Double disc might end hi-def war ~ Blu-Ray vs HD-DVD

BBC ^ | Wednesday, 20 September 2006, 15:39 GMT 16:39 UK | BBC Staff

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Double disc might end hi-def war

Many people are buying big screens to show hi-def films

Inventors have come up with a design for a disc that can store copies of films in rival high-definition formats.

A US patent has been filed for the discs that could hold both HD-DVD and Blu-Ray versions of movies.

Currently movie makers and technology companies are dividing into camps that back either one or the other of the two formats.

The creation of the discs could end the looming battle over the different high-definition formats.

Format wars

The design of the disc patented in the US would have three layers. One for a standard DVD version of a film and then one for each of the competing formats.

The innovation is thought to be possible because the rival formats store data on the discs at different depths.

Using reflective films should make it possible to store data for one movie format in one layer but to see through that, if needed, to the deeper layer which has the same movie in the rival format.

The engineers behind the idea reportedly work for the Warner Brothers movie studio.

The idea could end the potential confusion that consumers face as high-definition films in different formats start to go on sale.

Few movie studios are planning to release films in both high-definition formats the majority are backing Blu-ray. Only three are backing HD-DVD.

This week movie studio Universal announced it would not support the Sony-backed Blu-Ray format.

In late September Warner Brothers will release the first movie in both high-definition formats.

For consumers the issue is made more confusing because Microsoft and Sony have backed different formats for their next generation games consoles.

Industry analysts have predicted that the confusion could mean the market for high-definition movies is stunted until one format becomes dominant.

[Always Right]

I don't see how this ends it as this is just a media. The real wars will be on what type of players people buy and what media the movie studios use.

[Gay State Conservative]

Prices are gonna have to drop a whole lot,and the amount of software available is gonna have to improve dramatically,before I spring for any kind of Hi Def DVD.

[Gay State Conservative]

I think this is meant to ease the minds of those who bought Beta (including me).

[js1138]

Wait until consumers find out that players can be disabled retroactively if the movie vendors aren't happy with the integrity of their copy protection.

And what about all those HiDef TVs and monitors that can't play HiDef video from a computer media center? That's gonn sting.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Well I think there is technology out there .....at least in development of some sort .....that can play a disc in either format....

[Always Right]

Well I think there is technology out there .....at least in development of some sort .....that can play a disc in either format....

That would be a much more important break through than this. The best result would be just to settle on one format though.

[toast]

The real point that seems lost on most people is that these guys just doubled the amount of information that can be stored on these disks. What stops them from being able to do more layers? They already have the patent?

Buy stock in Warner Bros......Fast!

[weegee]

A tri-layer disc with a different media format on each layer.

Why not just release a bunch of tri-layer releases of high-density programming (in just one format, HD or Blu-Ray) and see who jumps?

Make multi-format compatible PLAYERS and the consumer will soon decide which format works best for him at home.

[Echo Talon]

I don't see how this ends it as this is just a media. The real wars will be on what type of players people buy and what media the movie studios use.

this should end it, and we will soon see hybrid players/burners that can play/burn CD-R,CD-RW,DVD-R,DVD-RW,DVD+R,DVD+RW,DVD-RAM,HD-DVD HD-DVD-RW? and BLU-Ray, BLU-Ray-RW?.

[Always Right]

The real point that seems lost on most people is that these guys just doubled the amount of information that can be stored on these disks.

You are assuming that burning information on one layer will not effect reading the other layers. I don't think we know that yet.

[Always Right]

this should end it, and we will soon see hybrid players/burners that can play/burn

If hybrid players become the norm, then that will end it. But I have a feeling that making the players read both formats will add significant cost.

[Echo Talon]

the cost will be high for a year or so then the price will fall quickly. Look how cheap DVD burners are you can get one for less than $30, remember hw much they were when they first came out? a TON of $ and slow

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Ricoh has a reader in development:

Ricoh's new part brings HD-DVD Blu-ray closer

***************AN EXCERPT*****************

Ricoh, the Japanese electronics giant, has come up with a component that will let manufacturers built drives that read and record both HD-DVD discs and Blu-ray discs, potentially brining some peace to the disc wars.

Ricoh will show the device at the International Optoelectronics Exhibition '06 near Tokyo, which takes place near Tokyo on July 12-14, according to EE Times. The company will start selling it to manufacturers by the end of the year.

The part in question is a diffraction plate. Say what? It basically sits between the laser and the lens and adjusts the light beam so that it focuses on the proper portion of the disk. Reading both formats isn't easy. The data layer of the Blu-ray Disc resides 0.1 mm from the surface, while the HD-DVD data layer is 0.6-mm deep. Both standards will sport multiple layer discs too.

[Echo Talon]

SONY Black 16X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 16X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 24X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2M Cache IDE DVD Burner - OEM $29.59

NEC Black 16X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 16X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2M Cache IDE/ATAPI DVD Burner - OEM $29.99

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

You are assuming that burning information on one layer will not effect reading the other layers. I don't think we know that yet.

Well TDK has disc media which can go up to 200 gigabyte by putting multi layers on the Media:

TDK develops 2X, 100GB Blu-ray Disc prototype

*****************************AN EXCERPT *************************

TDK Corp. has developed a prototype Blu-ray Disc that can store twice as much data, and record it at twice the speed, as existing Blu-ray Discs.

******************************

To achieve the higher capacity, TDK added two additional recording layers to the disc to take it up to four layers. Blu-ray Disc stores 25GB on each recording layer and the standard currently includes single layer and dual layer versions.

*****************************************

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Not finding the reference on the 200 gig disc at the moment!

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

fyi

[toast]

You are assuming that burning information on one layer will not effect reading the other layers. I don't think we know that yet.

Well.. I assume all the time. And I'm not going to tell you where I work.

But really, I thought the whole point of the article was that HDDVD and Blue-ray could be printed on the same side of a disc. If the layers interfered it wouldn't be much of an invention.

[ShadowAce]