Name | Blu-ray Disc |
---|---|
Logo | |
Type | High-density optical disc |
Encoding | MPEG-2H.264/MPEG-4 AVCVC-1 |
Capacity | 25 GB (single-layer)50 GB (dual-layer)100/128 GB (BDXL) |
Blocksize | 64 kb ECC |
Disc diameter | 120mm |
Disc thickness | 1.2mm |
Read | 405 nm Diode Laser: |
Owner | Blu-ray Disc Association |
Use | Data storageStereoscopic 3DPlayStation 3 games }} |
Blu-ray Disc (official abbreviation BD) is an optical disc storage medium designed to supersede the DVD format. The disc diameter is 120 mm and disc thickness 1.2 mm plastic optical disc, the same size as DVDs and CDs. Blu-ray Discs contain 25 GB (23.31 GiB) per layer, with dual layer discs (50 GB) being the norm for feature-length video discs. Triple layer discs (100 GB) and quadruple layers (128 GB) are available for BD-XL Blu-ray re-writer drives. Currently movie production companies have not utilized the triple or quadruple layer discs; most consumer owned Blu-ray players will not be able to read the additional layers, while newer Blu-ray players may require a firmware update to play the triple and quadruple sized discs.
The first Blu-ray Disc prototypes were unveiled in October 2000, and the first prototype player was released in April 2003 in Japan. Afterwards, it continued to be developed until its official release in June 2006.
The name ''Blu-ray Disc'' refers to the blue laser used to read the disc, which allows information to be stored at a greater density than is possible with the longer-wavelength red laser used for DVDs.
Blu-ray Disc was developed by the Blu-ray Disc Association, a group representing makers of consumer electronics, computer hardware, and motion pictures. , more than 1,500 Blu-ray Disc titles were available in Australia and the United Kingdom, with 2,500 in the United States and Canada. In Japan, , more than 3,300 titles have been released.
During the high definition optical disc format war, Blu-ray Disc competed with the HD DVD format. Toshiba, the main company that supported HD DVD, conceded in February 2008, releasing their own Blu-ray Disc player in late 2009.
The first DVR Blue prototypes were unveiled at the CEATEC exhibition in October 2000 by Sony. A trademark for the "Blue Disc" logo was filed February 9, 2001. On February 19, 2002, the project was officially announced as Blu-ray Disc, and Blu-ray Disc Founders was founded by the nine initial members.
The first consumer device arrived in stores on April 10, 2003: the Sony BDZ-S77, a US$3,800 BD-RE recorder that was made available only in Japan. But there was no standard for prerecorded video, and no movies were released for this player.
Hollywood studios insisted that players be equipped with Digital Rights Management before they would release movies for the new format, and they wanted a new DRM system that would be more secure than the failed Content Scramble System (CSS) used on DVDs.
On October 4, 2004, the name "Blu-ray Disc Founders" was officially changed to the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA), and 20th Century Fox joined the BDA's Board of Directors.
The Blu-ray Disc physical specifications were completed in 2004.
In January 2005, TDK announced that they had developed a hard coating polymer for Blu-ray Discs. Cartridges, originally used for scratch protection, were no longer necessary and were scrapped.
The BD-ROM specifications were finalized in early 2006.
AACS LA, a consortium founded in 2004, had been developing the DRM platform that could be used to securely distribute movies to consumers. However, the final AACS standard was delayed, and then delayed again when an important member of the Blu-ray Disc group voiced concerns. At the request of the initial hardware manufacturers, including Toshiba, Pioneer, and Samsung, an interim standard was published that did not include some features, such as managed copy.
The first Blu-ray Disc titles were released on June 20, 2006: ''50 First Dates'', ''The Fifth Element'', ''Hitch'', ''House of Flying Daggers'', ''Underworld: Evolution'', ''xXx'' (all Sony), and MGM's ''The Terminator''. The earliest releases used MPEG-2 video compression, the same method used on standard DVDs. The first releases using the newer VC-1 and AVC formats were introduced in September 2006. The first movies using 50 GB dual-layer discs were introduced in October 2006. The first audio-only albums were released in May 2008.
The first mass-market Blu-ray Disc rewritable drive for the PC was the BWU-100A, released by Sony on July 18, 2006. It recorded both single and dual-layer BD-Rs as well as BD-REs and had a suggested retail price of US $699.
