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Another entrant in the format wars? HD VMD on the way
chasm
Ill-tempered TexanRegistered User regular
Ill-tempered TexanRegistered User regular
http://news.teamxbox.com/xbox/14466/Move-Out-HD-DVD-and-Bluray-Here-Comes-HD-VMD
This is the first I've ever heard about this.O_o
Just when you realized the war between Sony and Toshiba is plain stupid, comes a new, third player with an innovative solution that because of its simplicity and low price could make this -gen optical disc war much longer.
New Medium Enterprises (NME) has announced that is ready to ship its HD VMD (Versatile Multilayer Disc) player and disc into the U.S. market. Although the MSRP of the player is $199, it is expected that large stores such as Amazon and Costco could offer the new HD player as low as $150.
So, what exactly is the Versatile Multilayer Disc? Instead of using a new, shorter wavelength laser like HD DVD or Blu-ray Disc, the VMD uses the same red laser of the DVD format but puts more layers in the same size and thickness of a DVD disc.
The Versatile Multilayer Disc (VMD) is an optical storage device in the traditional DVD format, except that it can hold about 10 times the quantity of a standard DVD, or roughly 5 times the quantity of a DVD9. This is achieved quite simply through a multilayer technology that exploits the unused or wasted space, as we like to call it, within the disc itself.
This way, the VMD technology allows discs that have the same dimensions of a standard CD or DVD but with up to a maximum of 20 layers, resulting in a new format that can hold as much as 40GB per disc.
To help spread the new format, the company is launching several HD VMD players that can read the Multiple layers of Versatile Multilayer Discs as well as DVDs and VCDs. These players cost only a third of a HD DVD or Blu-ray Disc player.
These players can play true HD format with 1920 x 1080i/p resolution, up to 40 Mbps bit rate playback, DVD up-scaling (up to 1080i) support existing optical disc formats: CD, DVD (DVD 5 & DVD 9). The ML622S features an HDMI 1.3 port as well as the Ethernet port. The ML775S adds a media card reader and USB ports to connect flash drives and external hard drives.
Both players use the Sigma Designs EM8622L chip set these two players will output the native 1080p resolution from the disc rather than adding a second conversion process by breaking it down to 1080i and de-interlacing back to 1080p.
It remains to be seen if this new format will come and go before anyone notices or its low price will force Sony and Toshiba to lower the price of HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc, in particular overseas.
HD VMD is currently being adopted by content providers and distributors in more than a dozen regions worldwide, including Australia, Brazil, Central Europe, China, France, Germany, Iceland, India, Japan, Scandinavia, Middle East, Russia and the United States.
This is the first I've ever heard about this.O_o
chasm on
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I'm curious as to whether having 20 layers affects the longevity of the discs.
Could this be the Phantom of the format war!?
http://www.engadgethd.com/2007/09/09/china-announces-ch-dvd-a-new-high-definition-dvd-standard/
and who knows if there will be another, sigh
Mostly because I'm oddly compelled to own every format and my wallet can't take anymore.
If I'd been born earlier, I would have been that guy with a laserdisc player.
PSN ID : Xander51 Steam ID : Xander51
Because, damn if this wouldn't kick-ass being implemented into the 360.
Oh, and 20 layers sounds like there might be some issues with stopping a scratch from fucking up the data.
Presumably the toloreances on the accuracy of the laser head, would make a straight firmware upgrade impossible.
Also, the layer change on DVDs is pretty noticeable, so 20+ in one film? Ergh. Though I'm sure there well aware of that, and have worked against it.
But another competitor just shows how doomed these devices are for putting movies on. What they are really fighting over is which suplants burnable DVDs for Office PCs. And that will be down to price, and DRM. Sure the average user, doesn't understand DRM - but the guys running the IT departments are not going to jump throough hoops to do hard backups of important stuff.
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At the very least, it might blow their price protection plans out of the water. I'm still not buying anything yet.
Bah! I have no plans to adopt until there's a clear winner... I'm that kid on the sidelines chanting "Fight! Fight! Fight!"
All the ones I can recall off hand have been won by the cheapest, easiest to replicate and manufacture for.
rule of successful technology business
quickest, cheapest, best - Pick two, and only two of these.
I have a player for both formats, so I was sitting pretty in the "I don't give a shit who wins cause I am covered either way" camp. now my camp my be getting burnt to the ground. Where is smoky the bear when I need him.
Only you can prevent format fires.
i did wonder with layer changes, if there's not a way to read ahead and stream the data into a buffer or something, so it can cover the layer changes without pausing. I would assume if it were possible, though, it would've been done.
edit: 20 layer changes though.. sounds like it's been designed by Gillette
When I say technically superior, I'm talking about capacity, extendability, feature sets, etc.
Then your answer is no. Any given format would be blown out of the water by what was only usable in labs at the time of it's use. The stuff in the labs is often not developed further....because it is not in anyway commercially viable.
Completely ignoring cost in any technical comparison is ludicrous.
If you'd like an example where enhanced quality won out over simple cost then look at Betamax. Yes, it died in the commercial market but news crews shot on betamax because while VHS was cheaper, it looked like shit.
- if it has significantly less space available than Bluray and HD-DVD
- if it is significantly cheaper
- if they can get the necessary units (both media and players) manufactured rapidly enough (one imagines you just license the tech very cheaply to all the electronics companies)
Then that makes things look really, really tempting for the studios. So we potentially end up with significantly inferior product, restricting things like bonus content, quality of content, and rather than making a significant step forward, we've made a small one that's probably not worth the money people'll spend on new players.
Or maybe I'm just insane.
This. I am so down with this.
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Laserdisks would kick arse.
I'm a fan of CED myself. Like a bigass floppy disc.
I've always wondered about this. It's probably just too expensive to include that kind of functionality for one layer change.
This isn't a good thing, then? I'm quite ignorant about "layer changes" and other such voodoo. Somebody put it in stupid-speak for me?
The simplest analogy is that it would be like a music CD going to the next track. It is not exactly seamless.
Oh my.
I can see how that would be distracting while watching Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie.
Which means that the format must die.
Because that is entirely too vague. For all we know the companies that put out the public domain movies/shows/cartoons are the only US content providers who've signed onto this thing.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holographic_Versatile_Disc
EDIT: Work faster, you magnificent dolts!
I still remember talking my dad into getting a laserdisc player. Man, he's still pissed about that.
Depends on when you talked him into it.
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You know when you're watching a DVD and around the middle there's a slight pause and the sound cuts out for a bit? That's a layer change.
I believe it was about 5 seconds before the industry basically said, "It's over." The timing was why I won't invest at this point, convinced that I'll doom whatever technology I pick up... instantly.
Don't get me wrong, we stil purchased movies (and, not surprisingly, a lot of them got cheaper), and enjoyed it... but my dad was super-pissed that he essentially bought something on my recommendation that instantly became obsolete.
Guess that's what you get for listening to a dumbass kid.
If a major studio (or two) picked this up, BD and HD-DVD would be royally fucked.