3.1 What is Blu-ray Disc?
3.2 Why the name Blu-ray Disc?
3.3 What is the Blu-ray Disc Association?
3.4 What are some notable milestones in the life of BD?

3.1 What is Blu-ray Disc?
Blu-ray Disc (BD) is an optical storage technology designed with capacity and performance sufficient to meet the demands and expectations of high definition (HD) movie distribution and personal video recording.

The same physical size and appearance as CD and DVD, BD operates using like principles whereby data is written to or read from a rotating disc by means of a focused laser light beam. However, whereas CD and DVD hold up to 700 MB and 8.5 GB respectively, BD stores as much as 50 GB. The increased capacity (areal density) of BD is achieved by employing smaller sized pits/marks and lands more tightly packed together to encode the data in the disc. These physical disc features can be read or written thanks to a smaller laser spot size created with a shorter blue wavelength laser focused through a larger numerical aperture objective lens (see figure 3.1). In part, higher performance comes by rotating the disc faster so that, whereas CD transfers 153,600 bytes of user data per second and DVD 1,385,000 bytes per second, BD transfers 4,495,625 bytes per second (see table).

As a movie platform, BD supports both standard (SD) and high definition (HD) video, the latest multi-channel audio technologies as well as more sophisticated navigation, elaborate visual and interaction possibilities than those employed in DVD. To deter unauthorized copying of commercial material, BD also incorporates more robust content management and protection mechanisms. Other personal and professional uses include computer data storage, archiving and software distribution as well as television broadcast and camcorder recording where up to 4 hrs (HD) or 24 hrs VHS-quality (SD) analog and digital material can be captured and edited.

3.2 Why the name Blu-ray Disc?
The name Blu-ray Disc describes its essential nature as an optical disc storage technology employing a 405 nm (blue) wavelength laser to read and write information. Its misspelling is adopted to make it distinctive for trademark protection. BD is the common abbreviation used to designate Blu-ray Disc.

Misspellings: Bluray, Blueray, Blue ray, Blue-ray, Bluewray, Blue wray, Blue-wray, Bluwray, Blu wray, Blu-wray, Blewray, Blew ray, Blew-ray, Blewwray, Blew wray, Blew-wray, Disk.

Incorrect abbreviations: BR, BRD, BW, BWD, BD-RW, BDRW, BDR, BD-WO, BDWO, BDROM, BD-9, BD-nine, BDnine, BDvideo, BDlive, Bonus View, BonusView.

3.3 What is the Blu-ray Disc Association?
All BD formats are created and supported by the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA), originally formed from the Blu-ray Disc Founders (BDF), an alliance of manufacturers initiated in 2002 by Hitachi, LG Electronics, Matsushita Electric (Panasonic), Pioneer, Philips Electronics, Samsung Electronics, Sharp, Sony, and Thomson.

Generally speaking, membership in the BDA is open to any entity interested in developing, improving and supporting the Blu-ray Disc format. As of Aug. 2015, the BDA consisted of 95 members and is lead by its board of directors composed of representatives from Dolby, DTS, Hitachi, Intel, Philips Electronics, LG Electronics, Microsoft, Mitsubishi Electric, Oracle, Panasonic, Pioneer, Samsung Electronics, Sharp, Sony, Technicolor, Toshiba, Twentieth Century Fox, Disney, Universal Studios and Warner Bros. Entertainment. A variety of subordinate committees (see figure 3.2) are responsible for all technical matters (Joint Technical Committee), compliance issues (Compliance Committee), promotional activities (Global Promotion Committee) and legal dealings (Legal and Licensing Committee).

The BDA offers two classes of membership (Contributor and General), each with its own rights and obligations. Members pay annual fees of $3,000 (General), $20,000 (Contributor) or $50,000 (Contributor serving on the Board of Directors).

Blu-ray Disc Association Membership List (as of Aug. 2015)

Board of Directors (20): Dolby Laboratories, Inc., DTS, Inc., Hitachi, Ltd., Intel Corporation, Koninklijke Philips N.V., LG Electronics Inc., Microsoft Corp., Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, Oracle Corporation, Panasonic Corporation, Pioneer Corporation, Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., Sharp Corporation, Sony Corporation, Technicolor, Toshiba Corp., Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, The Walt Disney Studios, Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

Contributors (29): Almedio Inc., Alticast Corp., Auro Technologies NV, BluFocus, Inc, CESI Technology Co., Ltd., China Hualu Group Co., Ltd., Cinram Group Inc., Corel Corporation, CyberLink Corporation, Deluxe Digital Studios, Inc., Eclipse Data Technologies, Funai Electric Co., Ltd., Irdeto, Jargon Technologies LLC, Lionsgate Entertainment, LITE-ON IT Corporation, MediaTek Inc., Memory-Tech Corporation, NVIDIA, Pulstec Industrial Co., Ltd., Ritek Corporation, Scenarist, LLC, Silicon Image, Inc., sMedio, Inc., Sunext, Taiyo Yuden Co., Ltd., Testronic Laboratories, Verance Corporation, Videon Central.

General Members (46): Adobe Systems, Advanced Micro Devices, ArcSoft, Inc., Ashampoo GmbH & Co. KG, CMC Magnetics Corporation, D&M Holdings, Inc., Daikin Industries, Ltd., Dell, Inc., DivX, LLC, Emfasys Corporation, Falcon Technologies International, Folded Space, Fraunhofer IIS, Hewlett-Packard Company, HGST Japan, Ltd., IM Co., Ltd., Imagica Corp., Imation Corp., Info Source Digital Media (Zhongshan) Co. Ltd., JVC KENWOOD Corporation, Kaleidescape, Inc., Lauda Co., Ltd., Marvell International Ltd, Mitsubishi Kagaku Media Co., Ltd., MY EYE MEDIA LLC, NEC Personal Products, NHK Enterprises, Inc., OPPO Digital, Inc., Paramount Pictures Corporation, Pico House, Pixela Corporation, Pony Canyon Enterprise, Inc., Q-TEC, INC., Renesas Electronics Corporation, Seiko Epson Corp., Shenzhen Giec Electronics Co., LTD, Singulus Technologies AG, Sirius Pixels, STMicroelectronics International N.V., Toei Video Co., Ltd., Toho Company, Ltd., Toyo Recording Co., Ltd., UmeDisc Ltd., Vinpower Digital, Inc., ViXS Systems Inc., Yamaha Corporation.

Office:
Blu-ray Disc Association
10 Universal City Plaza, T-100
Universal City, CA 91608
USA
Association web site: www.blu-raydisc.com
Licensing web site: www.blu-raydisc.info

3.4 What are some notable milestones in the life of BD?
Since its initial format announcement on Feb. 19, 2002 and market introduction in Apr. 2003, significant milestones in the life of BD include: