When the CD was introduced in the early '80s, it meant
an enormous leap from traditional media. Not only did
it offer a significant improvement in audio quality,
its primary application, but its 650 MB storage capacity
also meant a giant leap in data storage and retrieval.
For the first time, there was a universal standard for
pre-recorded, recordable and rewritable media, offering
the best quality and features consumers could wish for
themselves, at very low costs.
Although the CD was a very useful medium for the recording
and distribution of audio and some modest data applications,
demand for a new medium offering higher storage capacities
rose in the '90s. These demands lead to the evolution
of the DVD specification and a 5-10 x increase in capacity.
This enabled high quality, standard definition video
distribution and recording. Furthermore, the increased
capacity accommodated more demanding data applications.
At the same time, the DVD spec used the same form factor
as the CD, allowing for seamless migration to the next
generation format and offering full backwards compatibility.
Now, in the next millennium, high definition video
demands a new solution. History proved that a significant
5-10 x increase in storage capacity and the ability
to play previous generation formats are key elements
for a new format to succeed. This new format has arrived
with the advent of Blu-ray Disc, the only format that
offers a considerable increase in storage capacity with
its 25 to 50 GB data capacity. This allows for the next
big application of optical media: the distribution and
recording of high definition video in the highest possible
quality. In fact, no other proposed format can offer
the data capacity of Blu-ray Disc, and no other format
will allow for the same high video quality and interactive
features to create the ultimate user experience. As
with DVD, the Blu-ray Disc format is based on the same,
bare disc physical form factor, allowing for compatibility
with CD and DVD.
