The technological industry breakthroughs have once again revolutionized our
movie watching experience. Things have not been this exciting since the inception
of the long play Video Home System (VHS) in the early 80s. 25 years later, the
excitement of newer more power packed storage devices still has not waned.
The introduction of the Blu-Ray Discs in 2006 opened up a brand new generation
of optical discs. Unlike its more modest predecessors, the Blu-Ray
is capable of recording, storing and playback of exceptionally retained
hi-def video and digital media. Remember the horrors of the crappy
playback we got each time we re-recorded a VHS until we resigned
ourselves to watching images which were nothing more than static
laden shadows on the TV screen? Welcome to my childhood memories
of Star Wars.
Compared to the DVD which has the average capacity of only 4.7
GB or enough room for roughly two hours of standard video plus only
a handful of other extras, a single layer Blu-Ray Disc (BD) gives
you 27 GB or your choice of 13 hours of standard videos or
2 hours of hi definition video with room for a dozen extras. The
more preferable double layer BD holds twice that amount of storage
or ten times the average DVD capacity, with a 200 GB multi-layer
layer BD being developed as we speak. Imagine having the whole crystal
clear Star Wars saga on a single compact disc. My nine year old
self would have just died!
So, how exactly does Blu-Ray manage to pack a wallop of media storage on a
disc? The magic is in the name itself. It utilizes a blue-violet laser with
a more pinpoint aperture at 405 nanometers than the red lasers used in the CD
and DVD technology. They had to call it "Blu" because you can not
trademark an everyday word. The rest has something to do with the re-engineering
of the disc itself, with the potential to handle 8 layers as opposed to the
current dual layer available on most discs. Bottom line? The Blu-Ray stores
more data, and therefore costs more.
But this does not mean to say that Blu-Ray does not have its setbacks. Even
if Blu-Ray has the lead over the other innovators, it still has to content with
economic feasibility of such a young market start up. Current production costs
of a single Blu-Ray disc is more than ten times the cost of making a DVD disc.
Not all stand alone Blu-Ray Disc players would be able to run all the special
features in newer discs due to the rapid technological turnaround. At an average
of $1,000 per Blu-Ray player and the $600 PS3, it is the most expensive gadget
around. Plus, you really would have to invest in a brand new digital television
if you want to enjoy the full experience of hi-def which the Blu-Ray offers
and 7.1 surround speakers. The costs of upgrading do add up.
All in all, we are staring at the face of the future. It seems like the Blu-Ray
is the wave of the future. Early adopters will have to deal with
some of the caveat attached to owning a piece of still developing
technology, but that's the price of geekhood, or being Mr.
Jones.
Panasonic maker Matsu*peace*a Electric Industrial said it would launch new Blu-ray optical disc recorders in November that allow more hours of full high-definition recording on a single disc than any others available.
Matsu*peace*a also said it plans to offer the world's first DVD recorders that can store full high-definition programs on conventional DVD discs next month.