Early indications suggest that the average Blu-ray Disc contains approximately 22 GB of data, which means that a single fully-loaded 3U Server could hold most of the Blu-ray discs so far released. The Advanced Access Content System ("AACS") copy control requirements are phasing out all analog outputs, including component video outputs. We intend to provide component video outputs for as long as they are permitted.

Yes, we plan to introduce the Kaleidescape Blue-Laser Player in 2009. The Blue-Laser Player is designed to play all Blu-ray Discs in addition to DVDs, CDs, and content from other sources.

No, the development of new low cost hard-coating technologies has made the cartridge obsolete. Blu-ray will instead rely on hard-coating for protection, which when applied will make the discs even more resistant to scratches and fingerprints than today's DVDs, while still preserving the same look and feel. Blu-ray also adopts a new error correction system which is more robust and efficient than the one used for DVDs.

If you live in the US or Canada you can already find Blu-ray players from Samsung, Panasonic, Sony, Philips and Pioneer available in stores, as well as a growing selection of Blu-ray movies. We also expect to see Blu-ray players from LG and Sharp, as well as a second-generation Blu-ray player from Samsung introduced in the near future. The first Blu-ray hardware and software should also be available in many European countries now.

Blu-ray, also known as Blu-ray Disc (BD) is the name of a next-generation optical disc format. The format was developed to enable recording, rewriting and playback of high-definition video (HD), as well as storing large amounts of data. The format offers more than five times the storage capacity of traditional DVDs and can hold up to 25GB on a single-layer disc and 50GB on a dual-layer disc. For more general information about Blu-ray, please see our What is Blu-ray? section.

The market has not been enthusiastic for Blu-ray or HD DVD discs and players. In July 2007, more than a year after the launch of these formats, there are still only a few hundred titles available in either format, as compared to a hundred thousand titles available on DVD. In July 2007, sales of stand-alone Blu-ray and HD DVD players have been very slow and the average owner of such a player owns only two or three Blu-ray or HD DVD discs.

It is proposed that there will be three regional codes for Blu-ray discs to restrict playback to certain geographical areas.These are mooted to be: Currently, playback of Region 1 Blu-ray discs is intended for players sold within Region 1 geographical areas only. Pending developments and future revisions in Blu-ray technology, the above information is subject to change. top of page

The Blu-ray Disc format was developed by the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA), a group of leading consumer electronics, personal computer and media manufacturers, with more than 180 member companies from all over the world. The Board of Directors currently consists of:

with conventional CDs and DVDs, Blu-ray plans to provide a wide range of formats including ROM/R/RW. The following formats are part of the Blu-ray Disc specification: There's also plans for a BD/DVD hybrid format, which combines Blu-ray and DVD on the same disc so that it can be played in both Blu-ray players and DVD players.

Yes, that's the expectation. The Blu-ray format has received broad support from the major movie studios as a successor to today's DVD format. In fact, seven of the eight major movie studios (Disney, Fox, Warner, Paramount, Sony, Lionsgate and MGM) have released titles in the Blu-ray format. Many studios have also announced that they will begin releasing new feature films on Blu-ray Disc day-and-date with DVD, as well as a continuous slate of catalog titles every month.

The simple answer is HDTV. If you've ever seen high-definition (HD) video on an HDTV, then you know just how incredibly sharp the picture is and how vivid the colors are. In fact, HD offers five times the amount of detail compared to standard-definition (SD). The problem with today's DVDs is that they only support SD and don't have the necessary storage capacity to satisfy the needs of HD.

Yes, as VCRs don't support recording of HDTV programming consumers will soon need to replace them. Blu-ray recorders combined with hard drives offer a very flexible alternative for those that want to record HDTV. While HD-DVRs already allow consumers to record HDTV, the amount of HDTV programming that can be recorded and archived is limited by the size of the hard drive.

There are plans for BD-ROM (read-only), BD-R (recordable) and BD-RE (rewritable) drives for PCs, and with the support of the worlds two largest PC manufacturers, HP and Dell, it's very likely that the technology will be adopted as the next-generation optical disc format for PC data storage and replace technologies such as DVD±R, DVD±RW, and DVD-RAM.

Not without third-party software. Though Vista ships with the infrastructure necessary to support HD-DVD--drivers, file system, codecs, and other components--you'll need additional dedicated software to play an HD-DVD video, and the OS has no native support for Blu-ray Disc. A new interface gives you additional ways to organize and browse your media collection. For example, you can access your music by an album cover view.

No. Blu-ray discs are not compatible with HD DVD machines. Playback of Blu-ray material is limited to equipment bearing the Blu-ray logo.

To ensure that the Blu-ray Disc format is easily extendable (future-proof) it also includes support for multi-layer discs, which should allow the storage capacity to be increased to 100GB-200GB (25GB per layer) in the future simply by adding more layers to the discs.

Please note that this simply means that all Blu-ray players and recorders will have to support playback of these video codecs, it will still be up to the movie studios to decide which video codec(s) they use for their releases.

No, you will not need an Internet connection for basic playback of Blu-ray movies. The Internet connection will only be needed for value-added features such as downloading new extras, watching recent movie trailers, web browsing, etc. It will also be required to authorize managed copies of Blu-ray movies that can be transferred over a home network.

No, Blu-ray players will not down-convert the analog output signal unless the video contains something called an Image Constraint Token (ICT). This feature is not part of the Blu-ray Disc spec, but of the AACS copy-protection system also adopted by HD-DVD. In the end it will be up to each movie studio to decide if they want to use this "feature" on their releases or not.

Yes, mandatory managed copy (MMC) will be part of the Blu-ray format. This feature will enable consumers to make legal copies of their Blu-ray movies that can be transferred over a home network. Please note that "mandatory" refers to the movies having to offer this capability, while it will be up to each hardware manufacturer to decide if they want to support this feature.

Yes, several leading consumer electronics companies (including Sony, Panasonic, Philips, Samsung, Pioneer, Sharp and LG) have already demonstrated products that can read/write CDs, DVDs and Blu-ray discs using a BD/DVD/CD compatible optical head, so you don't have to worry about your existing DVD collection becoming obsolete. In fact, most of the Blu-ray players coming out will support upscaling of DVDs to 1080p/1080i, so your existing DVD collection will look even better than before.

No, HD-DVD (previously known as AOD) is the name of a competing next-generation optical disc format developed by Toshiba and NEC. The format is quite different from Blu-ray, but also relies heavily on blue-laser technology to achieve a higher storage capacity. The format is being developed within the DVD Forum as a possible successor to the current DVD technology.

The Lord of the Rings trilogy has so far not been announced for Blu-ray, however, it is being distributed by New Line Cinema which is a (now exclusive) Blu-ray supporting studio. For more information please see the Lord of the Rings thread in our forum.

The Star Wars movies have so far not been announced for Blu-ray, however, it is being distributed by Fox which is a Blu-ray supporting studio. For more information please see the Is this title coming to Blu-ray thread? in our forum.

All movies that have been officially announced are listed on our site, please see our Blu-ray movies section. If you can't find the movie you are looking for, it has simply not been announced yet. For more information please see the Is this title coming to Blu-ray thread? in our forum.