The DVD Forum, chaired by Toshiba, was split over whether to develop the more expensive blue laser technology. In March 2002, the forum approved a proposal endorsed by Warner Bros. and other motion picture studios that involved compressing HD content onto dual-layer standard DVD-9 discs. In spite of this decision, however, the DVD Forum's Steering Committee announced in April that it was pursuing its own blue-laser high-definition video solution. In August, Toshiba and NEC announced their competing standard, Advanced Optical Disc. It was finally adopted by the DVD Forum and renamed HD DVD the next year, after being voted down twice by DVD Forum members who were also Blu-ray Disc Association members—a situation that drew preliminary investigations by the U.S. Department of Justice.
HD DVD had a head start in the high-definition video market, as Blu-ray Disc sales were slow to gain market share. The first Blu-ray Disc player was perceived as expensive and buggy, and there were few titles available.
The appearance of the Sony PlayStation 3, which contained a Blu-ray Disc player for primary storage, helped turn the tide. Sony also ran a more thorough and influential marketing campaign for the format. 2006 also saw the launch of AVCHD camcorders, whose recordings can be played back on many Blu-ray Disc players without re-encoding, but not on HD DVD players.
By January 2007, Blu-ray Discs had outsold HD DVDs, and during the first three quarters of 2007, BD outsold HD DVDs by about two to one. At CES 2007, Warner proposed Total Hi Def—a hybrid disc containing Blu-ray on one side and HD DVD on the other, but it was never released.
In a June 28, 2007 press release, Twentieth Century Fox cited Blu-ray Disc's adoption of the BD+ anticopying system as key to their decision to support the Blu-ray Disc format.
In February 2008, Toshiba withdrew its support for the HD DVD format, conceding victory to Blu-ray Disc.
According to Adams Media Research, high-definition software sales in the US were slower in the first two years than DVD software sales. 16.3 million DVD software units were sold in the first two years (1997–98) compared to 8.3 million high-definition software units (2006–07). One reason given for this difference was the smaller marketplace (26.5 million HDTVs in 2007 compared to 100 million SDTVs in 1998). Former HD DVD supporter Microsoft has stated that they are not planning to make a Blu-ray Disc drive for the Xbox 360.
Blu-ray Disc began making serious strides as soon as the format war ended. Nielsen VideoScan sales numbers showed that with some titles, such as 20th Century Fox's ''Hitman'', up to 14% of total disc sales were from Blu-ray, although the average for the first half of the year was around 5%. Shortly after the format war ended, a study by The NPD Group found that awareness of Blu-ray Disc had reached 60% of U.S. households. In December 2008, the Blu-ray Disc of ''The Dark Knight'' sold 600,000 copies on the first day of its launch in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. A week after launch, ''The Dark Knight'' BD had sold over 1.7 million copies worldwide, making it the first Blu-ray Disc title to sell over a million copies in the first week of release.
According to Singulus Technologies AG, Blu-ray is being adopted faster than the DVD format was at a similar period in its development. This conclusion was based on the fact that Singulus Technologies has received orders for 21 Blu-ray dual-layer machines during the first quarter of 2008, while 17 DVD machines of this type were made in the same period in 1997. And the other key equipment supplier for optical disc Anwell Technologies Limited had shipped its Blu-ray Disc production equipment to Frankfurt for the largest trade show in the world — MEDIA-TECH Expo in May 2008 and they received new order for the Blu-ray production line also. According to GfK Retail and Technology, in the first week of November 2008, sales of Blu-ray recorders surpassed DVD recorders in Japan. According to the Digital Entertainment Group, the total number of Blu-ray Disc playback devices (both set-top box and game console) had reached 17.3 millions by the end of 2009. According to Swicker & Associates, Blu-ray Disc software sales in the United States and Canada were 1.2 million in 2006, 19.2 million in 2007, 82.4 million in 2008, and 177.2 million in 2009. Some commentators have suggested that renting Blu-ray will play a vital part in keeping the technology affordable while allowing it to move forward. In an effort to increase sales, studios are releasing movies in combo packs with Blu-ray Discs and DVDs as well as "digital copies" which can be played on computers and iPods. Some are released on "flipper" discs with Blu-ray on one side and DVD on the other. Other strategies are to release movies with the special features only on Blu-ray Discs and none on DVDs.
Blu-ray faces competition from video on demand and from new technologies that allow access to movies on any format or device, such as Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem or Disney's Keychest.
