Buzz around Blu-ray

Buzz around Blu-ray

: Panasonic has just announced, for the Japanese market to start with, that its new Viera 3D TVs will have built-in Blu-ray players. Though it will be a while before India gets the new series, the entertainment world is abuzz with the potential of Blu-ray in the country. The base is small, so small that numbers are hard to come by, but with Yash Raj Films releasing 17 of its films in Blu-ray and with BIG Home Video saying that the Dark Knight has been its single largest Blu-ray seller, all entertainment players, hardware makers included, are logging in. The Dark Knight sold over 1.7 million copies worldwide a week after launch in Blu-Ray format, and India too had a contribution.

It’s the latest rage in the world of entertainment. Blu-ray discs or the next generation optical disc format for high definition audio-video and data software applications can, according to the Blu-ray Disc Association, hold up to 50 gigabytes of data if it’s double-layered. The technology, developed by Sony, allows five times more storage space than a conventional DVD, better image and audio quality and more interactive features, but the discs have the same physical dimensions as standard DVDs and CDs. “It is still at a very early adoption stage in India and the base remains extremely small,” admits Muslim Kapasi, MD, Excel Home Videos, “but that’s the reason why it will easily double or even triple year on year for the next two-three years.” Pointing at Blu-ray’s biggest advantage, Kapasi says this is a future-ready format. For instance, it is easily adaptable to 3D, has high interactivity, has more space when needed and is backward compatible with DVDs and so forth.

G Dhananjayan, CEO, Home Entertainment Business, Moser Baer India, says the response to the Blu-ray titles it launched in Hindi and Malayalam has been encouraging. “As Blu-ray is a relatively new phenomenon in India, the masses are yet to experience the superior quality of viewing it offers. But the Indian market for Blu–ray is huge, and as technology adoption in India takes place quickly, we feel it could emerge as a key driver in the home video segment very soon,” he says. But he admits that it will need to release a range of titles before he can say more about customer response.

Excel Home Videos has a portfolio of over 80 movies, including Avatar, on Blu-ray already available...

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Sudipta Datta