-Rs can be written to once, whereas Blu-ray Disc Recordable Erasable (BD-REs) can be erased and re-recorded multiple times. The current practical maximum speed for Blu-ray Discs
747-408: A firmware upgrade. This technology was later used on BDXL discs. On July 20, 2010, the research team of Sony and Japanese Tohoku University announced the joint development of a blue-violet laser, to help create Blu-ray Discs with a capacity of 1 TB using only two layers (and potentially more than 1 TB with additional layering). By comparison, the first blue laser was invented in 1996, with
830-525: A format of rewritable discs that would eventually become Blu-ray Disc (more specifically, BD-RE). The core technologies of the formats are similar. The first DVR Blue prototypes were unveiled by Sony at the CEATEC exhibition in October 2000. A trademark for the "Blue Disc" logo was filed on February 9, 2001. On February 19, 2002, the project was officially announced as Blu-ray Disc, and Blu-ray Disc Founders
913-428: A laser can be focused is limited by diffraction and depends on the wavelength of the light and the numerical aperture of the lens used to focus it. By decreasing the wavelength, increasing the numerical aperture from 0.60 to 0.85, and making the cover layer thinner to avoid unwanted optical effects, designers can cause the laser beam to focus on a smaller spot, which effectively allows more information to be stored in
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#1732791900718996-487: A more faithful and detailed reproduction of the original source master. However, the playback quality of an SD encode can vary depending on the upscaling quality of the viewer's own equipment and will generally not be as good as a pre-upscaled encoding. Blu-ray Disc titles can combine standard definition video with high definition audio tracks. Lossless audio is more practical and flexible on Blu-ray than on DVD, which only supports lossless PCM in 48 kHz stereo and requires
1079-410: A production basis, allowing for the development of a denser storage format that could hold higher-definition media, with prototype discs made with diodes at a slightly longer wavelength of 407 nanometers in October 1998. Sony commenced two projects in collaboration with Panasonic , Philips , and TDK , applying the new diodes: UDO (Ultra Density Optical), and DVR Blue (together with Pioneer ),
1162-479: A red positioning/addressing laser (650 nm). It was to offer MPEG-2, MPEG-4 AVC (H.264), HEVC (H.265), and VC-1 encoding, supporting a maximum storage capacity of 6 TB. No systems conforming to the Ecma International HVD standard have been released. The company responsible for HVD went bankrupt in 2010, making any releases unlikely. A boutique Blu-ray label or specialty Blu-ray label
1245-435: A relatively large amount of data, leaving less storage space available for the video. In contrast, Blu-ray supports lossless multi-channel audio in multiple formats and the larger storage makes its inclusion much more practical without impacting video quality. Several standard definition concert recordings have been released on Blu-ray to take advantage of the superior sound quality available, despite there being little benefit to
1328-455: A resolution of 1440 × 1080 pixels, with Ultra HD Blu-ray players extending the maximum resolution to 4K ( 3840 × 2160 pixels) and progressive frame rates up to 60 frames per second. Aside from an 8K resolution ( 7680 × 4320 pixels) Blu-ray format exclusive to Japan , videos with non-standard resolutions must use letterboxing to conform to a resolution supported by the Blu-ray specification. Besides these hardware specifications, Blu-ray
1411-641: A single disc rather than the 8 DVDs used for the previous release. Despite being the same resolution, SD video presented on Blu-ray has the potential to look better than the DVD equivalent due to the availability of superior video codecs and higher bitrates. The AVC and VC-1 codecs available for Blu-ray both offer superior picture quality at a given bitrate than the older MPEG2 codec used on DVD (or comparable quality at lower bitrates). Content that might have been over-compressed on DVD with noticeable compression artifacts need not exhibit those artifacts on Blu-ray, resulting in
1494-561: A smaller area, thus enabling it to read information recorded in pits that are less than half the size of those on a DVD, and can consequently be spaced more closely, resulting in a shorter track pitch, enabling a Blu-ray Disc to hold about five times the amount of information that can be stored on a DVD. The lasers are GaN ( gallium nitride ) laser diodes that produce 405 nm light directly, that is, without frequency doubling or other nonlinear optical mechanisms. CDs use 780 nm near-infrared lasers. The minimum " spot size " on which