Type | Diameter(cm) | Layers | Capacity | ||
Byte | Bytes | Gigabyte>GB | Gibibyte>GiB | ||
Standard disc size, single layer | 12 | style="text-align:right;">1| | 25,025,314,816 | 25.0 | 23.3 |
Standard disc size, dual layer | style="text-align:right;"12 || | 2 | 50,050,629,632 | 50.1 | 46.6 |
Mini disc size, single layer | style="text-align:right;"8 || | 1 | 7,791,181,824 | 7.8 | 7.3 |
Mini disc size, dual layer | style="text-align:right;"8 || | 2 | 15,582,363,648 | 15.6 | 14.5 |
The diodes are GaN (gallium nitride) lasers that produce 405 nm light directly, that is, without frequency doubling or other nonlinear optical mechanisms. Conventional DVDs and CDs use red and near-infrared lasers, at 650 nm and 780 nm, respectively.
The minimum "spot size" on which a laser can be focused is limited by diffraction, and depends on the wavelength of the light and the numerical aperture of the lens used to focus it. By decreasing the wavelength, increasing the numerical aperture from 0.60 to 0.85, and making the cover layer thinner to avoid unwanted optical effects, the laser beam can be focused to a smaller spot, which effectively allows more information to be stored in the same area.
For Blu-ray Disc, the spot size is 580 nm. In addition to the optical improvements, Blu-ray Discs feature improvements in data encoding that further increase the capacity. (See ''Compact Disc'' for information on optical discs' physical structure.)
Using a cartridge would increase the price of an already expensive medium, so hard-coating of the pickup surface was chosen instead. TDK was the first company to develop a working scratch-protection coating for Blu-ray Discs. It was named Durabis. In addition, both Sony and Panasonic's replication methods include proprietary hard-coat technologies. Sony's rewritable media are spin-coated, using a scratch-resistant and antistatic coating. Verbatim's recordable and rewritable Blu-ray Discs use their own proprietary hard-coat technology, called ScratchGuard.
The Blu-ray Disc specification requires the testing of resistance to scratches by mechanical abrasion. In contrast, DVD media are not required to be scratch-resistant, but since development of the technology, some companies, such as Verbatim, implemented hard-coating for more expensive lineups of recordable DVDs.
rowspan="2" | Drive speed | Data rate | Theoretical Write time for Blu-ray Disc (minutes) | ||
!Mbit/s!!MB/s!!Single-Layer!!Dual-Layer | |||||
1× | 36 | 4.5| | 90 | 180 | |
2× | 72| | 9 | 45 | 90 | |
4× | 144| | 18 | 22.5 | 45 | |
6× | 216| | 27 | 15 | 30 | |
8× | 288| | 36 | 11.25 | 22.5 | |
10× | 360| | 45 | 9 | 18 | |
12× | 432 | | | 54 | 7.5 | 15 |
Since September 2007, BD-RE is also available in the smaller 8 cm Mini Blu-ray Disc size.
On September 18, 2007, Pioneer and Mitsubishi codeveloped 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. In May 2009 Verbatim/Mitsubishi announced the industry's first 6X BD-R LTH media, which allows recording a 25 GB disc in about 16 minutes.
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.
Usage of BD9 for releasing content on "pressed" discs has never caught on. After the end of the format war, major producers ramped up the production of Blu-ray Discs and lowered their prices to the level of DVDs. On the other hand, the idea of using inexpensive DVD media became popular among individual users. A lower-capacity version of this format that uses single-layer 4.7 GB DVDs has been unofficially called BD5. Both formats are being used by individuals for recording high definition content in Blu-ray format onto recordable DVD media.
Despite the fact that the BD9 format has been adopted as part of the BD-ROM basic format, none of the existing Blu-ray player models support it explicitly. As such, the discs recorded in BD9 and BD5 formats are not guaranteed to play on standard Blu-ray Disc players.
AVCHD and AVCREC also use inexpensive media like DVDs, but unlike BD9 and BD5 these formats have limited interactivity, codec types, and data rates.
BD-R 3.0 Format Specification (BDXL) defined a multi-layered disc recordable in BDAV format with the speed of 2X and 4X, capable of 100/128GB and usage of UDF2.5/2.6.
BD-RE 4.0 Format Specification (BDXL) defined a multi-layered disc rewritable in BDAV with the speed of 2X and 4X, capable of 100GB and usage of UDF2.5 as file system.
BDXL discs are not compatible with existing BD drives.
In the first BD-RE specification (defined in 2002), the BDFS (Blu-ray Disc File System) was used. The BD-RE 1.0 specification was defined mainly for the digital recording of High Definition Television (HDTV) broadcast television. The BDFS was replaced by UDF 2.50 in the second BD-RE specification in 2005, in order to enable interoperability among consumer electronics Blu-ray recorders and personal computer systems. These optical disc recording technologies enabled PC recording and playback of BD-RE. BD-R can use UDF 2.50/2.60.
