27 GB HD DVDs!!

[Xapplimatic]

As first announced on MacMinute.com, nine technology giants have announced plans to adopt the "Blue-ray Disc" standard can record and rewrite up to 27GB of data on a regular CD-size (12cm) single-sided disc. Licensing of the format could begin as early as Spring, although it's unclear when such recorders could appear on the market. The technology is being viewed as a crucial component to expand high-definition technology: more than two hours of high definition video could be stored on one disc, or 13 hours of standard broadcast-quality video.

CBS Marketwatch

 

[mac15]

wow that alot
but how

 

[AmbitiousLemon]

ah that woudl be very nice. now is this blue-ray technology the "blue laser" technology we first heard about 7 years ago? been waiting for this for a long time. im just guessing but the current lasers emit red light, very low energy high wavelength stuff, but blue is high energy low wavelength which should provide increased density. so am i just talking out of my um... rectum or is that what is going on?

 

[Macmaniac]

WOW

That is A LOT of space, 27 times the hard drive capacity of my old Performa.

 

[Taft]

Big.

DVDs are getting to be the size of small tape drives. Truely amazing.

This means they could probably fit the whole Lord of the Rings trilogy on a single disc by the time it comes out on DVD. Cool.

Matthew

 

[britboy]

on the subject of higher-capacity discs, does anyone know what's happening with FMD's?

 

[mischief]

okay, so how will they read on current drives?

If the track width is so narrow that a 266% increase in theoretical max storage has been achieved (regular "CD" tech tops out at 9Gb per side although we have yet to get there) than won't they be too tight for existing drives to read?

Correct me if I'm wrong here. That Superdrive looks more essential now as this will knock regular CDs down to 3 1/2" Floppy status, and DVD-r's down to Zip status. This may kill Iomega.

Either way, if Apple gets early adoption burners from Sony (Patent sharing agreement-see other thread) And ups the Ante for the Superdrive concept..... We may see 2 sided DVD style 50GB "blue" DVD-R's!!

 

[Hemingray]

True, but remember that DVD-R-ing is still stuck at 2x. That would take quite a long time to burn 27 gigs worth...

 

[stoid]

Backwards compatable

Correct me if I'm wrong, but if these drives require a blue laser and all current drives have a red laser, then that means they aren't going to be backwards compatable. So all these people that just spent 600-800 dollars on DVD technology just got screwed and are going to have to fork out another 800-1000 dollars (newer tech) to stay up, doesn't sound like it'll take off too fast.

 

[rice_web]

Umm...

I'd like to agree with you, but I can only see this working... and REALLY well. 13 hours of regular television? That's twice what VHS is capable of, and at one heck of a lot better resolution.

 

[evildead]

backward compatable

I just really hope that the new blue laser DVD's are backward compatable with the old red ones. I wouldn't mind buying a new player for the new format but ony if it played the old stuff too... My DVD collection is way too big to just toss. I refuse to go out like beta did!!

As for tech... thats fantasic. I read that most of the Major players are going to work to gether to standardize the format too... unlike original DVD and many other older formats that would have been good ... if they could just stop fighting about it.

 

[Durandal7]

Re: backward compatable

Originally posted by evildead
I just really hope that the new blue laser DVD's are backward compatable with the old red ones. I wouldn't mind buying a new player for the new format but ony if it played the old stuff too... My DVD collection is way too big to just toss. I refuse to go out like beta did!!

I think that it's a safe bet to say that they will be compatible with old dvds. The product would be dead if it couldn't.

 

[Onyxx]

how long did it take dvd burning to reach the consumer level? a very long time. not too long ago your only option to burning a dvd was to buy a $4000 profesional burner. Finally the dvd-r arrived and brought dvd's to the masses (almost anyway). If this is the same blue laser dvd tech that i read about in popular mechanics back in i believe 1997 or 98 it will most likely be in the same catergory as the first dual layer dvd burners (which consumers still don't have). In other words, way too expensive for the consumer market.

As for how the tech works, what i remember from the article is that the blue laser in the 27 gb dvd is of a smaller diameter and more percise than its red counterparts. therefore smaller pits are made in the write layer of the dvd so that more pits can be packed into the same area. The only reason the laser is blue is that the material involved in makeing the beam so small (i think red lasers use rubies and the blue one is to use saphires don't quote me) is blue.