1577-519: A standard DVD keep case , generally with the format prominently displayed in a horizontal stripe across the top of the case (translucent blue for Blu-ray video discs, clear for Blu-ray 3D video releases, red for PlayStation 3 Greatest Hits Games, transparent for regular PlayStation 3 games, transparent dark blue for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 games, transparent green for Xbox One and Xbox Series X games and black for Ultra HD Blu-ray video releases). Warren Osborn and The Seastone Media Group, LLC created
1660-524: A task force was created three months prior to conduct a study concerning an extension to the Blu-ray Disc specification that would add the ability to contain 4K UHD video. On August 5, 2015, the BDA announced it would commence licensing the Ultra HD Blu-ray video format starting on August 24, 2015. The Ultra HD Blu-ray format delivered support for high dynamic range video that significantly expanded
1743-416: A television program that was shot on film but edited onto SD video with the original film subsequently lost or impractical to re-transfer. Standard definition content uses much less disc space than a pre-rendered upscale would, reducing the number of discs required, and the manufacturing costs in turn, for longer titles. The "SD on BD" release of Samurai Pizza Cats , for example, contains all 52 episodes on
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#17327919007181826-399: A vital part in keeping the technology affordable while allowing it to move forward. In an effort to increase sales, studios began releasing films in combo packs with Blu-ray Discs and DVDs, as well as digital copies that can be played on computers and mobile devices. Some are released on "flipper" discs with Blu-ray on one side and DVD on the other. Other strategies are to release movies with
1909-412: A working experimental Blu-ray Disc capable of holding 200 GB of data on a single side, using six 33 GB data layers. In 2007, Hitachi was reported to have plans to produce 200 GB discs by 2009. Behind closed doors at CES 2007, Ritek revealed that it had successfully developed a high-definition optical disc process that extended the disc capacity to ten layers, increasing the capacity of
1992-407: A write verification feature, similar to that of DVD-RAM , but brings this feature to a write-once disc for the first time. If activated, the correctness of the written data is verified immediately after being written so unreadable data can be written again. In this case, the writing speed is halved because half of the disc rotations are for writing only. "Write verification" is not an official term for
2075-443: Is 12 centimetres ( 4 + 3 ⁄ 4 inches) in diameter and 1.2 millimetres ( 1 ⁄ 16 inch) thick, the same size as DVDs and CDs . Conventional (or "pre-BD-XL") Blu-ray discs contain 25 GB per layer, with dual-layer discs (50 GB) being the industry standard for feature-length video discs. Triple-layer discs (100 GB) and quadruple-layer discs (128 GB) are available for BD-XL re-writer drives. While
2158-682: Is a home video distributor that releases films on Blu-ray or 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray format, characterized by a specific or niche target market and collectable features like " limited edition " or "special edition" releases, deluxe slipcases or packaging, and other materials. Examples of boutique Blu-ray labels include the American Genre Film Archive (AGFA), Arrow Films , Canadian International Pictures, The Criterion Collection , Kino Lorber , Severin Films , Shout! Factory , Twilight Time , Vinegar Syndrome , and
2241-429: Is a format of displaying, storing, or transmitting moving images in which all the lines of each frame are drawn in sequence. This is in contrast to interlaced video used in traditional analog television systems where only the odd lines, then the even lines of each frame (each image called a video field ) are drawn alternately, so that only half the number of actual image frames are used to produce video. The system
2324-467: Is about 12× (54 MB/s). Higher speeds of rotation (5,000+ rpm ) cause too much wobble for the discs to be written properly, as with the 24× (33.2 MB/s) and 56× (8.2 MB/s, 11,200 rpm) maximum speeds, respectively, of standard DVDs and CDs . Since September 2007, BD-RE is also available in the smaller 8 cm Mini Blu-ray Disc size. Progressive scan Progressive scanning (alternatively referred to as noninterlaced scanning )
2407-485: Is associated with a set of multimedia formats. Given that Blu-ray discs can contain ordinary computer files , there is no fixed limit as to which resolution of video can be stored when not conforming to the official specifications. The BD format was developed by the Blu-ray Disc Association , a group representing makers of consumer electronics, computer hardware, and motion pictures. Sony unveiled
