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Description:
Blu-ray Disc (also known as Blu-ray or BD) is an optical disc storage medium. Its main uses are high-definition video and data storage. The disc has the same physical dimensions as standard DVDs and CDs.
The name Blu-ray Disc is derived from the blue laser (violet-colored) used to read and write this type of disc.
Because of the beam's shorter wavelength (405 nanometers), substantially more data can be stored on a Blu-ray Disc than on DVD format, which uses a red (650 nm) laser. A two-layer Blu-ray Disc can store 50 gigabytes, almost six times the capacity of a two-layer DVD, or ten times that of a single-layer DVD.
In 1998, commercial HDTV sets began to appear in the consumer market; however, there was no commonly accepted, inexpensive way to record or play HD content. In fact, there was no medium with the storage required to accommodate HD codecs, except JVC's Digital VHS and Sony's HDCAM.
During the ensuing format war over high-definition optical discs, Blu-ray Disc competed with the HD DVD format.
Nevertheless, it was well known that using lasers with shorter wavelengths would enable optical storage with higher density.
On February 19, 2008, Toshiba — the main company supporting HD DVD —announced that it would no longer develop, manufacture, and market HD DVD players and recorders, leading almost all other HD DVD companies to follow suit, effectively ending the format war.
Blu-ray Disc was developed by the Blu-ray Disc Association, a group representing makers of consumer electronics, computer hardware, and motion pictures.
As of November 6, 2008, more than 1030 Blu-ray Disc titles have been released in the United States and more than 570 have been released in Japan. There are expected to be over 1300 Blu-ray Disc titles released in the United States by the end of 2008.
 
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