Blu Ray is one of the newest methods in which people can enjoy media such as movies and concerts from the comfort of their own home. Since the release of Blu Ray, a battle has waged between HD DVD and Blu Ray of which has a higher quality and more enjoyable experience. However, the big question that people often ask when thinking about getting a Blu Ray player is simple.
How Does Blu Ray Work?
Before answering how it works, it is important to understand why it is the superior disk. To begin with, a Blu Ray disk can hold up to 27 GB of data. This means that it can hold up to 2 hours of a high definition movie. Regular DVDs can’t do that. They can hold only about 4.7 GB of data. In other words, a standard DVD can only hold enough for a regular movie let along a high definition.
The reason for this is because of the design of the Blu Ray disk and the type of laser that is used. Unlike a DVD which uses a red laser, Blu Ray–hence the name–uses a blue laser. Because the blue laser has a shorter wavelength (405 nanometers) in comparison to the red laser which has a longer wavelength (650 nanometers), the blue laser is able to focus better on individual pits. The pit of a disk is where the data is stored. The more pits that a disk has and the closer together that they are, the more data a disk can store. In other words, more pits equals more data. The problem with DVD was that their red laser couldn’t read the pits that were so close together so they needed to be bigger. Unfortunately, this reduced the amount of space that a DVD could hold.
For example, a Blu Ray laser is able to read a pit that is 0.15 microns in size. This is two times smaller than the average size pit that a red laser can read. When spread out on an average Blu Ray disk, it’s easy to understand why Blu Ray is able to hold more information. Because it can hold more information and because the laser can be so accurate and focused, the picture that comes up on the television is more precise.
So, a Blu Ray player works by hitting the individual pits on a Blu Ray disk with a highly targeted blue laser. Because of its short wave length, it can be more focused than the red laser used by a DVD player. Therefore, the quality is greater and the amount that can be stored on the disk is greater.