2490-445: Is that it requires higher bandwidth than interlaced video that has the same frame size and vertical refresh rate . Because of this 1080p is not used for broadcast. For explanations of why interlacing was originally used, see interlaced video . For an in-depth explanation of the fundamentals and advantages/disadvantages of converting interlaced video to a progressive format, see deinterlacing . The main advantage with progressive scan
2573-418: Is that motion appears smoother and more realistic. There is an absence of visual artifacts associated with interlaced video of the same line rate, such as interline twitter. Frames have no interlace artifacts and can be captured for use as still photos. With progressive scan there is no need to introduce intentional blurring (sometimes referred to as anti-aliasing) to reduce interline twitter and eye strain. In
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2656-467: The DVD-Video specification has a maximum resolution of 480p ( NTSC , 720 × 480 pixels) or 576p ( PAL , 720 × 576 pixels), the initial specification for storing movies on Blu-ray discs defined a maximum resolution of 1080p ( 1920 × 1080 pixels) at up to 24 progressive or 29.97 interlaced frames per second . Revisions to the specification allowed newer Blu-ray players to support videos with
2739-490: The Warner Archive Collection . Boutique Blu-ray labels, which are popular among collectors and enthusiasts of film and physical media , have been credited as a factor in a "Blu-ray renaissance" dating back to at least 2018, with some consumers choosing to purchase films on physical formats in an age of digital streaming. Reasons some consumers prefer Blu-rays to streaming include higher video quality,
2822-426: The interline twitter effect associated with interlacing. On the left there are two progressive scan images. In the middle there are two interlaced images and on the right there are two images with line doublers . The original resolutions are above and the ones with spatial anti-aliasing are below. The interlaced images use half the bandwidth of the progressive ones. The images in the center column precisely duplicate
2905-548: The "format war" ended, Blu-ray Disc sales began to increase. A study by the NPD Group found that awareness of Blu-ray Disc had reached 60% of households in the United States. Nielsen VideoScan sales numbers showed that for some titles, such as 20th Century Fox's Hitman , up to 14% of total disc sales were from Blu-ray, although the average Blu-ray sales for the first half of the year were only around 5%. In December 2008,
2988-565: The Advanced Optical Disc. It was finally adopted by the DVD Forum and renamed HD DVD the next year, after being voted down twice by DVD Forum members who were also Blu-ray Disc Association members—a situation that drew preliminary investigations by the U.S. Department of Justice . HD DVD had a head start in the high-definition video market, as Blu-ray Disc sales were slow to gain market share. The first Blu-ray Disc player
3071-562: The Blu-ray Disc specification has been finalized, engineers continue to work on advancing the technology. By 2005, quad-layer (100 GB) discs had been demonstrated on a drive with modified optics and standard unaltered optics. Hitachi stated that such a disc could be used to store 7 hours of 32 Mbit/s video (HDTV) or 3 hours and 30 minutes of 64 Mbit/s video ( ultra-high-definition television ). In April 2006, TDK canceled plans to produce 8-layer 200 GB Blu-ray Discs. In August 2006, TDK announced that it had created
3154-472: The Blu-ray Disc version of Warner Bros.' The Dark Knight sold 600,000 copies on the first day of its launch in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. A week after the launch, The Dark Knight BD had sold over 1.7 million copies worldwide, making it the first Blu-ray Disc title to sell over a million copies in the first week of release. According to Singulus Technologies AG, Blu-ray
3237-531: The Digital Entertainment Group, the number of Blu-ray Disc playback devices (both set-top box and game console) sold in the United States had reached 28.5 million by the end of 2010. Blu-ray faces competition from video on demand and from new technologies that allow access to movies on any format or device, such as Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem or Disney's Keychest . Some commentators suggested that renting Blu-ray would play
3320-525: The U.S. for fear of unauthorized copying. However, personal computers with Blu-ray recorder drives were available. In October 2009, TDK demonstrated a 10-layer 320 GB Blu-ray Disc. On January 1, 2010, Sony, in association with Panasonic, announced plans to increase the storage capacity on their Blu-ray Discs from 25 GB to 33.4 GB via a technology called i-MLSE ( maximum likelihood sequence estimation ). The higher-capacity discs, according to Sony, would be readable on existing Blu-ray Disc players with
