Blu-Ray, or Blu-ray Disc (BD) belongs to the next-generation of optical disc formats which is initiated by the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA). It is an assemblage of manufacturers belonging to consumer electronics, personal computers and media manufacturers which include names such as Dell, Apple, Hitachi, HP, LG, Panasonic, Philips, Samsung, Sony, Sharp, Thomson etc.
The Blu-ray format was developed in an effort to record, rewrite and playback high-definition video and to enable storing large amount of data. Blu-ray drives for personal computers are the new entrant in the market. These full high-definition writable and rewritable drives supports up to 50 GB of data on BD-R (write once) or BD-RE (Rewritable) discs or can give up to four hours of HD video. These Blu-Ray drives can burn a full 25 GB disc in around 50 minutes. They can also fit into every optical drive slot in a user’s PC chassis and comes in an array of colors; these drives can fit in any PC and still gives its users optimal results.
Blu-Ray Drives can be presented as the successor of traditional CDs and DVDs as storage capacity is five times more than that of DVDs. They can hold data to the tune of 25GB on a single-layer disc while dual-layer discs can hold data of up to 50GB. With the help of these Blu-ray drives, consumers can experience an unmatched HD familiarity as these drives use advanced video and audio codecs and deliver incredibly sharp pictures with vivid colors.
The current DVD, DVD+R, DVD+RW rely on a red laser in an effort to read and write data, on the other hand a Blu-Ray Drives use a blue-violet laser instead of red one, that is the reason why they got their name as Blu-ray. One of the main advantages of using blue-violet laser i.e. 405nm is that it contains a shorter wavelength than that of a red laser i.e. 650nm. Blu-ray drives are compatible with even CDS and DVDs as they use BD/DVD/CD attuned optical pickup units. The recent developments enunciated by the manufacturer Pioneer are the proof that now the storage capacity can hold data up to 500GB on a single disc, thus making it a multi-format burner. This large storage capacity is achieved by using 20 layers on the disc.
There are various Blu-Ray Drives manufacturers in the market viz., HP, LG, Sony, Samsung, Panasonic, Sony, Philips and Pioneer. There are a variety of versions of Blu-ray drives available viz., Panasonic SW-4583-CNC7 Blu Ray ROM - DVD+R 16X, DVD+RW 8X, DVD-RW 6X, CD-R 24X, BD-ROM 4X (OEM), Norazza DVDBREXT1 External BLU-RAY ROM Drive, Pioneer BDC-2202B Blu-ray Disc/DVD/CD Combo Drive SATA.