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Blu-ray lets you record, rewrite and playback up to 50GB of data on a single dual-layer disc (as opposed to 4.7GB on a standard DVD. Users can record high-definition movies or up 26 hours of standard definition television and eight hours of HDTV. The RIAA and MPAA must be thrilled.

More than 70 of the world's leading technology and entertainment companies are behind the Blu-ray format which is set to become the next generation standard for mass market optical discs. Blu-ray will offer up to 66 percent greater recording capacity and more media types compared to the existing HD-DVD format.

HP is set to launch with three different formats; BD-ROM, a read-only format; BD-RE, a rewritable format for HDTV recording and data storage and BD-R, the write-once format

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Blu-ray discs are the same size as the familiar CDs, but use a blue laser with a shorter wavelength and a slightly different disc structure that enables more data to be crammed onto the disk. HP promises that its Blu-ray drives will be backward compatible to read and write customers' existing library of CDs and DVDs. As Blu-ray Disc and DVD are based on different colour lasers this presumably means that HP will be building two read heads into its drives.

HP drives also will offer the company's LightScribe technology, that allows professional quality text and graphics to be burned directly onto LightScribe-enabled Blu-ray discs using the same laser that burns to the data side of the disc. The RIAA and MPAA must be thrilled.

HP expects to introduce Blu-ray Disc drives to its Media Center PCs, desktop PCs, personal workstations and digital entertainment devices in late 2005. Notebooks will be added in early 2006.

Another member of the Blu-ray consortium Sharp is to introduce its own consumer device in Japan next month. The BD-HD100 is equpped with a 160Gb hard disk drive, twin optical drives and High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) output. The machine can record onto rewritable single-layer BD-RE discs, which have a capacity of 25GB, but can't read or write to the dual-layer 50GB discs.