The Blu-ray Disc application (BDAV application) for recording of digital broadcasting has been developed as ''System Description Blu-ray Rewritable Disc Format part 3 Audio Visual Basic Specifications''. The requirements related with computer file system have been specified in ''System Description Blu-ray Rewritable Disc Format part 2 File System Specifications version 1.0'' (BDFS).
Initially, the BD-RE version 1.0 (BDFS) was specifically developed for recording of digital broadcasting using the Blu-ray Disc application (BDAV application). To support UDF, these requirements are superseded by the ''Blu-ray Rewritable Disc File System Specifications version 2.0'' (UDF) (a.k.a. ''RE 2.0'') and ''Blu-ray Recordable Disc File System Specifications version 1.0'' (UDF) (a.k.a. ''R 1.0''). Additionally, a new application format, BDMV (''System Description Blu-ray Disc Prerecorded Format part 3 Audio Visual Basic Specifications'') for High Definition Content Distribution was developed for BD-ROM. The only file system developed for BDMV is the ''System Description Blu-ray Read-Only Disc Format part 2 File System Specifications version 1.0'' (UDF) which defines the requirements for UDF 2.50.
Resolution !! Frame rate !! Aspect ratio | ||
1920×1080 | 29.97-i | 16:9 |
1920×1080 | 25-i | |
1920×1080 | 24-p | |
1920×1080 | 23.976-p | |
1440×1080 | ||
1440×1080 | 25-i | |
1440×1080 | 24-p | |
1440×1080 | 23.976-p | |
1280×720 | 59.94-p | |
1280×720 | 50-p | |
1280×720 | 24-p | |
1280×720 | 23.976-p | |
720×480 | 29.97-i | |
720×576 | 25-i |
a All frame rates are properly listed in frames per second. Some manufacturers will list field rate for interlaced material, but this is incorrect industry practice. To avoid confusion, only FRAME rates should ever be listed. b MPEG-2 at 1440x1080 was previously not supported in a draft version of the specification from March 2005.
For video, all players are required to support MPEG-2 Part 2, H.264/MPEG-4 AVC, and SMPTE VC-1. MPEG-2 is the compression standard used on regular DVDs, which allows backwards compatibility. MPEG-4 AVC was developed by MPEG, Sony, and VCEG. VC-1 is a compression standard that was mainly developed by Microsoft. BD-ROM titles with video must store video using one of the three mandatory formats; multiple formats on a single title are allowed.
The choice of formats affects the producer's licensing/royalty costs as well as the title's maximum run time, due to differences in compression efficiency. Discs encoded in MPEG-2 video typically limit content producers to around two hours of high-definition content on a single-layer (25 GB) BD-ROM. The more-advanced video formats (VC-1 and MPEG-4 AVC) typically achieve a video run time twice that of MPEG-2, with comparable quality.
MPEG-2 was used by many studios (including Paramount Pictures, which initially used the VC-1 format for HD DVD releases) for the first series of Blu-ray Discs, which were launched throughout 2006. Modern releases are now often encoded in either MPEG-4 AVC or VC-1, allowing film studios to place all content on one disc, reducing costs and improving ease of use. Using these formats also frees a lot of space for storage of bonus content in HD (1080i/p), as opposed to the SD (480i/p) typically used for most titles. Some studios, such as Warner Bros., have released bonus content on discs encoded in a different format than the main feature title. For example, the Blu-ray Disc release of ''Superman Returns'' uses VC-1 for the feature film and MPEG-2 for bonus content. Today, Warner and other studios typically provide bonus content in the video format that matches the feature.
