Supported Discs
Sothink HD Movie Maker can convert various video files to High-definition (HD) Blu-ray videos and burn the videos into DVD or Blu-ray Disc. The supported disks are DVD+R, DVD+RW, DVD-R, DVD-RW, BD-R, BD-RE, etc.
When users use Blu-ray burner to burn the generated HD Blu-ray videos to BD disc, users may choose the target disc size as BD-25 or BD-50. Then the Blu-ray movie burnt out is usually called "BDMV".
If users choose the target disc size as "DVD-5" or "DVD-9", whatever the burner is DVD burner or Blu-ray burner, it actually burns out "AVCHD".
In those "AVCHD", users used to call the "Blu-ray movies on DVD-5" as "BD5" while the "Blu-ray movie on DVD-9" as "BD9".
Below are the details of each Blu-ray HD video formats:
Blu-ray Disc |
AVCHD |
DVD-video |
||
| Laser wavelength | 405 nm (blue-violet laser) |
650 nm (red laser) |
||
| Numerical aperture | 0.85 | 0.6 |
||
| Storage capacity (single side) |
per layer/maximum |
|
1.4/2.6 GB (8 cm DVD), 4.7/8.5 GB (12 cm DVD) |
4.7/8.5 GB |
| Maximum bitrate |
Raw data transfer | 53.95 Mbit/s | 18 Mbit/s | 11.08 Mbit/s |
| Audio+Video+Subtitles | 48.0 Mbit/s | ? | 10.08 Mbit/s | |
| Video | 40.0 Mbit/s | ? | 9.8 Mbit/s | |
| Mandatory video codecs | H.264/MPEG-4 AVC / VC-1 / MPEG-2 |
H.264/MPEG-4 AVC | MPEG-1 / MPEG-2 | |
| Video resolution (maximum) | 1920×1080 |
720×576 (PAL) |
||
| Frame rates at maximum resolution | 24p, 50/60i | 24p, 50/60i | 50/60i | |
BD9/BD5 Blu-ray Disc
BD9 and BD5 are lower capacity variants of the Blu-ray Disc that contain Blu-ray Disc compatible video and audio streams contained on a conventional DVD (650 nm wavelength / red laser) optical disc. Such discs offer the use of the same advanced compression technologies available to Blu-ray Discs (including H.264/MPEG-4 AVC, VC-1 and MPEG-2) while using lower cost legacy media. BD9 uses a standard 8152MB DVD9 dual-layer disc while BD5 uses a standard 4482MB DVD5 single-layer disc.
BD9/BD5 discs can be authored using home computers for private showing using standard DVD±R recorders. AACS digital rights management is optional. The BD9/BD5 format was originally proposed by Warner Home Video, as a cost-effective alternative to regular Blu-ray Discs. It was adopted as part of the BD-ROM basic format, file system, and AV specifications. BD9/BD5 is similar to 3× DVD for HD DVDs.
AVCHD
The "AVCHD" is a brand new high definition (HD) digital video camera recorder format recording 1080i*1 and 720p*2 signals onto certain media by using highly efficient codec technologies. The "AVCHD" is jointly established by Panasonic, the brand name for which Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. is known and Sony Corporation.
Mini Blu-ray Disc
The Mini Blu-ray Disc (also, Mini-BD and Mini Blu-ray) is a compact 8 cm (~3in) diameter variant of the Blu-ray Disc that can store approximately 7.5 GB of data. It is similar in concept to the MiniDVD and MiniCD. Recordable (BD-R) and rewritable (BD-RE) versions of Mini Blu-ray Disc have been developed specifically for compact camcorders and other compact recording devices.
Blu-ray Disc recordable
Blu-ray Disc recordable refers to two optical disc formats that can be recorded with an optical disc recorder. BD-R discs can be written to once, whereas BD-RE can be erased and re-recorded multiple times. The theoretical maximum speed for Blu-ray Discs is about 12×. Higher speeds of rotation (10,000+ rpm) cause too much wobble for the discs to be read properly, as with the 20× and 52× respective maximum speeds of standard DVDs and CDs.
Since September 2007, BD-RE was also available in the smaller 8 cm Mini Blu-ray Disc diameter size.
On September 18, 2007, Pioneer and Mitsubishi co-developed BD-R LTH ("Low to High" in groove recording), which features an organic dye recording layer that can be manufactured by modifying existing CD-R and DVD-R production equipment, significantly reducing manufacturing costs.
In February 2008, Taiyo Yuden, Mitsubishi and Maxell released the first BD-R LTH Discs, and in March 2008, Sony's PlayStation 3 gained official support for BD-R LTH Discs with the 2.20 firmware update.
Unlike the previous releases of 120 mm optical discs (i.e. CDs and standard DVDs), Blu-ray recorders hit the market almost simultaneously with Blu-ray's debut (at least in Japan).