How does blu ray work?
Image taken from /pitzyper!'s Flickr Photostream
Blue-ray is slowly becoming the norm in some of our lives, so just how does it fit all that extra information onto a disc compared to your old fashioned DVD?
A DVD disc can only store 4.7GB of data, which is fine for most uses, however when it comes to Hi Def films this doesn’t really cut it. A Blu Ray disc can store 25GB of data. It wasn’t that long ago that a 25GB hard drive was reasonable for your computer.
More data, similar size, but how?
Well the hint is in the name. Blu Ray discs require a Blu ray player or drive to read these modern discs (at time of posting a blu ray player can be found from around £80). These special devices use a blue laser to read the data off of the disc.
For explanation sakes data is stored on a disk using a series of bumps, all different lengths, these bumps are then arranged together by your blu ray player to create your film on the screen. Data is stored in a spiral shaped order (hence why discs spin to read the data). Blue is a much denser colour than our traditional red laser for DVD and even CDs. Using a blue and denser laser allows these bumps to be put allot closer to each other and to still be possible to read. More Bumps = More Information.
What’s the use?
Because Blu Ray can store more information it can also store HD (High Definition) films on a single disc, HD displays a much clearer, sharper and overall detailed image . So far this has been it’s main use. The Playstation 3 was one of the first affordable blu ray players to emerge into the consumer market. The Playstation can obviously be used for games as well as playing films. Much more game can be put onto a Blu Ray than a DVD, allowing games to store better graphical information, make the game longer or just make the game areas bigger and more complicated. This removes a large barrier for game designers.
What Next?
Obviously no one can predict the future and there is nothing saying that technology giants won’t think of another format to burn a hole in our pockets in 5 years time.
Currently dual layer discs are beginning to be manufactured, and yes you guessed it they can hold a massive 50GB of data. We will see what designers and developers decide to do with that extra space if it takes off.
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