colspan="9" | Specification of BD-ROM Primary audio streams: | |||||||
! !! [[Linear pulse code modulation | ||||||||
Max. Bitrate | 27.648 Mbit/s | 640 kbit/s| | 4.736 Mbit/s | 18.64 Mbit/s | 1.524 Mbit/s | 24.5 Mbit/s | 1.5 Mbit/s | 3.0 Mbit/s |
Max. Channel | 8 (48 kHz, 96 kHz), 6 (192 kHz)| | 5.1 | 7.1 | 8 (48 kHz, 96 kHz), 6 (192 kHz) | 5.1 | 8 (48 kHz, 96 kHz), 6 (192 kHz) | 5.1 | 7.1 |
Bits/sample | 16, 20, 24| | 16, 24 | 16, 24 | 16, 24 | 16, 20, 24 | 16, 24 | 16 | 16 |
Sample frequency | 48 kHz, 96 kHz, 192 kHz| | 48 kHz | 48 kHz | 48 kHz, 96 kHz, 192 kHz | 48 kHz | 48 kHz, 96 kHz, 192 kHz | 48 kHz | 48 kHz, 96 kHz |
Feature | BD-Audio | BD-Video | |||
Profile 1.0 | Profile 1.1 | Profile 2.0 | Profile 5.0 | ||
Built-in persistent memory | No | 64 KB | 64 KB | 64 KB | 64 KB? |
Local storage capability | No | Optional | 256 MB | 1 GB | 1 GB |
No | Optional | Mandatory | Mandatory | Mandatory | |
Secondary audio decoder | No | Optional | Mandatory | Mandatory | Mandatory |
Virtual file system | No | Optional | Mandatory | Mandatory | Mandatory |
Internet connection capability | No | No | No | Mandatory | Mandatory |
On November 2, 2007, the Grace Period Profile was superseded by Bonus View as the minimum profile for new BD-Video players released to the market. When Blu-ray Disc software not authored with interactive features dependent on Bonus View or BD-Live hardware capabilities is played on Profile 1.0 players, it is able to play the main feature of the disc, but some extra features may not be available or will have limited capability.
With the exception of the latest players and the PlayStation 3, Profile 1.0 players cannot be upgraded to be Bonus View or BD-Live compliant.
Movie studios have different region coding policies. Among major U.S. studios, Paramount Pictures and Universal Studios have released all of their titles region-free. Sony Pictures and Warner Bros. have released most of their titles region-free. Lionsgate and Walt Disney Pictures have released a mix of region-free and region-coded titles. 20th Century Fox and MGM have released most of their titles region-coded.
The Blu-ray Disc region coding scheme divides the world into 3 regions, labeled A, B, and C.
In circumvention of region coding restrictions, stand-alone Blu-ray Disc players are sometimes modified by third parties to allow for playback of Blu-ray Discs (and DVDs) with ''any'' region code. Instructions ('hacks') describing how to reset the Blu-ray region counter of computer player applications to make them multi-region indefinitely are also regularly posted to video enthusiast websites and forums. Unlike DVD region codes, Blu-ray region codes are verified only by the player software, not by the optical drive's firmware.
Since appearing in devices in 2006, several successful attacks have been made on the format. The first known attack relied on the trusted client problem. In addition, decryption keys have been extracted from a weakly protected player (WinDVD). Since keys can be revoked in newer releases, this is only a temporary attack, and new keys must continually be discovered in order to decrypt the latest discs. This cat-and-mouse game has gone through several cycles.
If a playback device manufacturer finds that its devices have been hacked, it can potentially release BD+ code that detects and circumvents the vulnerability. These programs can then be included in all new content releases.
The specifications of the BD+ virtual machine are available only to licensed device manufacturers. A list of licensed commercial adopters is available from the BD+ website.
The first titles using BD+ were released in October 2007. Since November 2007, versions of BD+ protection have been circumvented by various versions of the AnyDVD HD program. Other programs known to be capable of circumventing BD+ protection are DumpHD (versions 0.6 and above, along with some supporting software), MakeMKV, and two applications from DVDFab (Passkey and HD Decrypter).
Also, behind closed doors at CES 2007, Ritek revealed that they had successfully developed a High Definition optical disc process that extends the disc capacity to ten layers, which increases the capacity of the discs to 250 GB. However, they noted that the major obstacle is that current read/write technology does not support the additional layers.
JVC has developed a three-layer technology that allows putting both standard-definition DVD data and HD data on a BD/(standard) DVD combination. If successfully commercialized, this would enable the consumer to purchase a disc that can be played on current DVD players and can also reveal its HD version when played on a BD player. Japanese optical disc manufacturer Infinity announced the first "hybrid" Blu-ray Disc/(standard) DVD combo, to be released February 18, 2009. "Code Blue" will feature four hybrid discs containing a single Blu-ray Disc layer (25 GB) and two DVD layers (9 GB) on the same side of the disc.
In January 2007, Hitachi showcased a 100 GB Blu-ray Disc, consisting of four layers containing 25 GB each. Unlike TDK and Panasonic's 100 GB discs, they claim this disc is readable on standard Blu-ray Disc drives that are currently in circulation, and it is believed that a firmware update is the only requirement to make it readable to current players and drives.
