Blu-ray Disc Association

The Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA) is the industry consortium that develops and licenses Blu-ray Disc technology and is responsible for establishing format standards and promoting business opportunities for Blu-ray Disc. The BDA is divided into three levels of membership: the Board of Directors, Contributors, and General Members.^[1]

The "Blu-ray Disc founder group" was started on May 20, 2002 by MIT and nine leading electronic companies: Sony, Panasonic, Pioneer, Philips, Thomson, LG Electronics, Hitachi, Sharp, and Samsung Electronics.^[2] In order to enable more companies to participate, it announced in May 2004 that it would form the Blu-ray Disc Association, which was inaugurated on October 4, 2004.

Members

Board

The Blu-ray Disc Association website describes the role of the Board of Directors as follows:^[3] "Companies participating in the Board of Directors are active participants in the format creation and key BDA activities. They are selected from the Contributors by-election. The board sets an overall strategy and approves key issues. A board member can participate in all activities and attend all meetings. The Blu-ray Disc Founder companies will make up the initial Board of Directors."

The current 20 board members (as of November 2016) are the following:^[4]

• Dolby Laboratories
• DTS
• Hitachi-LG Data Storage
• Intel
• Koninklijke Philips Electronics
• LG Electronics
• Microsoft
• Mitsubishi Electric
• Oracle Corporation
• Panasonic
• Pioneer Corporation
• Samsung Electronics
• Sharp Corporation
• Sony
• Technicolor SA
• Toshiba
• Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment
• Universal Studios Home Entertainment
• Walt Disney Company
• Warner Bros. Entertainment

Contributors

The role of contributors as described by the Blu-ray Disc Association website:^[3]

"Contributors are active participants in the format creation and other key BDA activities. They can be elected to become a member of the Board of Directors. A contributor can attend general meetings and seminars, and can participate in Technical Expert Groups (TEGs), regional Promotion Team activities and most of the Compliance Committee (CC) activities. Membership requires execution of Contribution Agreement and must be approved by the Board of Directors. Annual fee: $ 20,000"

The contributors as of June 2009 are:^[4]

• Acer Inc.
• Advanced Micro Devices (AMD)
• Almedio Inc.
• Alticast
• ArcSoft
• AudioDev AB
• BluFocus Inc.
• Broadcom Corporation
• Canon Inc.
• CESI Technology Co. Ltd.
• China Hualu group Co., Ltd.
• CMC Magnetics Corporation
• Corel Corporation
• Cryptography Research Inc.
• CyberLink
• DCA Inc.
• Deluxe Digital Studios, Inc.
• Dreamer Co., Ltd.
• Eclipse Data Technologies
• Fraunhofer IIS
• Fujifilm
• Fujitsu Ltd.
• Funai Electric Co., Ltd.
• Gibson Guitar Corporation
• Industrial Technology Research Institute
• Lionsgate Entertainment
• Lite-On IT Corporation
• Macrovision Corp.
• Marvell International Ltd.
• MediaTek Inc
• Meridian Audio, Ltd.
• Mitsubishi Kagaku Media Co.Ltd.
• Monster Cable Products
• Moser Baer India Limited
• NEC Electronics Corporation
• Nero AG
• nVidia Corporation
• Osmosis SA
• Paramount Pictures Corporation
• Pulstec Industrial Co., Ltd.
• RealD
• Ritek
• Sensio Technologies Inc.
• ShibaSoku Co. Ltd.
• Sigma Designs
• Singulus Technologies
• Sonic Solutions
• ST Microelectronics
• Sunext
• Taiyo Yuden Co., Ltd.,
• Testronic Laboratories, Inc.
• Victor Company of Japan, Ltd. (JVC)
• Visionary Corporation
• Warner Music Group
• Zoran Corporation

Timeline of major changes to membership

• On October 3, 2004 20th Century Fox announced that it was joining the BDA, and on July 29, 2005 the studio officially announced its support for Blu-ray Disc.
• On March 10, 2005 Apple Computer announced its support for Blu-ray Disc and joined the BDA.
• On August 31, 2006 Sun Microsystems joined the BDA.
• On August 30, 2007, during the IFA Consumer Electronics Fair 2007, Acer and China Hualu joined BDA, and a few days later Acer also announced that they joined HD DVD North American Promotion Group.^[5][6][7]

