Getting to Know Blu-ray from the Basic --- Blu-ray Video Format

Being surrounded by DVD in the last several decades, you have started your journey for the digital video in your spare time. Without any doubts, DVD has been very successful and dominant in a very long time. But the most embarrassing thing is that DVD is not a relatively high definition video format nowadays. Even though the news about the DVD upscaling has hit the market to some extent, the final real output picture quality was not changed at all. Therefore, driven by the desire of maximizing the quality of DVD, another HD video format has been introduced – Blu-ray and HD-DVD. Now, Blu-ray has been a quite familiar term for all of you. But today we are going to elaborate it for historical purposes in details.

Part 1: What is Blu-ray

What is Blu-ray video file format? How has it been developed? There are questions that we need to figure out before moving on. Blu-ray, also known as Blu-ray Disc, is translated into Blu-ray Disc in English, often referred to as BD. Actually, the term "Blu-ray" is the combination of the word "Blue" and "Ray" which fully reflect that DB has adopted the Blue Laser technology. It is a high-definition video storage disc medium for the next era after DVD (supports Full HD video and high-quality specifications). Blu-ray or Blu-ray disc uses a shorter wavelength blue laser to read and write data. Blu-ray greatly increases the storage capacity of optical discs, and for optical storage products, Blu-ray offers a leap-forward development opportunity.
The Blu-ray disc format was developed by the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA), an organization of consumer electronics companies, computer companies and media publishers. It was founded on May 22, 2004, with more than 170 member companies from all over the world. Blu-ray discs have an exceptionally strong layer that protects the important recording layers inside the disc. Philips' Blu-ray Disc uses advanced vacuum bonding technology to form a uniform thickness of 100-micrometer security layer. Philips Blu-ray discs can withstand frequent use, fingerprints, scratches and dirt to ensure safe storage quality data for Blu-ray products.

Part 2: What Are the Popular Blu-ray Formats?

Prior to this, the HD-DVD represented by Toshiba was similar to the Blu-ray Disc, which is an optical digital storage medium of the same size (120 mm in diameter) as the CD, using blue light of 405 nm wavelength. But in 2008, with Warner, which originally supported HD DVD, announced its departure from HD DVD, and several US chain stores decided to support Blu-ray products, Toshiba officially announced on February 19 that it would terminate the HD DVD business. Blu-ray video format has been evolved for a long time since it was first developed.

At the beginning, Blu-ray was only in two types: BD-R (writable) and BD-RE (rewritable) which only has one layer for each with 25GB capacity. Later, the dual layer Blu-ray discs have been released which refers to BD-RE DL (rewritable with dual layer) which can store 50GB data. What comes next are the totally new Blu-ray formats which have very big storage. In 2000, BD-XL TL, BD-XL QL and BD-XL DS TL have been introduced to the market which respectively represents BD with a triple layer (TL), quadruple layer (QL) and double-sided triple layer (DS TL). The BD-XL TL and BD-XL QL can hold up to 100GB and 128GB data respectively. Lastly, in 2015, another popular Blu-ray format was released that is 4K Blu-ray disc format which is able to support Ultra HD 4K video up to 60 frames per second.

Part 3: 3 Best Blu-ray players to play Blu-ray Movies

Generally speaking, the more advanced Blu-ray discs movie you have bought, the more money you will have to spend. In order to play the general Blu-ray player with the best audio and picture effects, then you should be more careful in selecting a basic Blu-ray player or an expensive Blu-ray player based on your own needs. Instead, if you prefer to watch these Blu-ray movies on your computer which would be more economical and convenient, then some powerful Blu-ray player software will be things that you should consider. For your further options, you can take a try on the following 3 best Blu-ray players to play Blu-ray video format files.