In December 2008, Pioneer Corporation unveiled a 400 GB Blu-ray Disc (containing 16 data layers, 25 GB each) that will be compatible with current players after a firmware update. Its planned launch is in the 2009–10 time frame for ROM and 2010–13 for rewritable discs. Ongoing development is under way to create a 1 TB Blu-ray Disc as soon as 2013.
At CES 2009, Panasonic unveiled the DMP-B15, the first portable Blu-ray Disc player, and Sharp introduced the LC-BD60U and LC-BD80U series, the first LCD HDTVs with integrated Blu-ray Disc players. Sharp has also announced that they will sell HDTVs with integrated Blu-ray Disc recorders in the United States by the end of 2009. Set-top box recorders are not being sold in the U.S. due to fears of piracy. However, personal computers with Blu-ray recorder drives are available.
, a joint licensing agreement for Blu-ray Disc has not yet been finalized. A joint licensing agreement would make it easier for companies to get a license for Blu-ray Disc without having to go to each individual company that owns a Blu-ray Disc patent. For this reason, a joint licensing agreement was eventually made for DVD by the DVD6C Licensing Agency.
On January 1, 2010, Sony, in association with Panasonic, announced plans to increase the storage capacity on their Blu-ray Discs from 25GB to 33.4 GB via a technology called i-MLSE (Maximum likelihood Sequence Estimation). The higher-capacity discs, according to Sony, will be readable on current Blu-ray Disc players with a firmware upgrade. No date has been set to include the increased space, but according to Blu-ray.com "it will likely happen sometime later this year."
On July 20, 2010, the research team of Sony and Japanese Tohoku University announced the joint development of a blue-violet laser, which will help in creating Blu-ray discs with a capacity of 1 TB (dual layer).
Sony has released a firmware upgrade for PlayStation 3 consoles that enables 3D Blu-ray Disc playback. However, when playing in 3D mode, the PlayStation 3 will downgrade high-def audio (such as Dolby TrueHD or DTS-HD) to standard Dolby Digital or DTS, as HDMI 1.3 does not provide enough bandwidth for both 3D video and high-def audio. They previously released support for 3D gaming on April 21, 2010 (followed by the availability of 3D movies). However, with the new 3.70 software update in August 9, 2011, the PlayStation 3 can now support DTS-HD and DTS-HD HR while playing 3D Blu-Ray.
Being primarily an acquisition format, AVCHD playback is not universally supported by all devices that support Blu-Ray Disc playback. Nevertheless, many such devices are capable of playing AVCHD recordings from removable media, such as DVDs, SD/SDHC memory cards, "Memory Stick" cards, and hard disk drives.
Category:Computer storage media Category:Video storage Category:Audio storage Category:Consumer electronics Category:DVD Category:High-definition television Category:High-end audio Category:2006 introductions Category:Java platform Category:Television terminology
af:Blu-ray Disc ar:الشعاع الازرق bn:ব্লু-রে ডিস্ক bs:Blu-ray Disc bg:Blu-ray диск ca:Blu-ray cs:Blu-ray da:Blu-ray Disc de:Blu-ray Disc et:Blu-ray Disc el:Blu-ray Disc es:Blu-ray Disc eo:Blu-radia disko eu:Blu-ray fa:دیسک بلو-ری fr:Disque Blu-ray gl:Blu Ray ko:블루레이 디스크 hy:Blu-ray Disc hi:ब्ल्यू-रे डिस्क hr:Blu-ray Disc id:Cakram Blu-ray it:Blu-ray Disc he:Blu-ray pam:Blu-ray Disc ka:Blu-Ray დისკი lv:Blu-ray Disc lt:Blu-ray Disc hu:Blu-ray disc mk:Blu-ray диск ml:ബ്ലൂ റേ ഡിസ്ക് ms:Cakera Blu-ray nl:Blu-ray ja:Blu-ray Disc nap:Disco Blu-ray no:Blu-ray Disc nn:Blu-ray Disc pnb:بلو رے ڈسک pl:Blu-ray pt:Disco blu-ray ro:Blu-ray ru:Blu-ray Disc sq:Blue-ray Disk scn:Blu-Ray Disc simple:Blu-ray Disc sk:Blu-ray sl:Blu-ray Disc sr:Блу-реј диск sh:Blu-ray Disc su:Cakram Blu-ray fi:Blu-ray sv:Blu-ray-skiva tl:BlueRay Disk ta:நீலக்கதிர் வட்டு th:บลูเรย์ tr:Blu-ray uk:Blu-ray Disc ur:Blu-ray Disc vi:Đĩa Blu-ray wuu:孛路內 (Blu-Ray) yo:Blu-ray Disc zh:藍光光碟
This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
name | Robert Pattinson |
---|---|
birth name | Robert Douglas Thomas Pattinson |
birth date | May 13, 1986 |
birth place | London, England, UK |
other names | Rob, R-Pattz, Spunk Ransom (nicknames) |
occupation | Actor, model, musician, producer |
yearsactive | 2004–present |
relatives | Lizzy Pattinson (sister) |
signature | Robert Pattinson signature.svg }} |
Pattinson played Edward Cullen in the film ''Twilight'', based on Stephenie Meyer's best-selling novel of the same name, which was released on 21 November 2008 in North America. According to ''TV Guide'', Pattinson was initially apprehensive about auditioning for the role of Edward Cullen, fearful that he would not be able to live up to the "perfection" expected from the character. He reprised his role as Edward Cullen in the ''Twilight'' sequels ''The Twilight Saga: New Moon'' and ''The Twilight Saga: Eclipse'', which was released 30 June 2010.
