New Blu-ray Details Emerge

6 Aug, 2004 at 8:16am ET Article published in Tech

Specifics have been murky about how the Blu-ray Disc format can succeed DVD by enabling the recording of high-definition content. But the companies behind the format have recently tipped their hand to their strategy, including future enhancements.

DVDs don’t have the storage capacity to accommodate an entire movie in high-definition format but Blu-ray Disc does. That’s largely because it uses blue lasers to read and write data on the disc, rather than the red lasers used by DVD. A blue laser makes a smaller spot on the disc surface, which means the space required for one bit of data is smaller–and more data can be fit onto a 12-centimeter disc. Another format, HD-DVD (High Definition/High Density-DVD), is being promoted by NEC and Toshiba for the same application and is battling with Blu-ray Disc for the market. Players based on that format will be available in 2005, the two companies said at a seminar in Tokyo in July.

Source: PCWorld

Comments

6 Aug 2004 ~ 9:40am GHoosdum I have a feeling Blu-ray is going to win that battle. HD-DVD just doesn't have the capacity.
6 Aug 2004 ~ 4:14pm Thrax Blu-Ray drives can't play old content. HD-DVD drives can.

Who do you think's going to win now?
6 Aug 2004 ~ 4:32pm KingFish You can't say enough for backwards compatibility. I hope that HD-DVD wins out and blu-ray becomes a niche format like for ps3. I'll still put my money against blu-ray at this point.

KF
6 Aug 2004 ~ 4:33pm primesuspect Beta vs. vhs... I bet you HD-DVD wins.

(For those who don't know, Betamax was the technically superior format, but VHS won anyways..)
6 Aug 2004 ~ 4:48pm Thrax Blu-Ray is definitely another Sony "OMG WE R TEH OWNARZ U GIEV US MONEE AND U GET TIHS SWEET STUFF" format.

License-free media is what wins, and as usual, Sony doesn't have it.
6 Aug 2004 ~ 5:01pm KingFish *cough* memory stick *cough*
6 Aug 2004 ~ 10:12pm Sputnik what is the capacity of HD-DVD?

and i'm liking the open standards that sony is famous for ignoring
6 Aug 2004 ~ 10:19pm Nomad First thing I thought of was betamax.
7 Aug 2004 ~ 12:30pm EMT For a single layer I think HD-DVD is 15GB and BD-ROM is 25GB.
9 Aug 2004 ~ 9:42am drasnor The Beta/VHS comparisons don't apply: VHS and Betamax cassettes wouldn't fit in each other's players. CD's, DVD's, and BD-ROM's will.

Dual laser drives for reading/writing CD's and DVD's have been around for awhile now. What makes you think drive companies can't build drives with a blue laser and a red laser in the same drive?

My money says this is going to be like the DVD+/-R format war. Neither will win, both will coexist.

-drasnor
11 Aug 2004 ~ 8:12pm danball1976

Thrax wrote:

Blu-Ray drives can't play old content. HD-DVD drives can.

Who do you think's going to win now?

It could be possible that the new blue-ray drives will have a seperate red laser to read older discs.
11 Aug 2004 ~ 8:17pm Thrax At a considerably higher cost to consumers, as it isn't native to Blu-Ray controllers, laser heads or PCBs. NEC/Toshiba HD-DVD discs, however, use red laser pickup heads and then switch to blue wavelengths to read data.

However from a marketing standpoint, I simply think Sony would rather prefer to corner the market on the new technology, leaving "Legacy equipment" behind because it means more people purchase Blu-Ray gear.
11 Aug 2004 ~ 8:31pm danball1976 Oh, and if you've ever noticed. Sony Viao computers have only Sony hardware and software on it.
6 Jan 2005 ~ 3:24pm Unregistered BD drives are backward compatible.
6 Jan 2005 ~ 5:58pm Thrax No they aren't. Only if the manufacturer decides to include red laser technology.
7 Jan 2005 ~ 6:07pm maxanon It depends on what the entertainment industry decides upon. From a consumer POV the blu-ray is better for recording as I get more data per disc. Backwards compatibility is nice but not necessary. Look at the vinyl (to 8-track) to tape to CD progress or the reel to tape (to laser disc) to DVD. All very different forms and still gained ground very quickly as soon as the players became cheaper.

BTW: Sony is notorious for trying to lock in technology. They will ultimately fail in that regard if they continue to ignore it. I laughed when they came out with MD digital players.