No. 1 Leawo Blu-ray Player

As a 100% free and 6-in-1 media player software, Leawo Blu-ray Player contains all media playback solutions you need for your leisure entertainment, including DVD, Blu-ray, CD, HD (4K), ISO file with AVI, MPEG, WMV, ASF, FLV, MKV/MKA and other popular formats supported. With advanced image and audio processing technology, Leawo Free Blu-ray Player software could provide you quality-lossless image for even 4K video, stereo audio enjoyment, all regions free DVD decryption and user-oriented playback control. Besides, Leawo Blu-ray Player's practical bonus features including useful power manager, custom skin/language/background, snap screenshots, especially virtual remote controller make it a better choice for all playback choice. Furthermore, within Leawo Blu-ray Player, you could obtain the personalized settings according to your preference and all the settings could be done automatically. No matter if you have the basic playing needs or more advanced video setting requirements, Leawo Blu-ray Player can be your good choice.

No. 2 Aurora Blu-ray Media Player

On the second place, I will recommend Aurora Blu-ray Player for you to play Blu-ray video format files. As another decent Blu-ray player, Aurora Blu-ray Player can be able to provide you with various playback solutions on different digital content, ranging from the physical discs to common digital video types with excellent audio and picture quality. You can also set your own preferred video or audio parameters for optimized viewing. In order to play the discs with region code protection, you can choose to change the player's region as needed so as to successfully play these commercial discs. As a common media player with a lower price, Aurora Blu-ray Player can meet your general requirements. But the biggest weak point of this player lies in that it requires a very high CPU usage. Some users reflect that while running Aurora Blu-ray Player, 48% of CPU may be occupied. So, if you don't care too much about the high CPU usage, Aurora Blu-ray Player can be a respectable choice for you.

No. 3 Aiseesoft Blu-ray Player

Aiseesoft Blu-ray Player is another classic media player that supports Blu-ray video file format. Also used as a region free 4K Blu-ray player, Aiseesoft Blu-ray Player can also enable you to freely play 4K, 1080P and other common digital videos in different regions. As well, it can also play Blu-ray folder and Blu-ray ISO file. While playing the content in both physical disc and digital video, Aiseesoft Blu-ray Player is capable of offering the best audio effects which is compatible with AAC, Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1/7.1 channel audio. Furthermore, you are also allowed to enjoy the personalized video settings during the playing process. But this player is only designed to play Blu-ray, 4K, ISO files, not the DVD or CD discs included.

Part 4: Comparison between 3 Blu-ray Players

With the powerful media players mentioned above you can easily play the best 4K Blu-ray movies in 2019 with ease and accuracy. In comparison, the features and functions of these Blu-ray players are quite different. In order to select the one that is the most suitable for you, you can refer to the following aspects for more details.

1. Supported disc type. The three Blu-ray media players mentioned above are all able to play Blu-ray discs. However, only Leawo Blu-ray Player and Aurora Blu-ray Player supports DVD, CD discs and DVD-R/RW while Aiseesoft Blu-ray Player is not capable of playing the DVD discs.

2. CPU usage. In terms of the CPU usage, without doubts, Aurora Blu-ray Player is the top one which may occupy 48% CPU capacity, while Leawo Blu-ray Player is the most CPU-saving program which is up to only 4%.

3. HD upscaling. Only Aurora Blu-ray Player supports HD upscaling, which is definitely here to occupy much more CPU usage.

4. Help & Support and Knowledge base. Leawo Blu-ray Player provides users with a wide range of solutions support related to the product. But the other two players lack the specific help and support for their products, or at least not so comprehensive as Leawo Blu-ray Player does.

5. Power manager and virtual remote control. In terms of the bonus features, Leawo Blu-ray Player will outweigh Aurora Blu-ray Player and Aiseesoft Blu-ray Player, for example, Leawo Blu-ray Player can offer the power manager and virtual remote control that are not included in both the other players.

Part 5: Conclusion

Therefore, it is obvious to have the conclusion that Leawo Blu-ray Player can be more excellent in both professional playing functions and comprehensive features than its peers. More importantly, it is 100% totally free. If this is your first time get to know Blu-ray and are looking for a proper player to play Blu-ray video format files, then you should not miss Leawo Blu-ray Player.