14 DAY TRIAL // Pioneer launched BD1.5, stated to be the first Blu-Ray disk drive for PCs. But the first kind of this unit was presented by Sony in March 2003, and then launched on the Japan market in April the same year. The new BD1.5 disk drive will be available on the market starting January 2006.
The Blu-Ray Disc format, which uses a blue-violet laser, is being promoted as a standard for next-generation optical discs. So far, chipsets for BD-R/BD-RE and DVD/CD were commercialized separately. However, the demand for a BD drive that is compatible with all BD/DVD/CD media formats increased.
Single-layer Blu-Ray Discs have 25 GB of storage capacity for holding video and other data, while current DVD discs have 8.5 GB of storage at most. Blu-Ray can hold up to 27 GB on a single layer disc and supports many additional features like advanced copy protection mechanisms, but they are more expensive to produce than the HD-DVD. The latter can hold up to 15 GB on a single layer disc.
The Blu-Ray technology competes against the HD-DVD one, both offering numerous advantages in comparison to the traditional DVD. Commercial equipments that will use HD-DVD technology are scheduled for market launch in February or March 2006. If the two equipment types will be launched in stores at the same time, their competition might overwhelm buyers.