It could probably be backward compatible much the same way a dvd/cd combo drive works. By changeing the width of the beam "old style" (current) dvd's could probably be read.

One thing i remember wondering about this technology is how it would be effected by scratches. with the pits being so much smaller than those of a normal dvd they would be more pron to damage by even minor scratches.

just another 2¢

 

[macfreek57]

alright,
traditional cd's use a red laser and "traditional" dvd's already use blue lasers. and it's not going to be possible for a dvd player to play these new disks if they come out. that's like asking the cd drive on my performa to read a dvd. it's just not going to happen. the people who created dvd's didn't intentionally not allow them not to be able to be read on a regular cd drive-it's just not physically possible for a larger laser to read smaller tracks. dvd drives for the most part can read regular cd's because they have two lasers - one red, one blue.
also, it's not that big of a deal that someone's come out with something like this. cd's were around for a while before they were market-ready. i heard a few years ago of some japanese guy putting 600 GB on a penny sized cd and trying to develop it. (guess he didn't)
truthfully, i'd rather them NOT try to come out with another media "standard" now while dvd's are just being widely adopted.

 

[StealthRider]

Lord of the Rings

Errrm, forgive me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't you need a whole new player to play one of these discs?

 

[SPG]

From what I've seen, yes you would need a new player. From what people have said (no hard data or real proof) the new laser could read the old DVD's and CD's and they are keeping the same physical dimensions for this very reason instead of making a 14cm disc that would hold over 30gb.
There has been a lot of research on this and many other new formats, but what's interesting or newsworthy about this one is that everyone is agreeing on it.
Anyone got more info on the specs?

Onyxx, There is/was a dual layer DVD burner? I thought they were never able to make one outside of the lab. just glass masters that replicated DVD9's

 

[SPG]

a little more info:

http://www.dvdinsider.com/news/view.asp?ID=3561

 

[stoid]

Hahaha Does anybody remember VideoDiscs it held as much data as a DVD, but it was the size of a record because it used CD technology. hehehe, sorry, just one of my own little memeories

 

[Onyxx]

Originally posted by stoid
Hahaha Does anybody remember VideoDiscs it held as much data as a DVD, but it was the size of a record because it used CD technology. hehehe, sorry, just one of my own little memeories

You mean LaserDiscs. Yes i remember those, POS. A whole bunch of schools bought them and never even used them. They were pretty damn expensive too.

Dual layer discs are your modern dvd's (not dvd-r's, dvd's that movies come on)

 

[stoid]

My school bought some, and they even use them occansionally. But the videos are so stupid, and the gigantic manual with frame reference numbers, maybe that's why they never took off. Rack up one point for DVD menu system.

 

[Onyxx]

Originally posted by macfreek57
alright,
traditional cd's use a red laser and "traditional" dvd's already use blue lasers. and it's not going to be possible for a dvd player to play these new disks if they come out. that's like asking the cd drive on my performa to read a dvd. it's just not going to happen. the people who created dvd's didn't intentionally not allow them not to be able to be read on a regular cd drive-it's just not physically possible for a larger laser to read smaller tracks. dvd drives for the most part can read regular cd's because they have two lasers - one red, one blue.
also, it's not that big of a deal that someone's come out with something like this. cd's were around for a while before they were market-ready. i heard a few years ago of some japanese guy putting 600 GB on a penny sized cd and trying to develop it. (guess he didn't)
truthfully, i'd rather them NOT try to come out with another media "standard" now while dvd's are just being widely adopted.

sorry i think you may have read my response a little skewed. I said that the new drives would be compatible with the current media (aka a 27gb dvd player will read the current 9.4 dual layer disks). As for them not coming out with this standard, what are you smoking? 27 gbs means that HD video can be put onto dvd IN NATIVE COMPRESSION. What good is that fancy new HD tv system if you can only play standard def. dvd's on it.

Aside from that, writing a 27 gb dvd may become a great alternative to dat backup tape. For documents and stuff the tape will still reign supreme, but for video the read speed of the dvd create a backup with no need of lengthy compress and decompress stages. Just pop in the dvd and rip the file to a drive, much much faster than a tape drive.

Thats also a heck of a lot of stock footage that can be fit onto one dvd.

the possibilities are endless with a tech like this, providing it is actually developed

 

[macfreek57]

you're right; i did misread.
but, as i said onyxx, this "technology" is nothing special aside from the fact that it's being picked up by a few companies as i tried to illistrate with the penny thing.