All About Blu-Ray Discs.

My other blogs are listed in the below Blog: http://blogsofbalu.blogspot.com/

Understanding the Blu-Ray Discs

Blu-Ray discs and readers are fairly new on the market, there may some compatibility issues as the hardware and software are enhanced. A Blu-Ray disc will not play in an optical disc drive (DVD) that doesn't have Blu-Ray technology. This document will show you how to identify a Blu-Ray compatible disc drive.


Understanding optical disc drives:

Most computers have an optical disc drive for reading or storing large amounts of information. Some drives can read and write (burn) information onto a blank disc, while other drives can only read information. There are four different types of drives and discs that use different technologies:
1) CD - Compact Disc
2) DVD - Digital Video Disc
3) HD-DVD - High Definition Digital Video Disc
4) Blu-ray - Blu-ray technology patented by Sony Corporation.

NOTE:For consistency and clarity, this document will use the spelling 'disc.'

What is Blu-ray?
A Blu-ray disc is a form of optical disc. It looks the same as a DVD, but can store about six times as much information as a standard DVD. Because they can hold so much more information, Blu-ray discs can provide high-definition audio and video for output on HD TVs and surround sound systems, while an ordinary DVD cannot. Since Blu-ray discs are formatted in a way designed to be read by a blue-violet laser, which has a shorter wavelength than the conventional red lasers used by standard DVD players, Blu-ray discs cannot be read by an ordinary DVD player.

Blu-ray is an evolving technology. Sony licenses the technology to some other manufacturers, but Sony is the corporation that develops the technology and its standards.

Is Blu-ray the same as HD-DVD?
No. They are two separate technologies. The two disc formats are not compatible with one another. Sony's Blu-ray technology has been more widely adopted by media manufacturers.

Is Blu-ray backwards compatible?
Yes. All Blu-ray drives can read standard DVDs as well as Blu-ray discs.
Can I use my PC to play Blu-ray discs on my HDTV?
Yes, you can, assuming you have a Blu-ray disc drive and the proper HDMI connectors and cables.


Do I need cables?
Blu-ray performs best if its audio and video signals are connected to an output device, such as an HDTV, through an HDMI cable. Make sure that your computer and your TV both have HDMI ports. There are also HDMI adapters available if your computer has a smaller port than your TV has.

Blu-ray discs will usually work with an output device that doesn't support high definition. However, any link in the overall system that isn't capable of handling high definition content—player, cables, TV or monitor--will affect the quality of the image. It's essentially a matter of the lowest common denominator. If you have an Xbox 360 that can read a high definition disc hooked up to a 52" HDTV with, for whatever reason, an S-Video cable, you will only be able to view the maximum output that the S-Video cable is capable of transmitting. Likewise, if you have that same Xbox hooked up to a non-HDTV, the television will not be able to output the information in high definition.

Do I need special software?
You will need the correct drivers to run your Blu-ray optical drive, and you will need audio and video codecs to be able to read the information on a Blu-ray disc. A codec is a method of encoding and compressing information, and then decoding and decompressing it for use. This and other software should have arrived already installed on your notebook if it came with a Blu-ray drive, and updates for your system are always available at the http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/softwareRedirector?lc=en&dlc=en&cc=us&docname=c01410653

Can I record to a Blu-ray disc?
You will need a Blu-ray reader/writer drive, and have either a BD-R disc, which can be written to once, or a BD-RE disc, which can be re-recorded and erased. You should be aware that these types of discs are still extremely expensive, as demand has not yet driven down their cost.
The older your Blu-ray player is, the more likely it is that it won't be able to handle making legal copies of disc content to another device.

What kind of copy protection does a Blu-ray disc have?
Blu-ray uses AACS (Advanced Access Content System) to protect content on discs. The earliest Blu-ray players sold probably do not have a fully developed version of this system on them, and thus probably cannot make legal copies of content. Blu-ray has additional advanced layers of security, such as Digital Rights Management (DRM), that most consumers will not be aware of, because they interact with one another transparently.

What is Digital Rights Management (DRM)?
Digital rights management (DRM) is any of a variety of technologies used to enforce copyright protection of content and services in digital media. In order to use a program, music DVD, MP3 file, or video game, consumers must acquire a license as well. Most licenses are implied in the act of purchasing the media at hand.
Your ability to copy media that you own may be tightly restricted by the terms of your license agreement. For example, if you've legally downloaded an MP3 from a file service, the license agreement may allow you to put it on one brand of MP3 player and a certain number of computers. You might not be able to burn that MP3 file to a disc and play it on your Blu-ray disc drive, however.

Does Blu-ray have different formats for different regions?
Yes. Like a standard DVD, a Blu-ray disc is usually encoded for a specific region, so that it will only be readable by a player encoded for that region. The geographical regions differ slightly from the DVD encoding regions, and are listed below.

A. North America, Central America, South America, Japan, Taiwan, North Korea, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Southeast Asia.
B. Most of Europe, Greenland, French territories, Middle East, Africa, Australia, and New Zealand, and all of Oceania.
C. India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Mainland China, Pakistan, Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Central, and South Asia.

What is a mini Blu-ray disc?
A mini Blu-ray disc is about 3 inches (8 cm) in diameter, and is designed for use in camcorders and other recording devices.

Why do some Blu-Ray discs not play on my Blu-Ray drive?
Some Blu-Ray discs, like Spiderman 3 , will not play at all on a Blu-Ray drive. Other Blu-Ray discs, like 3:10 to Yuma , will play the previews and the title menu, but pressing the play button will not play the movie.

QuickPlay or MediaSmart may display the following error message when playing certain Blu-Ray DVD movies:
This player is not equipped with the latest firmware and is unable to play this disc.

If you see this error message, please use the following methods to fix the problem.
a) Install an updated firmware driver for the optical disc drive.
To resolve this problem, go to the Software & Driver downloads web page for your model, and download the latest firmware update for the Blu-Ray optical drive.
b)Update to the latest version of QuickPlay software.

Open QuickPlay and select Updates and enhancements , then download the latest QuickPlay updates.

Blu-Ray movie does not play on notebook display and an external display at the same time?
This is the intended behavior. Viewing a Blu-Ray movie is limited to only one display at a time. Therefore, you must choose either the notebook display or an external display device to view the output from the Blu-Ray video.

Blu-Ray movie play menu can not be controlled from either the touchpad or an attached mouse?
This behavior is intentional. The Blu-Ray movie assumes that you are using either the keyboard, or PC remote (if included with the system) to select play.

Why do I see sporadic horizontal lines when playing a Blu-Ray DVD movie if the notebook PC wireless is turned on?
The lines on the display are caused by interference from the wireless network. To resolve the issue, you should close any open applications and turn off wireless by pressing the notebook PC wireless button. This should prevent any further wireless network interference.

Why can I not hear any audio when the notebook PC is connected to a High-Definition TV (HDTV) using an High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) cable?
The audio drivers must be configured properly as follows:

1) Click Start > Control Panel > Hardware and Sound .
2) Select Sound from the list supplied.
3) Select Digital Output Device (SPDIF) and then click Set default
4) Select Playback tab, then select Digital Output as the default setting.
5) Click on SPDIF (Digital Output via HP Doc) and then click Properties button.
6) Select the Supported formats tab and uncheck all boxes in the Encoded formats and click Apply > OK to accept the changes and return to Playback tab.
7) On the Playback tab again ensure that Digital Output Device (SPDIF) is selected and then click Set default button
8) Press Fn + F4 to toggle to HDMI only. This action refreshes the screen, transfers the display from the notebook to the external display, and the audio should now come from the HDTV sound system .