51 GB HD-DVD...

[Desolus]

"DVD Forum approves 'bigger than Blu-ray' HD DVD
07 Sep 07
Country: China, USA
Source: Online Services/Intelligence/Video and DVD/Updates

The DVD Forum, the international DVD standards authority, has approved a 51 GB single-sided triple-layer HD DVD disc for production. Extension to the HD DVD standard, which was submitted by Toshiba in April, received approval on 31 August 2007. Other recent developments include:

* A single-sided triple-layer HD DVD/DVD hybrid (combi) disc, the DVD layer of which would be playable by legacy DVD players, is expected to be approved before the year end.
* The Forum has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with China's Optical Memory National Engineering Research Centre (OMNERC) regarding licensing of the HD DVD-ROM China (formerly HD DVD-ROM China-only) format, specification for which was approved earlier this year. The only difference between the latter and the standard HD DVD format is the modulation scheme: the optical pickup in HD DVD China player will be able to play standard HD DVD discs, although Chinese discs will not be playable in standard HD DVD drives. According to the Forum, the Chinese government is keen to introduce the format domestically before the Olympic Games in August 2008. Large-scale integrates (LSIs) are already under development by manufacturers and use of AACS for the format is currently under negotiation.

Our take...
The approval of Toshiba's 51 GB disc is good news for the HD DVD camp, allowing it to compete directly with rival Blu-ray Disc's (BD) dual-layer 50 GB disc. As with the BD50, it is likely to take some time for production yields to reach a commercially viable level.

However, once this has been achieved it will arguably eliminate one of the principle reasons behind some studios' support of Blu-ray over HD DVD, thus potentially making it easier for Disney or Fox to adopt a format-agnostic position without losing face. Meanwhile, the development of a triple-layer single-sided hybrid HD DVD/DVD disc will also be welcomed by HD DVD supporters.

Both Warner and Universal have been releasing double-sided hybrids in the US for some time but they have yet to use this approach in Europe. Single-sided hybrids (sometimes called 'twin format' discs) offer the same space for promotional printing as traditional optical discs and do not require the consumer to think about which way to put them into the player.

Anime title Freedom was released in the US as a single-sided hybrid in June but its capacity (15 GB HD DVD and 4.7 GB DVD) was not sufficient for a major studio release. The approval by the Forum of a triple-layer hybrid might arguably encourage some studios to release certain titles only on HD DVD/DVD hybrids, which could in turn lead to some DVD buyers building up a library of HD DVD titles by default, before making the decision to upgrade to a hi-def video player. So far there have been no indications that the BD camp plans to support hybrid discs.


http://www.screendigest.com/online_serv ... 7-ec3/show

[Ddrak]

Great for consumers if it actually catches on. What worries me is the studios will decide it's a bad idea given they won't be able to sell the same movie twice (once as DVD, once as HD) any more. After all - that's what DRM is *really* about.

Dd

[Desolus]

I just really wish one or the other would die...at first it was HD-DVD due to the smaller capacity, but nowit wouyld seem theyre on about equal footing, unless one will be relatively cheaper to produce.

[Embar Angylwrath]

I really don't know much about the formats, but it seems to me that since the media is the same size/type (a plastic disc), that some smart person could make a player that decoded both formats. Is that right? Am I missing something here?

[Desolus]

Im not too knowledgeable about the science of it all , maybe ddrak can answer some thingd, but I honestly think the whole hoopla about it all boils down to money...production costs,support,etc.

[Ddrak]

Dual-format players exist. I think they run about $1000 at the moment.

I'm pitching for HD-DVD at the moment mainly because it has less restrictive copy protection bullshit than Blu-Ray and more importantly has done away with international region coding. Blu-Ray retains the region coded retardedness, which annoys me.

It's waaaaay too early to pick any sort of winner though. Single DVD releases sell more volume than the entire Blu-Ray + HD-DVD sales to date.

In either case, I have no intention of getting a HD player in the near future and I'm sure not rebuying my DVD library. Fuck that.

Dd

[Desolus]

I think your statement right there pretty much summed up why neither is picking up full steam yet. ALmost everyone and thier grandmother has a DVD player in some shape or form or another and an already existing library of DVD's. I think it'd take a very low costing HD-DVD/BLU-ray player around the ball park of 50-100$ and cheap media like 15-20$ range and youll see DVD's die out, until then DVD's are gonna be around for a while.

[Finglefinn]

I'm a huge geek when it comes to my home theatre. However, I'm never the first guy on the block with the new and hip technology. I always sit back and wait for stuff to settle out a bit. I'll probably end up with a blu-ray player or HD-DVD player fairly soon however, because I don't have a large collection of DVDs. Maybe 50 at the most. I only have a few films I thought were really good and I'd watch over and over again.

So here's the real question, is technology in film making going to continue to improve in such large leaps as it has since Matrix came out? Do we all agree that the Matrix was kind of a springboard in CG/FX technology and movie making has changed quite a bit since then? So when is the point that blu-ray or HD-DVD becomes a must have because the release on DVD is actually inferior (which I don't think exists with today's releases)?

[Rsak]

Do we all agree that the Matrix was kind of a springboard in CG/FX technology and movie making has changed quite a bit since then?

No I would not agree that Matrix was a springboard for CG/FX technology. The novel things that the Matrix did was bullet time which is just a simple execution of high speed photography set up in a circle/path to allow for slow motion and change of perspective.

CG/FX has been steadily progressing without specific movies spring boarding it.

[Ddrak]

I think CG has been a bunch of small increases with flashy films around each particular increase:

The Matrix did bullet-time (circular array of green-screen cameras in sequence). T2 did the whole realistic CG-person thing. LotR pioneered the mass battle scenes that were almost completely CG, etc.

Dd

[Finglefinn]

So, back to my question, when will regular DVDs become inferior technology?

[Ddrak]

Hard to say on that - when TV screens get commonly large enough for HD to make a significant difference from 10 feet away. Given DVD is actually pretty decent quality on a 40" screen from that range for anything that isn't sports, it could be a while. The huge difference is VHS -> DVD didn't require a new, larger and more expensive TV to make a difference, while DVD -> HD does.

Personally, I think 5+ years at least, if it doesn't end up skipping both HD-DVD and Blu-Ray and moving to something better.

Dd

[Finglefinn]

I just got a new Sony HD tv a few months ago. It was a noticable difference from my older Sony flatscreen. Plus, it is a lot larger. I guess I'll just wait for a couple years and then decide, unless blu-ray or HD-DVD discs really get popular fast.

[Rsak]

Honestly I don't think the technology is advancing because of the movies. These movies just let them take advantage of the new techniques. I think the LOTR CG had more to do with WETA and its emergence onto the market then the movies creating the new technology.

[Finglefinn]

Right, but movies are most consumer's measuring stick. I don't follow CG/FX technology outside of what I see utilized in a film. Some technology is invented by movie production companies exclusively, but not all.

[Rsak]

I will agree that film/video games are the typical way to see computer animation and visual effects. I just tend to think that what is happening in these "launching board" movies is not advancement of new technology, but novel and creative uses of existing technology. The general movie going population only sees the technology when it gets their attention in these blockbuster movies.

I do agree with what some other graphic artists have said, that being part of the industry lets you know what to look for and you never look at it the same way.