Developers announce next-generation DVD

The next-generation DVD format, which can hold up to 27Gb of data, or 13 hours of TV, has been announced by its joint developers.

Nine electronics manufacturers - Hitachi, LG Electronics, Matsushita, Philips, Pioneer, Samsung, Sharp, Sony and Thomson Multimedia - have formed an alliance in an effort to avoid the problems caused when rival formats compete for market share.

The new technology, called Blu-ray Disc, uses a 405 nanometer blue-violet laser with a narrower wavelength than currently used red lasers. This allows data to be more closely packed onto the surface of a disc.

The 27Gb capacity is large enough to hold two hours of digital high definition video on a single-sided, single layer 12cm diameter optical disc, or 13 hours of VHS-standard TV - a considerable increase over current capacities.

However, the developers hope to stretch Blu-ray Disc to 30Gb, followed by a 50Gb double-layer version.

The new rewriteable format will use the MPEG-2 video standard and support a data transfer rate of 36Mbit/s. It will also employ a unique ID for copyright protection functions.

Licensing will begin as soon as the new specification has been finalised, although products aren't expected on retail shelves for several years. PC data storage versions are also "being considered".

Blu-ray Disc key characteristics:

• Recording capacity: 23.3Gb/25Gb/27Gb
• Laser wavelength: 405nm (blue-violet laser)
• Lens numerical aperture (NA): 0.85
• Data transfer rate: 36Mbit/s
• Disc diameter: 120mm
• Disc thickness: 1.2mm (optical transmittance protection layer: 0.1mm)
• Recording format: Phase change recording
• Tracking format: Groove recording
• Tracking pitch: 0.32um
• Shortest pit length: 0.160/0.149/0.138um
• Recording phase density: 16.8/18.0/19.5Gbit/in.2
• Video recording format: MPEG-2 video
• Audio recording format: AC3, MPEG-1, Layer2, etc.
• Video and audio multiplexing format: MPEG-2 transport stream
• Cartridge dimension: Approximately 129x131x7mm.

See also:

Do we really need blue laser discs?

Microsoft has swayed the vote on a blue laser standard, but does the decision really mean anything?  21 May 2004

Plasmon to show 30GB UDO drive at Comdex

Latest unit uses blue-violet laser technology  11 Nov 2002

DVD killed the video star

VHS goes the way of LPs  21 Jun 2002

Ulead DVD Workshop

This latest application from Ulead makes creating DVDs easy and should satisfy beginners and more demanding users alike.  30 May 2002

Hewlett Packard DVD 100i

A flexible, well-rounded internal DVD+RW drive with a full set of utilities.  23 May 2002

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