Eclipse has released ImageVerify BD, the first verification software that allows replicators to perform a bit-to-bit comparison of Blu-ray replicas to the original source image ? an important and necessary step in the manufacture of BD discs.

ImageVerify BD can compare AACS encrypted replicas to the original CMF source image as received from authoring, or to the premastered encrypted image. "Blu-ray images can be held in any of four encryption states," explains Bob Edmonds, Eclipse?s VP of Sales, "Until process and archiving preferences are sorted out, we need to be able to verify to any of these CMF Image Types". Having such flexibility gives replicators freedom to archive images at any of several steps in the process and later use them as a source for replica verification.

Another important feature of ImageVerify BD is the ability to compare the replica to a signature of the original source. Eclipse?s ImageSignature is created early in the process and provides a small, but statistically significant representation of an image. In addition to being able to identify the image anywhere in the process, the unique signature can be compared against the final replica ensuring production accuracy through the entire mastering process. Because it?s only 16 bytes, it can be manually entered or quickly read from a network location without consuming the network bandwidth that a complete image comparison does.

The hallmark of Eclipse?s premastering and verification tools is their analysis engine. Eclipse has created more than 100 new analysis rules for ImageVerify BD.

These user-configurable rules are designed to check many of the physical format attributes, the CMF (cutting master format) files that define the original master image, as well as the new UDF file structure used by Blu-ray discs. ImageVerify BD is in use at the major replication plants involved in the production of Blu-ray launch titles.

The software supports comparison of BD replicas to all CMF image types. Blu-ray replicas can be read using standard BD-ROM drive models from Sony and Panasonic.