Putting Blu-ray into Business

Jun 30
2010
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Tapping into some of the underappreciated strengths of Blu-ray

As a storage medium, the Blu-ray disc appears to be riding an acceptance curve similar to the one of its predecessors – CD and DVD media.  When the CD first came out, in the 1980s, it was seen as a format for distributing audio files. The use of the CD as one for distribution of programs and data took years to develop.  At the end of the 1980s, CD-Recorders sold for around $2000, and a 700 megabyte blank disk cost $10 or more.  Successfully recording a usable CD-R disc was not a foregone conclusion – so the cost of creating ONE usable disc may have run closer to $20, $30 or more dollars.    Today, of course, CD-recordability is built into the DVD drives in most computers, or into aftermarket drives that may cost as little as $20.  And blank CD media costs just pennies.

The DVD followed a similar path, with the medium used initially for distribution of video.  However, the industry was aware of the potential for using the medium for data storage.  It still took some time for the recorders to become affordable, and for the cost of blank media to become Read the rest of this entry »

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Blu-ray Disc Alphabet Soup – Part Five IH-BD

May 11
2010
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RECAP

In previous posts, we explored the many different alphabetic designations that could apply to Blu-ray discs and the drives that could read, read and write to them.  We looked at BD-ROM, Combo Drives, BD-R and BD-RW, and looked at the many different types of erasable media (and drives) available.  We looked at single layer (25 GB) and double layer (50 GB) media, at write once and at erasable discs.

The last post looked at some of the proposed formats for the future, which expanded from single and double layer up to 4 layer (100 GB) and beyond — all the way up to 128 GB.  We looked at some of the uses of these larger (by 2010 standards) discs, and explained that this new standard may require new hardware to read and write to the new discs.   And we hinted at yet another proposed standard – the IH-BD disc.

IH-BD – our last acronym (for now)

The Intra-hybrid Blu-ray disc puts a new twist on the double layer Read the rest of this entry »

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Blu-ray Disc Alphabet Soup – Part One

Mar 31
2010
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I went to my local nerdy electronics store a few days ago and was slightly dazzled by the many options a person can have if he or she wanted to install a Blu-ray drive into a home or office computer.  (Even the term ‘Blu-ray drive’ is one that lacks a single definition.)

The basic drive is one that is similar to the one used in home entertainment sysems — it does ONE thing, and should do it well.  That one thing, of course, is ‘playing’, or ‘reading’ the discs put into the drive.  These discs don’t necessarily have to be Blu-ray videos or games – the drives should be able to also read DVDs and CDs.  It should be able to read discs that you get commercially, like a game or movie, and also those that have been created with a DVD or CD or Blu-ray recorder.   This type of drive, with no settings for anything other than reading a disc, is the basic type of Blu-ray drive you can buy.  A drive of this type often goes by the name BD-ROM.  No recording media (BD-R or other) is supported by a BD-ROM drive.

A Combo drive adds functionality (and cost) and goes beyond the basic Blu-ray drive.   In addition to handling the reading tasks, a Combo drive is also capable of recording onto Read the rest of this entry »

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