3403-474: The United States were slower in the first two years than DVD software sales. Blu-ray's competition includes video on demand (VOD) and DVD. In January 2016, 44% of U.S. broadband households had a Blu-ray player. The information density of the DVD format was limited by the wavelength of the laser diodes used. Following protracted development, blue laser diodes operating at 405 nanometers became available on
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3486-425: The United States. Even if a signal is sent interlaced, an HDTV will convert it to progressive scan. Progressive scan is used for most cathode-ray tube (CRT) computer monitors , all LCD computer monitors, and most HDTVs as the display resolutions are progressive by nature. Other CRT-type displays, such as SDTVs , needed to use interlace to achieve full vertical resolution, but could display progressive video at
3569-469: The aforementioned game consoles can play back regular Blu-ray Discs. In the mid-2010s, the Ultra HD Blu-ray format was released which is an enhanced variant of Blu-ray compatible with the 4K resolution . Ultra HD Blu-ray discs and players became available in the first quarter of 2016, having a storage capacity of up to 100 GB. By December 2017, the specification for an 8K Blu-ray format
3652-444: The amount of content that can be stored. Given that the Blu-ray Disc data layer is closer to the surface of the disc compared to the DVD standard, it was found in early designs to be more vulnerable to scratches. The first discs were therefore housed in cartridges for protection, resembling Professional Discs introduced by Sony in 2003. Using a cartridge would increase the price of an already expensive medium, and would increase
3735-414: The case of most media, such as DVD movies and video games, the video is blurred during the authoring process itself to subdue interline twitter when played back on interlaced displays. As a consequence, recovering the sharpness of the original video is impossible when the video is viewed progressively. A user-intuitive solution to this is when display hardware and video games come equipped with options to blur
3818-480: The cost of halving the vertical resolution. Before HDTV became common, some televisions and video projectors were produced with one or more full-resolution progressive-scan inputs, allowing these displays to take advantage of formats like PALPlus , progressive scan DVD players , and certain video game consoles. HDTVs support the progressively-scanned resolutions of 480p and 720p. 1080p displays are usually more expensive than comparable lower resolution HDTV models. At
3901-514: The data is stored lies under a 0.1 mm protective layer and on top of a 1.1 mm substrate made of polycarbonate plastic, compared to 0.6 mm on either side on DVDs. Sony also announced in April 2004 a version using paper as the substrate developed with Toppan Printing, with up to 25 GB storage. In January 2005, TDK announced that it had developed an ultra-hard yet very thin polymer coating (" Durabis ") for Blu-ray Discs; this
3984-450: The debut of UHD , TVs had emerged on the consumer market in the 2010s, also using progressive resolutions, but usually sold with prohibitive prices ( 4k HDTVs ) or were still in prototype stage ( 8k HDTVs ). Prices for consumer-grade 4k HDTVs have since lowered and become more affordable, which has increased their prevalence amongst consumers. Computer monitors can use even greater display resolutions . The disadvantage of progressive scan
4067-419: The discs to 250 GB. However, it noted the major obstacle was that current read/write technology did not allow additional layers. JVC developed a three-layer technology that allows putting both standard-definition DVD data and HD data on a BD/(standard) DVD combination. This would have enabled the consumer to purchase a disc that can be played on DVD players and can also reveal its HD version when played on
4150-405: The feature, only a description for what it does. The feature may be activated by default, as is the case in the disc writing utility growisofs . Deactivating write verification may be desirable to save time when mass-producing physical copies of data, since errors are unlikely to occur on physically undamaged media. The quality and data integrity of optical media can be determined by measuring
4233-684: The first Blu-ray Disc prototypes in October 2000, and the first prototype player was released in Japan in April 2003. Afterward, it continued to be developed until its official worldwide release on June 20, 2006, beginning the high-definition optical disc format war , where Blu-ray Disc competed with the HD DVD format. Toshiba , the main company supporting HD DVD, conceded in February 2008, and later released its own Blu-ray Disc player in late 2009. According to Media Research, high-definition software sales in
