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Hitachi, Ltd.
LG Electronics Inc. Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. Pioneer Corporation Royal Philips Electronics Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. Sharp Corporation Sony Corporation Thomson Multimedia |
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| Large Capacity Optical Disc Video Recording Format “Blu-ray Disc” Established | ||
| The Blu-ray Disc using blue-violet
laser achieves over 2-hour digital high definition video recording on a 12cm diameter CD/DVD size phase change optical disc |
| Tokyo
Japan, February 19, 2002: Nine leading companies today announced that
they have jointly established the basic specifications for a next generation
large capacity optical disc video recording format called “Blu-ray
Disc”. The Blu-ray Disc enables the recording, rewriting and play
back of up to 27 gigabytes (GB) of data on a single sided single layer
12cm CD/DVD size disc using a 405nm blue-violet laser. The companies
that established the basic specifications for the Blu-ray Disc are:
Hitachi Ltd., LG Electronics Inc., Matsushita Electric Industrial Co.,
Ltd., Pioneer Corporation, Royal Philips Electronics, Samsung Electronics
Co. Ltd., Sharp Corporation, Sony Corporation, and Thomson Multimedia.
In addition to actively promoting the new format throughout the Industry, the nine companies listed above plan to begin licensing the new format as soon as specifications are completed. Licensing is expected to start around spring 2002. By employing a short wavelength blue violet laser, the Blu-ray Disc successfully minimizes its beam spot size by making the numerical aperture (NA) on a field lens that converges the laser 0.85. In addition, by using a disc structure with a 0.1mm optical transmittance protection layer, the Blu-ray Disc diminishes aberration caused by disc tilt. This also allows for disc better readout and an increased recording density. The Blu-ray Disc's tracking pitch is reduced to 0.32um, almost half of that of a regular DVD, achieving up to 27 GB high-density recording on a single sided disc. Because the Blu-ray Disc utilizes global standard “MPEG-2 Transport Stream” compression technology highly compatible with digital broadcasting for video recording, a wide range of content can be recorded. It is possible for the Blu-ray Disc to record digital high definition broadcasting while maintaining high quality and other data simultaneously with video data if they are received together. In addition, the adoption of a unique ID written on a Blu-ray Disc realizes high quality copyright protection functions. The Blu-ray Disc is a technology platform that can store sound and video while maintaining high quality and also access the stored content in an easy-to-use way. This will be important in the coming broadband era as content distribution becomes increasingly diversified. The nine companies involved in the announcement will respectively develop products that take full advantage of Blu-ray Disc's large capacity and high-speed data transfer rate. They are also aiming to further enhance the appeal of the new format through developing a larger capacity, such as over 30GB on a single sided single layer disc and over 50GB on a single sided double layer disc. Adoption of the Blu-ray Disc in a variety of applications including PC data storage and high definition video software is being considered. “Blu-ray Disc” Key Characteristics
Main Specifications
Contacts for inquiries regarding Blu-ray Disc licensing, etc.: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. Isamu Takai, General Manager of Storage Device Business Development Office Tel: +81-6-6905-4195 Email: takai@dvd.mei.co.jp Royal Philips Electronics Chris Buma, Program Manager A/V, Philips Consumer Electronics Tel: 31-40-273-6341 Email: Chris.Buma@philips.com Sony Corporation Fumihiko Moriya, General Manager of Licensing Department Tel: +81-3-5448-2017 Email: info-Blu-ray_Disc@sony.co.jp |
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WRITTEN BY Corporate Communications Division |
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