What Is Blu Ray Technology?

You may be wondering what is Blu Ray exactly? This article explains the new Blu Ray format and how it works.

Blu ray is the name of the next-generation optical disc format which is being jointly developed by some of the world's best consumer electronics and computing companies such as Sony, Pioneer, HP, LG, Mitsubishi, Samsung, and quite a few more.

The blu ray format allows recording and playback of high definition video (HD) and also the capability to store huge amounts of data on a single disc. How much exactly? More than 5 times more storage space than a regular DVD! A single layer Blu Ray Disc (BD) can store 25GB and a dual layer disc can hold up to a whopping 50GB.

DVDs are read and written to with a red laser. The new Blu Ray format uses a blue-violet colored laser instead (hence the name Blu Ray). This new type of laser allows for a shorter wavelength than the old red laser used on DVDs, which leads to better precision and accuracy. This enables data to be written to a disc in a more compact manner, which allows more data to be written. That's why Blu Ray discs can hold more data than a DVD, even though they are the same in physical size.

So what is Blu Ray going to be like in the future? Put simply, it's going to be big. Blu Ray is being backed by many significant corporations and manufacturers in the industry and will eventually become the standard that DVDs are today. Even though Blu Ray technology will over-run the DVD format in the near future, DVDs will still remain a popular storage option for a long time to come just like CDs have been over the years.

If you're interested in using Blu Ray discs for storage or watching Blu Ray movies on your computer, then check out our Blu Ray Burner Buying Guide. It covers the important things to look out for when choosing a Blu Ray drive for your PC.

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