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#17327919007184316-399: The first prototype discs coming four years later. On January 7, 2013, Sony announced that it would release "Mastered in 4K" Blu-ray Disc titles sourced at 4K and encoded at 1080p. "Mastered in 4K" Blu-ray Disc titles can be played on existing Blu-ray Disc players and have a larger color space using xvYCC . On January 14, 2013, Blu-ray Disc Association president Andy Parsons stated that
4399-448: The first three quarters of 2007, BD outsold HD DVD by about two to one. At CES 2007 , Warner proposed Total Hi Def —a hybrid disc containing Blu-ray on one side and HD DVD on the other, but it was never released. On June 28, 2007, 20th Century Fox cited Blu-ray Discs' adoption of the BD+ anticopying system as key to their decision to support the Blu-ray Disc format. On January 4, 2008,
4482-579: The first two years (1997–1998) compared to 8.3 million high-definition software units (2006–2007). One reason given for this difference was the smaller marketplace (26.5 million HDTVs in 2007 compared to 100 million SDTVs in 1998). Former HD DVD supporter Microsoft did not make a Blu-ray Disc drive for the Xbox 360 . The 360's successor Xbox One features a Blu-ray drive, as does the PS4, with both supporting 3D Blu-ray after later firmware updates . Shortly after
4565-581: The hard coating, given that, according to the Blu-ray Disc Association, they offer the best tradeoff between scratch resistance, optical properties, and productivity. The Blu-ray Disc specification requires the testing of resistance to scratches by mechanical abrasion . In contrast, DVD media are not required to be scratch-resistant, but since development of the technology, some companies, such as Verbatim, implemented hard-coating for more expensive lines of recordable DVDs. The table shows
4648-711: The industry standard for high-density optical discs. Universal Studios , the sole major studio to back HD DVD since its inception, said shortly after Toshiba's announcement: "While Universal values the close partnership we have shared with Toshiba, it is time to turn our focus to releasing new and catalog titles on Blu-ray Disc." Paramount Pictures , which started releasing movies only in HD DVD format during late 2007, also said it would start releasing on Blu-ray Disc. Both studios announced initial Blu-ray lineups in May 2008. With this, all major Hollywood studios supported Blu-ray. Although
4731-415: The maximum exploitable drive speed is 288 Mbit/s or 36 MB/s (also called 8× speed). A USB 3.0 interface (with proper cabling) does not have this limitation, nor do even the oldest version of Serial ATA (SATA, 150 MB/s) nor the latest Parallel ATA (133 MB/s) standards. Internal Blu-ray drives that are integrated into a computer (as opposed to physically separate and connected via
4814-435: The new format, and they wanted a new DRM system that would protect more against unauthorized copying than the failed Content Scramble System (CSS) used on DVDs. On October 4, 2004, the name Blu-ray Disc Founders was officially changed to the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA), and 20th Century Fox joined the BDA's Board of Directors. The Blu-ray Disc physical specifications were completed in 2004. The recording layer on which
4897-423: The new format. New Ultra HD Blu-ray Discs hold up to 66 GB and 100 GB of data on dual- and triple-layer discs, respectively. Blu-ray's physical and file system specifications are publicly available on the BDA's website. According to Media Research, high-definition software sales in the United States were slower in the first two years than DVD software sales. 16.3 million DVD software units were sold in
4980-424: The package that was adopted worldwide following the Blu-ray versus HD DVD market adoption choice. Because Blu-ray cases are smaller than DVD cases, more Blu-rays than DVDs can fit on a shelf . The "Mini Blu-ray Disc" (also, "Mini-BD" and "Mini Blu-ray") is a compact 8-centimetre-diameter (3.1 in) variant of the Blu-ray Disc that can store 7.8 GB of data in its single-layer configuration, or 15.6 GB on
5063-469: The physical distribution of video games for the PlayStation 3 , PlayStation 4 , PlayStation 5 , Xbox One , and Xbox Series X . The name refers to the blue laser (actually a violet laser) used to read the disc, which allows information to be stored at a greater density than is possible with the longer-wavelength red laser used for DVDs, resulting in an increased capacity. The polycarbonate disc
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#17327919007185146-422: The pixels of the ones on the left, but interlacing causes details to twitter. Real interlaced video blurs such details to prevent twittering, but as seen in the pictures of the lower row, such softening (or anti-aliasing) comes at the cost of image clarity. A line doubler shown in the bottom right picture cannot restore the previously interlaced image in the center to the full quality of the progressive image shown in
