Rev.Info.Faqs - Next-gen format war Part 2: Blu-Ray Disc

Welcome back to the 2nd Part of the coverage regarding the next generation disc format. Today, we will be taking a look at the Blu-ray Disc.
Blu-ray Disc is also known as BD. It is a high density optical disc format for digital media which includes high-definition videos.

Faqs:

• Storage: A single lay can store up to 25GB of data almost 5 times as much data as a single layered DVD.
  

• Developer: Developed by Sony (Available since 2004).
  

• Drive: The Blu-ray Disc reader uses a blue-violet laser (hence the name 'blu'-ray) which is similiar in wavelength to HD DVD to read and write data. Normal DVD and CD reader uses infrared laser.
  

• Players: There are 4 different types of players available so far.

1.0 - Basic profile player. Players required to have at least 64KB of storage for bookmarks and other preference storage.

1.1 - Also known as 'Final Standard Profile' is mandatory as of November 2007. It adds a secondary video decoder, secondary audio and capability of supporting min. 256MB of local storage for audio/video updates.

2.0 - Kwown as BD live adds network connectivity and mandatory storage of 1GB.

3.0 - For audio players only.

P/S: The most popular player out there now should be Playstation 3 by Sony.

Latest development so far:
Engineers continue to work and recently demoed Quad-Layer disc (100GB), TDK announced that they are able to produce 200GB disc on 1 side but no players available today are able to read that yet.

Other info:
Blu-ray Disc movies are region coded and are different from DVD region. They are A/1, B/2 and C/3. It also employes DRM (Digital Right Management).

Recent related news:

Apparently miffed at Paramount's announcement yesterday that it would only offer movies in HD DVD format and not Blu-ray after testing both formats for a year, director Michael Bay says he will not make a second "Transformers" movie - which may or may not be a bad thing depending on your tastes.

"I want people to see my movies in the best formats possible. For them to deny people who have Blu-ray sucks! They were progressive by having two formats. No Transformers 2 for me!".

Well, That would be a shame wouldn't it.... no more Transformers 2. well, let's hope they'll sort out their difference soon. : ) make peace... not war.

If you have missed the previous coverage of HD DVD, pls proceed here.