The Hindu Business Line : Blu-ray Disc may enter market by next year

Blu-ray Disc is currently being standardised by the Blu-ray Disc Founders, a consortium of leading consumer electronics and PC companies. These include Dell, Fox, HP, Hitachi, LG, Mitsubishi, Panasonic, Philips, Pioneer, Samsung, Sharp, Sony, TDK, JVC and Thomson.

Blu-ray Disc (BD) is said to be the success to DVD. According to scientists at Philip's China operations, this application format addresses the limitations of DVD-Video.

"The huge storage capacity guarantees the highest quality HD video available to the consumers,'' an official said. It offers a storage capacity of 25 to 50 GB (resolution of up to 1920x1080). The Blu-ray Disc format is based on the same, bare disc physical form factor as with DVD, allowing for compatibility with CD and DVD.

The audio quality and the number of channels available will surpass what's possible on DVDs.

In addition, it will provide fully advanced interactivity and seamless integration of Internet by defining a programming platform, the official said.

The most interesting aspect of BD technology is that it provides very strong copy protection schemes. As piracy is a serious issue with the entertainment and the media industry, consumer electronics industry is keen on incorporating a very effective copy protection mechanism.

"Most of the members of the Blu-ray Disc Founders Association are very serious about launching BD products because of the severe problem faced by piracy,'' said Dr Wouter Leibbrandt, Department Head - OS/DTV, Philips (China) Investment Co Ltd.

BD also offers much stronger resistance to scratches and fingerprints than other existing and proposed formats.

It has been developed to offer long-term profitability model for content providers. It does require some investment in the initial stage but because the format is designed to last for at least 10-15 years incremental costs are negated.

At comparable volumes, Blu-ray Disc production costs are within 10 per cent of DVD production costs, although a Blu-ray Disc offers 5 to 10 times the capacity.

Official information on this format indicates that it is by far the cheapest format measured in cost per GB.