Pattinson had lead roles in the feature films ''Little Ashes'' (in which he plays Salvador Dalí), ''How to Be'' (a British comedy), and the short film ''The Summer House''.
In 2009, Pattinson presented at the 81st Academy Awards. On 10 November, Revolver Entertainment released the DVD ''Robsessed'', a documentary which details Pattinson's life and popularity.
In 2010, Pattinson executively produced and starred in the film ''Remember Me'', which was released on 12 March 2010. On 13 May 2010, Pattinson appeared on ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'' for ''The Twilight Saga: Eclipse'' and also made an appearance on ''The Ellen DeGeneres Show'' on 18 May, which aired the following day. Pattinson attended the official worldwide red carpet premiere for ''The Twilight Saga: Eclipse'' on 24 June 2010 at the Los Angeles Nokia Theatre.
In 2011, he starred in ''Water for Elephants'', a film adaptation of the Sara Gruen novel of the same name, with Christoph Waltz and Reese Witherspoon.
He will play Georges Duroy in a film adaptation of the 1885 novel ''Bel Ami'', with Uma Thurman, which will be released in 2011. He will also appear in a theatre production for producer David Pugh.
Aside from recording for the soundtracks, Pattinson has said, "I've never really recorded anything – I just played in pubs and stuff", and when asked about a professional music career, he said, "Music is my back-up plan if acting fails." In 2010, Pattinson was awarded the 'Hollywood's Most Influential Top Unexpected Musicians' award.
He was named one of ''Vanity Fair''
In December 2009, Pattinson autographed a guitar to be auctioned off for charity. He also volunteered for the ''Hope for Haiti Now: A Global Benefit for Earthquake Relief'' in January 2010.
''GQ'' and ''Glamour'' both named him the "Best Dressed Man" of 2010, with ''GQ'' stating, "Extremely elegant and inspiring, the true essence of a contemporary man." In 2010, ''People'' also listed Pattinson in their "World's Most Beautiful" issue.
In 2010, Britain's ''The Sunday Times'' "Rich List" put him on its "list of young millionaires" in the UK, worth £13 million. ''Time'' magazine named him as one of 2010's 100 Most Influential People in The World. In June 2010, Pattinson was named by Forbes magazine the No.50 most powerful celebrity in the world with earnings $17 million. Due to Pattinson's rising fame, a wax statue of him was added to the Madame Tussauds collection in London and New York City. On 14 November 2010, Pattinson received two BBC Radio 1 Teen Awards, Best Dressed and Best Actor.
In 2011, Pattinson was No. 15 on ''Vanity Fair'''s "Hollywood Top 40" with earnings of $27.5 million in 2010.