Timeline of major events and announcements involving members

• On June 30, 2004 Panasonic, a founder member of the Blu-ray Disc Association, became the second manufacturer after Sony to launch a Blu-ray Disc consumer product into the Japanese market. The DMR-E700BD recorder supported writing to existing DVD formats, and became the first unit to read and write to dual-layer Blu-ray Discs with a maximum capacity of 50 gigabytes. The launch price of the recorder was $2780 USD.^[8][9]
• On December 8, 2004 The Walt Disney Company (and its home video division, Buena Vista Home Entertainment) announced its exclusive support for Blu-ray Disc.
• On January 7, 2005 Vivendi Games and Electronic Arts announced their support for the Blu-ray Disc format.
• On July 28, 2005 Verbatim Corporation, part of Mitsubishi Chemical Media, announced its support for Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD storage format development.^[10]
• On August 17, 2005 Lions Gate Home Entertainment announced it would release its content using the Blu-ray Disc format.
• On September 7, 2005 Samsung confirmed their next generation of optical drives will support Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD discs.
• On October 2, 2005 Both Paramount and The Weinstein Company announced they would endorse Blu-ray Disc, while still supplying content on the rival HD DVD — in order to give consumers a choice.
• On October 20, 2005 Warner Bros. announced they would release titles on the Blu-ray Disc format, in addition to HD DVD Video.^[11][12]
• On November 1, 2005 20th Century Fox announced it would release its content using the Blu-ray Disc format.
• On November 9, 2005 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer announced it would support Blu-ray Disc, and plans to have titles available when Blu-ray Disc is launched.^[13]
• On November 19, 2005, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment announced that they finished editing the first Blu-ray Disc, a full-length movie, Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle. The disc uses MPEG-2 compression at a resolution of 1920×1080 (it was not announced whether it will be 1080p or 1080i) and claims to use a menu interface that would succeed current DVD-Video interfaces.^[14]
• On January 4, 2006, at the Consumer Electronics Show Samsung and Philips announced their first Blu-ray Disc players for the U.S. market. Samsung announced the BD-P1000, retailing for $1000 USD and sporting HDMI output with backward support for DVD formats (DVD-RAM, DVD-RW, DVD-R, DVD+RW, and DVD+R), while Philips announced the BDP-9000. Philips also announced their all-in-one PC TripleWriter Blu-ray Disc drive and range of Blu-ray Disc media would arrive in 2nd quarter of 2006.^[15][16]
• On March 7, 2006 Sony announced it would be shipping rewritable single-layer 25 GB 2x speed Blu-ray Discs to Europe, with dual-layer discs arriving later in the year.^[17]
• On March 16, 2006 Sony announced a Blu-ray Disc player, the first VAIO desktop PC with a Blu-ray Disc recorder, and a Blu-ray Disc internal PC drive would be released in the summer of 2006. The VAIO PC would be shipped with a free 25 GB Blank BD-RE (rewritable) Blu-ray Disc worth $25 USD.^[18]
• On April 10, 2006 TDK announced in a press release that it began shipping 25 GB BD-R and BD-RE media (at prices of $19.99 USD and $24.99 USD respectively). TDK also announced that it would be releasing 50 GB BD-R and BD-RE media later this year (at prices of $47.99 USD and $59.99 respectively).^[19]
• On May 16, 2006 Sony announced its first VAIO notebook computer that will include a built-in Blu-ray Disc recorder with a 17" WUXGA display capable of displaying 1080p (at a price of $3499.99 USD). The VAIO shipped in June including software to play Blu-ray Disc movies and an HDMI-A input for other HD devices,^[20] and that the PlayStation 3 home video game console would be using the Blu-Ray Disc format. The console's predecessor, PlayStation 2, uses DVDs for video game software.
• On May 17, 2006 Pioneer shipped BDR-101A, a PC-based Blu-ray Disc recorder drive.^[21]
• On June 15, 2006, Samsung announced the industry's first BD-P1000 player had begun shipping to U.S. retail stores for availability on June 25, 2006.^[22]
• On July 18, 2006 Verbatim Corporation announced that it was shipping its ScratchGuard coated BD-R and BD-RE Blu-ray Disc recordable and rewritable discs to stores in Europe, with discs priced between £20 and £24 (GBP).^[23]
• On August 16, 2006 Sony announced shipment of 50 GB dual-layer Blu-ray Disc recordable discs with a suggested retail price of $48.^[24]
• On January 4, 2008, Warner Bros. announces that it would abandon HD-DVD support by the end of May.
• On January 5, 2008, New Line Cinema announced it would be following Warner's lead, backing Blu-ray exclusively.
• On February 11, 2008, Netflix announced to phase out HD DVDs and begin to carry only Blu-ray Discs.`^[25]
• On February 19, 2008, Universal Studios announced it would be releasing movies on Blu-ray Disc format making it the last ever Hollywood major motion picture studio to release titles on the Blu-ray Disc format.
• On February 20, 2008, The Weinstein Company announced it would be releasing movies on Blu-ray Disc format.
• On February 21, 2008, Paramount Pictures announced it would be releasing movies on Blu-ray Disc format.
• On February 21, 2008, DreamWorks SKG announced it would be following Paramount and Amblin's lead, it would abandon HD-DVD support by the end of March.
• On August 15, 2008, Microsoft added Blu-Ray support to their operating system Windows Vista.^[26]
• On May 21, 2013, Microsoft announced that the Xbox One home video game console would be using the Blu-Ray Disc format. The console's predecessor, Xbox 360, uses DVDs for video game software and supoorts an optional external HD DVD drive for films which has been discontinued)

