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Blu-ray disc, which is also known as BD or blu-ray, is a format for storing optical disc media. It is generally used for high-definition video storage and data storage. This disc looks like any ordinary disc and has the same dimensions.

The name of blu-ray Disc comes from the blue laser that is used for reading and writing this type of disc. It is a combination of the word "blue" that stands for blue-violet laser and `ray` standing for optical ray.

Since it has shorter wavelength of around 405 nm, so it can store substantially more data than a DVD that uses a red or 650 nm laser. To give you more details, a dual layer blu-ray disc has the capacity to store 50 GB, which is almost six times of the capacity of similar dual layer DVD.

The blu-ray Disc was invented by the Blu-ray Disc Association. It is a group of companies that represent computer hardware, consumer electronics, and are also involved in motion picture production. There are more than 180 member companies in this association, from all over the world. The current board of directors consists of companies like Apple Computer, Inc., Warner Bros. Entertainment, Dell Inc., Thomson Multimedia, Hewlett Packard Company, Sharp Corporation, Hitachi, Ltd., Twentieth Century Fox, LG Electronics Inc, Sony Corporation, Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Sun Microsystems, Inc Ltd, TDK Corporation, Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, Pioneer Corporation, Royal Philips Electronics, Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., Walt Disney Pictures.

There was a time when blu-ray disc was competing with the HD DVD format, but soon most of the leading companies announced that they could no longer find buyers for their HD DVD players and recorders. Hence blu-ray emerged as the clear winner of the format war.

There are many myths regarding this technology since it is comparatively new. In this article we will try to clear some of those. The first myth is that internet connection is necessary for supporting this format. It is absolutely untrue. Internet connection is not needed for basic playback of blu-ray supported movies. It will only be needed for extra features like downloading value-added services, web browsing, watching latest movie trailers etc. You will also need internet if you want to authorize the managed copies of those blu-ray movies that are transferred over your home network.

The second myth is regarding down-converting analog outputs. Blu-ray players will not down-convert the signals of analog output unless your video contains ICT or Image Constraint Token. Since most of the movie studios like Sony, Fox, Disney, MGM, Paramount, and Universal do not use this feature so you will not be having much trouble with this.

Another question is regarding supporting mandatory managed copies. Well, the blu-ray format will have mandatory managed copy (MMC) in order to enable customers to make legal and authentic copies of blu-ray movies, which can be easily transferred over the home network.

Since it is a new technology so it is obvious that the first generation products will be somewhat expensive as there will be low production volumes. But manufacturers are planning a wide range of blu-ray products like players, drives, recorders, media, writers, etc and hence product volumes are soon expected to rise giving way to lower prices.

It is a general expectation that blu-ray will soon replace DVDs and most of the big movie studios have hugely supported this format compared to DVDs monopoly. They have already released movies in this format and plan to continue the same. But it is a high probability that DVDs will also not become completely extinct. Chances are that these two formats will co-exist for some time. That is the reason why most top consumer electronics brands like Panasonic, Philips, Sony, Samsung, Sharp, Pioneer and LG have introduced products that can read and write CDs, DVDs as well as blu-ray discs.

This article can be accessed in portuguese from the Article section of page www.polomercantil.com.br/eletronicos.php

Roberto Sedycias works as IT consultant for www.polomercantil.com.br