5229-437: The range between the brightest and darkest elements, an expanded color range, a high frame rate of up to 60 frames per second for a smoother motion appearance, an increase of the supported resolution to 3840 × 2160 for a more detailed picture, object-based sound formats, and an optional "digital bridge" feature. New players were required to play this format, and they became able to play all three of DVDs, traditional Blu-rays, and
5312-725: The rate of errors , of which higher rates may be an indication for deteriorating media , low-quality media, physical damage such as scratches, dust, and/or media written using a defective optical drive . Errors on Blu-Ray media are measured using the so-called LDC ( Long Distance Code s) and BIS ( Burst Indication Subcode s) error parameters, of which rates below 13 and 15 respectively can be considered healthy. Not all vendors and models of optical drives have error scanning functionality implemented. Pre-recorded Blu-ray Disc titles usually ship in packages similar to, but slightly smaller (18.5 mm shorter and 2 mm thinner: 135 mm × 171.5 mm × 13 mm ) and more rounded than,
5395-411: The same area. For a Blu-ray Disc, the spot size is 580 nm. This allows a reduction of the pit size from 400 nm for DVD to 150 nm for Blu-ray Disc, and of the track pitch from 740 nm to 320 nm. See compact disc for information on optical discs' physical structure. In addition to the optical improvements, Blu-ray Discs feature improvements in data encoding that further increase
5478-639: The same method used on standard DVDs. The first releases using the newer VC-1 and AVC formats were introduced in September 2006. The first movies using 50 GB dual-layer discs were introduced in October 2006. The first audio-only albums were released in May 2008. By June 2008, over 2,500 Blu-ray Disc titles were available in Australia and the United Kingdom, with 3,500 in the United States and Canada. In Japan, over 3,300 titles had been released as of July 2010. The DVD Forum , chaired by Toshiba ,
5561-582: The size of Blu-ray Disc drives, so designers chose hard-coating of the pickup surface instead. TDK was the first company to develop a working scratch-protection coating for Blu-ray Discs, naming it Durabis . In addition, both Sony's and Panasonic's replication methods include proprietary hard-coat technologies. Sony's rewritable media are spin-coated, using a scratch-resistant acrylic and antistatic coating. Verbatim 's recordable and rewritable Blu-ray Discs use their own proprietary technology, called Hard Coat. Colloidal silica-dispersed UV-curable resins are used for
5644-478: The special features only on Blu-ray Discs and none on DVDs. Blu-ray Discs cost no more to produce than DVD discs. However, reading and writing mechanisms are more complicated, making Blu-ray recorders, drives and players more expensive than their DVD counterparts. Adoption is also limited due to the widespread use of streaming media . Blu-ray Discs are used to distribute PlayStation 3 , PlayStation 4 , PlayStation 5 , Xbox One and Xbox Series X games, and
5727-414: The speeds available. Even the lowest speed (1×) is sufficient to play and record real-time 1080p video; the higher speeds are relevant for general data storage and more sophisticated handling of video. BD discs are designed to cope with at least 5,000 rpm of rotational speed. The usable data rate of a Blu-ray Disc drive can be limited by the capacity of the drive's data interface. With a USB 2.0 interface,
5810-404: The tactile nature of owning a film physically, elaborate packaging, bonus features, and the desire to own or watch films that are not available in streaming services' libraries. While a DVD uses a 650 nm red laser, Blu-ray Disc uses a 405 nm " blue " laser diode . Although the laser is called "blue", its color is actually in the violet range. The shorter wavelength can be focused to
5893-412: The top left. Note: Because the refresh rate has been slowed by a factor of three, and the resolution is less than half a resolution of a typical interlaced video, the flicker in the simulated interlaced portions and also the visibility of the black lines in these examples are exaggerated. Also, the images above are based on what it would look like on a monitor that does not support interlaced scan, such as
5976-490: The video at will, or to keep it at its original sharpness. This allows the viewer to achieve the desired image sharpness with both interlaced and progressive displays. Progressive scan also offers clearer and faster results for scaling to higher resolutions than its equivalent interlaced video, such as upconverting 480p to display on a 1080p HDTV. HDTVs not based on CRT technology cannot natively display interlaced video, therefore interlaced video must be deinterlaced before it