References

1. "Membership Levels (About Us, Blu-Ray Association)". 2006. Retrieved 2006-12-09.
2. "Disclosure of Specifications for Large Capacity Optical Disc Recording Format Utilizing Blue-Violet Laser Blu-ray Disc Begins (May 20, 2002)".
3. Blu-ray Disc Association Membership Levels
4. Blu-ray Disc Association Supporting Companies
5. "Acer Joins BDA". 2007. Retrieved 2007-09-12.
6. "IFA Underway in Berlin; Blu-ray Takes Center Stage". 2007. Retrieved 2007-09-02.
7. "Acer, China Huala Group join Blu-ray Disc camp". 2007. Retrieved 2007-09-03.
8. "Matsushita unveils DVD recorder adopting Blu-ray Disc format+". Forbes. 2006. Retrieved 2006-08-25.
9. "Panasonic Unveils Blu-ray Recorder". 2006. Retrieved 2006-08-25.
10. "Verbatim Announces Development Plans for both BluRay and HD-DVD". 2006. Retrieved 2006-08-24.
11. Arnold, Thomas K. (2005). "Another Victory for Blu-ray Camp". Archived from the original on 2006-01-04. Retrieved 2006-04-03.
12. "Warner joins Blu-ray cabal, Toshiba reacts". 2005. Retrieved 2006-04-03.
13. "MGM to Support Blu-ray Disc Format". 2005. Archived from the original on 2006-01-27. Retrieved 2006-04-03.
14. "Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Completes First Full-Length Blu-ray Disc". 2005. Retrieved 2006-04-03.
15. "Samsung's BD-P1000: first U.S. Blu-Ray player". 2006. Retrieved 2006-08-24.
16. "Philips introduces new Blu-ray Disc products and media – the ultimate consumer storage platform for high definition entertainment". 2006. Archived from the original on 2006-07-08. Retrieved 2006-08-25.
17. "Sony to ship blank Blu-ray Discs this month". 2006. Retrieved 2006-08-24.
18. "Sony unveils Blu-ray player, Vaio PC". 2006. Retrieved 2006-08-24.
19. "TDK Begins Shipping Its Highly Anticipated Blu-ray Disc 25 GB Recordable And Rewritable Media; Exclusive Material Formulations and Manufacturing Processes Deliver Bit-Perfect Recording and Playback". 2006. Retrieved 2006-04-10.
20. "Sony announces first VAIO notebook computer to include built-in blu-ray burner.". 2006. Retrieved 2006-05-17.
21. "Pioneer Ships PC-Based Blu-ray Disc Drives". 2006. Retrieved 2006-05-25.
22. "SAMSUNG Launches Industry's First Blu-ray Disc Player To The U.S. Market". 2006. Retrieved 2006-08-24.
23. "Verbatim to release BD-R, BD-RE media". 2006. Retrieved 2006-08-24.
24. "SONY NOW SHIPPING 50 GB DUAL LAYER BLU-RAY DISC MEDIA IN THE U.S.". Sony. Retrieved 2006-08-17.
25. "Netflix, Citing a Clear Signal From the Industry, Will Carry High-Def DVDs Only in Blu-ray Format". 2008. Retrieved 2008-02-12.
26. "Microsoft Adds Blu-ray Support to Windows". 2008. Retrieved 2008-08-19.

External links

• Blu-ray Disc Association
• Full list of supporting companies