Are you one of the growing masses to adopt a Blu-ray player and enjoy Blu-ray movie in all its high-definition glory? Here are some facts detailing how Blu-ray technology and the growing demand in the home video market are intertwined.

1) Capacity –
The Blu-ray Disc (BD) format was developed to enable recording, rewriting and playback of high-definition video (HD), as well as storing large amounts of data. It offers more than five times the storage capacity of traditional DVDs.
A single-layer disc can hold 25GB.
A dual-layer disc can hold 50GB.
A multi-layer discs can allow the storage capacity to be increased to 100GB-200GB (25GB per layer).
This added capacity allows the content producer nearly endless options to create the best quality motion picture in new ways. Plus they can add more “must-see” end credit footage. A 50GB BD disc can hold 9 hours of high-definition (HD) video.

2) Resolution –
It’s not unusual for a typical household to own a 70” widescreen TV with the abiltity to display the HD format for family home viewing. In order to actually be able to watch TV in HD, your television must have a minimum resolution of 576 lines x 720 pixels @ 50Hz progressive (576p). HD can also be 720p (720 horizontal lines progressive), 1080i (1080 horizontal lines interlaced) or 1080p (1080 horizontal lines progressive).
The 1080p format is the latest and greatest, appearing in high-end television models designed for Blu-ray video players.

3) Language –
BD-RE has different layers to support multi-language selection in movies for global viewers and multi-language broadcasts. Standard DVDs for the US market may offer up to three forms of English subtitles: 1) SDH subtitles, 2) English subtitles, helpful for viewers who are hard-of-hearing and whose first language may not be English, and 3) closed caption data (transcription rather than a translation, and usually contains descriptions of important non-dialog audio as well as “sighs” or “door creaks”) that is decoded by the end-user’s closed caption decoder.
Blu-ray disc uses SDH subtitles as the sole method because technical specifications do not require HD to support closed captions. Some blu-ray discs, however, are said to carry a closed caption stream that only displays through standard definition connections.

4) Dolby 7.1 –
Dolby Digital, or AC-3, is the common version containing up to six discrete channels of sound, with five channels for normal-range speakers (20 Hz – 20,000 Hz) and one channel (20 Hz–120 Hz) for the subwoofer driving low-frequency effects. This is a format where the AC-3 bit stream is interleaved with the video and control bit streams. The AC-3 standard allows a maximum coded bit rate of 640 kbit/s. ATSC (digital TV standard) and DVD-Video discs are limited to 448 kbit/s. Blu-ray Discs, the Sony PlayStation 3 and the Microsoft Xbox game console can output an AC-3 signal at a full 640 kbit/s.
If you own a huge TV screen, you may also require a high sound definition. Dolby 7.1 takes over the DVD supported Dolby 5.1 for a cleaner and crisper sound.

5) MMC support –
Mandatory Managed Copy (MMC) will be part of the Blu-ray format. This feature will enable consumers to make legal digital copies of their Blu-ray movies that can be transferred for viewing on a home media center, streaming throughout your house, or even transferring to a portable player.

6) G-Java software –
G-java is part of G-creator which is a 2D and 3D Game and software creator which makes it possible to encrypt in today’s BD movies to include interactive fun and games other than watching the movie itself. For example, the BD movie ‘CARS’ comes with the game – CARFINDER and ‘Ratatouille’ comes with the game – GUSTEAU’S GOURMET.

Screen Shot of the CARS interactive game

Given all the benefits of Blu-ray over DVD, it’s only a matter of time before the entire industry switched to Blu-ray as the standard bearer. Are you ready?