Update: Electronics giants unveil DVD standard

This is an update to a Neowin news posting yesterday. The new standard of Optical Disc Video Recording Format was announced today, thanks go to Slashdot for the news pointer.

Nine leading companies today announced that they have jointly established the basic specifications for a next generation large capacity optical disc video recording format called "Blu-ray Disc". The Blu-ray Disc enables the recording, rewriting and play back of up to 27 gigabytes (GB) of data on a single sided single layer 12cm CD/DVD size disc using a 405nm blue-violet laser.

Because the Blu-ray Disc utilizes global standard "MPEG-2 Transport Stream" compression technology highly compatible with digital broadcasting for video recording, a wide range of content can be recorded. It is possible for the Blu-ray Disc to record digital high definition broadcasting while maintaining high quality and other data simultaneously with video data if they are received together.

In addition, the adoption of a unique ID written on a Blu-ray Disc realizes high quality copyright protection functions (knew there would be a down side to this new technology.. Ed!).

"Blu-ray Disc" Key Characteristics

Large recording capacity up to 27GB: It can record over 2 hours of digital high definition video and more than 13 hours of standard TV broadcasting (VHS/standard definition picture quality, 3.8Mbps)
High-speed data transfer rate 36Mbps: It is possible for the Blu-ray Disc to record digital high definition broadcasts or high definition images from a digital video camera while maintaining the original picture quality. In addition, by fully utilizing an optical disc's random accessing functions, it is possible to easily edit video data captured on a video camera or play back pre-recorded video on the disc while simultaneously recording images being broadcast on TV.
Easy to use disc cartridge: An easy to use optical disc cartridge protects the optical disc's recording and playback phase from dust and fingerprints.