Los Angeles –
,
and
will be honored with the 62nd annual Technology & Engineering Emmy Award
during the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) for contributions to the blue
laser optical systems for consumer playback.
The award was announced by The National Academy of Television
Arts & Sciences (NATAS) on Oct. 25, 2010.
The development of the blue laser optical systems was fundamental
for the distribution and recording of full HD content on optical discs at
consumer price levels.
Today, the Blu�ray
Disc format is used by millions of consumers worldwide to watch feature films
at home. Since its introduction in 2006, over 1,400 million Blu-ray pre�recorded discs, 188 million Blu�ray recordable/rewritable
discs, 50 million Blu�ray
players & recorders, 41 million PlayStation 3 units and over 25 million Blu�ray PC readers and writers have
been produced.
“Sony began development of blue laser optical technology in the
late 1990s, realized the world’s first high definition recording on 20GB
optical media by using blue�violet
laser, and has contributed greatly to the continuous development of the Blu�ray Disc format and the business
by releasing a wide variety of Blu�ray
Disc devices,” stated Jun Yonemitsu, Sony home entertainment development
division deputy senior general manager.
“We would like to thank the Bluâ€�ray
Disc Association (BDA) and everyone who worked together to make the format a
success.”
Chris Buma, Philips Electronics senior director of program
management and standardization, said, “Consumers appreciate the high quality
that Blu�ray
Disc delivers, so they can finally enjoy the full potential of their HDTV. And
now, as the Blu�ray
3D format begins to take off, that potential is even greater.”
Shunji O’hara, Panasonic Corporate R&D executive engineer,
commented, “Panasonic is proud to have developed so many of the key
technologies introduced in the Blu�ray
Disc format. These are not only optical disc technologies, such as Dual Layer
50GB discs, but also leading�edge
audio visual technologies such as video compression, authoring and 3D. It is a
great pleasure to see consumers around the world enjoying an advanced AV
lifestyle with Blu�ray
Disc devices.”
Panasonic,
Philips and Sony started work on a blue laser optical system in 1997. In 2000,
the companies joined forces and initiated the Blu�ray Disc Founders in 2002,
followed in 2004 by the Blu�ray
Disc Association (BDA), in which all industry key stakeholders participated to
successfully launch a worldwide standard for high definition content
distribution.
High storage capacity, new replication technology, advanced audio
and video codecs, web connectivity and interactivity and new authoring systems
were key innovations for Blu�ray
Disc. In addition to this, a recording system using recordable discs is another
important technology of the Blu�ray
Disc format. It allows consumers to record HD broadcasting programs in
their home. It also provides high capacity storage for PC and professional
usage. Since the early age of Blu�ray
standardization, Panasonic, Philips, Sony and TDK as optical media manufacturers
have been working on the development of recordable Blu�ray discs.
“The Bluâ€�ray
recordable disc solution addresses the need for HDTV recording, storage for
large data,” said Hajime Utsunomiya, TDK SQ Research Center general manager.
“With the Blu-ray recordable disc, users leverage the benefits of capacity,
speed, instant access and removability.”
The four companies will accept the Emmy Award from the National
Academy of Television Arts & Sciences at the award ceremony on Jan. 6, 2011
during the CES in Las Vegas – Nevada.