Category:1986 births Category:Actors from London Category:English child actors Category:English film actors Category:English guitarists Category:English male models Category:English singer-songwriters Category:English stage actors Category:English television actors Category:Living people Category:Old Harrodians Category:People educated at Tower House School Category:People from Barnes, London
ar:روبرت باتينسون az:Robert Pettinson bg:Робърт Патинсън br:Robert Pattinson ca:Robert Thomas-Pattinson cs:Robert Pattinson cy:Robert Pattinson da:Robert Pattinson de:Robert Pattinson et:Robert Pattinson el:Ρόμπερτ Πάτινσον es:Robert Pattinson eo:Robert Pattinson eu:Robert Pattinson fa:رابرت پتینسون fr:Robert Pattinson ga:Robert Pattinson gl:Robert Pattinson gu:રોબર્ટ પેટિસન ko:로버트 패틴슨 hy:Ռոբերտ Փեթինսոն hi:रॉबर्ट पैटिनसन hr:Robert Pattinson id:Robert Pattinson is:Robert Pattinson it:Robert Pattinson he:רוברט פטינסון jv:Robert Pattinson kn:ರಾಬರ್ಟ್ ಪ್ಯಾಟಿನ್ಸನ್ ka:რობერტ პეტინსონი kk:Роберт Томас Паттинсон lv:Roberts Patinsons li:Robert Pattinson hu:Robert Pattinson mk:Роберт Патинсон ms:Robert Pattinson nl:Robert Pattinson ja:ロバート・パティンソン no:Robert Pattinson nds:Robert Pattinson pl:Robert Pattinson pt:Robert Pattinson ro:Robert Pattinson ru:Паттинсон, Роберт simple:Robert Pattinson sk:Robert Pattinson sl:Robert Pattinson sr:Robert Patinson sh:Robert Pattinson fi:Robert Pattinson sv:Robert Pattinson tl:Robert Pattinson ta:ராபர்ட் பாட்டின்சன் te:రాబర్ట్ ప్యాటిన్సన్ th:โรเบิร์ต แพตตินสัน tr:Robert Pattinson uk:Роберт Паттінсон vi:Robert Pattinson zh-yue:羅拔柏迪臣 zh:羅伯·派汀森This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
The World News (WN) Network, has created this privacy statement in order to demonstrate our firm commitment to user privacy. The following discloses our information gathering and dissemination practices for wn.com, as well as e-mail newsletters.
We do not collect personally identifiable information about you, except when you provide it to us. For example, if you submit an inquiry to us or sign up for our newsletter, you may be asked to provide certain information such as your contact details (name, e-mail address, mailing address, etc.).
When you submit your personally identifiable information through wn.com, you are giving your consent to the collection, use and disclosure of your personal information as set forth in this Privacy Policy. If you would prefer that we not collect any personally identifiable information from you, please do not provide us with any such information. We will not sell or rent your personally identifiable information to third parties without your consent, except as otherwise disclosed in this Privacy Policy.
Except as otherwise disclosed in this Privacy Policy, we will use the information you provide us only for the purpose of responding to your inquiry or in connection with the service for which you provided such information. We may forward your contact information and inquiry to our affiliates and other divisions of our company that we feel can best address your inquiry or provide you with the requested service. We may also use the information you provide in aggregate form for internal business purposes, such as generating statistics and developing marketing plans. We may share or transfer such non-personally identifiable information with or to our affiliates, licensees, agents and partners.
We may retain other companies and individuals to perform functions on our behalf. Such third parties may be provided with access to personally identifiable information needed to perform their functions, but may not use such information for any other purpose.
In addition, we may disclose any information, including personally identifiable information, we deem necessary, in our sole discretion, to comply with any applicable law, regulation, legal proceeding or governmental request.
We do not want you to receive unwanted e-mail from us. We try to make it easy to opt-out of any service you have asked to receive. If you sign-up to our e-mail newsletters we do not sell, exchange or give your e-mail address to a third party.
E-mail addresses are collected via the wn.com web site. Users have to physically opt-in to receive the wn.com newsletter and a verification e-mail is sent. wn.com is clearly and conspicuously named at the point of
collection.If you no longer wish to receive our newsletter and promotional communications, you may opt-out of receiving them by following the instructions included in each newsletter or communication or by e-mailing us at michaelw(at)wn.com
The security of your personal information is important to us. We follow generally accepted industry standards to protect the personal information submitted to us, both during registration and once we receive it. No method of transmission over the Internet, or method of electronic storage, is 100 percent secure, however. Therefore, though we strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee its absolute security.
If we decide to change our e-mail practices, we will post those changes to this privacy statement, the homepage, and other places we think appropriate so that you are aware of what information we collect, how we use it, and under what circumstances, if any, we disclose it.
If we make material changes to our e-mail practices, we will notify you here, by e-mail, and by means of a notice on our home page.
The advertising banners and other forms of advertising appearing on this Web site are sometimes delivered to you, on our behalf, by a third party. In the course of serving advertisements to this site, the third party may place or recognize a unique cookie on your browser. For more information on cookies, you can visit www.cookiecentral.com.
As we continue to develop our business, we might sell certain aspects of our entities or assets. In such transactions, user information, including personally identifiable information, generally is one of the transferred business assets, and by submitting your personal information on Wn.com you agree that your data may be transferred to such parties in these circumstances.