6059-425: The video. Blu-ray Blu-ray ( Blu-ray Disc or BD ) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-definition video ( HDTV 720p and 1080p ). The main application of Blu-ray is as a medium for video material such as feature films and for
6142-509: Was a significant technical advance because a far tougher protection was desired in the consumer market to protect bare discs against scratching and damage compared to DVD, given that Blu-ray Discs technically required a much thinner layer for the denser and higher-frequency blue laser. Cartridges, originally used for scratch protection, were no longer necessary and were scrapped. The BD-ROM specifications were finalized in early 2006. Advanced Access Content System Licensing Administrator (AACS LA),
6225-481: Was adopted faster than the DVD format was at a similar period in its development. This conclusion was based on the fact that Singulus Technologies received orders for 21 Blu-ray dual-layer replication machines during the first quarter of 2008, while 17 DVD replication machines of this type were made in the same period in 1997. According to GfK Retail and Technology, in the first week of November 2008, sales of Blu-ray recorders surpassed DVD recorders in Japan. According to
6308-605: Was also completed. However, this specification was for Japan only so that it could be used by Japanese public broadcasters like NHK to broadcast in 8K resolution for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Japan. The Holographic Versatile Disc (HVD), described in the ECMA-377 standard, was in development by the Holography System Development (HSD) Forum using a green writing/reading laser (532 nm) and
6391-472: Was believed that a firmware update was the only requirement to make it readable by then-current players and drives. In October 2007, they revealed a 100 GB Blu-ray Disc drive. In December 2008, Pioneer Corporation unveiled a 400 GB Blu-ray Disc (containing 16 data layers, 25 GB each) compatible with current players after a firmware update. Its planned launch was in the 2009–10 time frame for ROM and 2010–13 for rewritable discs. Ongoing development
6474-472: Was founded by the nine initial members. The first consumer device arrived in stores on April 10, 2003: the Sony BDZ-S77, a US$ 3,800 BD-RE recorder that was made available only in Japan. However, there was no standard for pre-recorded video, and no movies were released for this player. Hollywood studios insisted that players be equipped with digital rights management before they would release movies for
6557-542: Was originally known as "sequential scanning" when it was used in the Baird 240 line television transmissions from Alexandra Palace , United Kingdom in 1936. It was also used in Baird's experimental transmissions using 30 lines in the 1920s. Progressive scanning became universally used in computer screens beginning in the early 21st century. This rough animation compares progressive scan with interlace scan, also demonstrating
6640-511: Was perceived as expensive and buggy, and there were few titles available. The Sony PlayStation 3 , which contained a Blu-ray Disc player for primary storage, helped support Blu-ray. Sony also ran a more thorough and influential marketing campaign for the format. AVCHD camcorders were also introduced in 2006. These recordings can be played back on many Blu-ray Disc players without re-encoding but are not compatible with HD DVD players. By January 2007, Blu-ray Discs had outsold HD DVDs, and during
6723-567: Was published that did not include some features, such as managed copy, which would have let end users create copies limited to personal use. The first BD-ROM players (Samsung BD-P1000) were shipped in mid-June 2006, though HD DVD players beat them to market by a few months. The first Blu-ray Disc titles were released on June 20, 2006: 50 First Dates , The Fifth Element , Hitch , House of Flying Daggers , Underworld: Evolution , xXx (all from Sony), and MGM 's The Terminator . The earliest releases used MPEG-2 video compression,
6806-520: Was split over whether to develop the more expensive blue laser technology. In March 2002 the forum approved a proposal, which was endorsed by Warner Bros. and other motion picture studios . The proposal involved compressing high-definition video onto dual-layer standard DVD-9 discs. In spite of this decision, however, the DVD Forum's Steering Committee announced in April that it was pursuing its own blue-laser high-definition video solution. In August, Toshiba and NEC announced their competing standard,
6889-535: Was underway to create a 1 TB Blu-ray Disc. At CES 2009, Panasonic unveiled the DMP-B15, the first portable Blu-ray Disc player, and Sharp introduced the LC-BD60U and LC-BD80U series, the first LCD HDTVs with integrated Blu-ray Disc players. Sharp also announced that it would sell HDTVs with integrated Blu-ray Disc recorders in the United States by the end of 2009. Set-top box recorders were not being sold in
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