Blu-ray Specification Adds Microsoft's VC-1 Video Codec
September 03, 2004
Hollywood, CA - The Blu-ray Disc Association and Microsoft Corp. have agreed to include the VC-1 advanced compression video codec, the proposed SMPTE standard based on Windows Media Video 9, as a mandatory codec in Blu-ray Disc's BD-ROM specification for video playback equipment.
Video codecs are used to compress video images for storage to a disc and then decompress them for viewing. A critical piece to Blu-ray Disc was making sure that any advanced compression codecs included in the specification accomplish the compression and decompression with little or no visible loss of image quality.
Blu-ray Disc is a next-generation optical disc format being developed for high-definition video and high-capacity software applications. A single-layer Blu-ray Disc will hold up to 25 gigabytes of data and a double-layer Blu-ray Disc will hold up to 50 gigabytes of data.
The Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA) is responsible for establishing format standards and promoting and further developing business opportunities for Blu-ray Disc - the next-generation optical disc for storing high-definition movies, photos and other digital content. BDA's founding members are Dell Inc.; Hewlett Packard Company; Hitachi, Ltd.; LG Electronics Inc.; Mitsubishi Electric Corporation; Panasonic (Matsushita Electric); Pioneer Corporation; Royal Philips Electronics; Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.; Sharp Corporation; Sony Corporation; TDK Corporation; and Thomson. Nearly 250 companies attended recent meetings in the United States and Japan to hear about how they can join BDA and play a role in Blu-ray Disc format's creation, technology contribution and the working levels of BDA's operations.
For more information, visit
www.blu-ray.com
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