What if DVD's were 12" (1 Viewer)

I thought I had read somewhere years ago(may have been dreaming) that had manufacurers applied DVD technology to the 12" disc we would have greater resolution both in audio and video. Does anyone here have opinions on this?

Then I'd have an even bigger storage problem than I do now
N

My calculations yield a capacity of 52GB for a dual layered 12" DVD. Hmmmm!

With all the research being done (by IBM and others) on high capacity storage, I forsee more data being crammed on even smaller disks in the future.

Then the format would have bombed. Size DOES matter

I wouldn't have minded personally

Brought this up in another thread, but does anyone think that JVC's new D-THEATER format would have a better chance if it was on a 12" optical disc. I think so.

If DVDs were 12", internal computer DVD-ROM drives & burners would make each computer look like IBM's "Big Blue"! No thanks...

I remember way back in the start of DVD, that there was some talk about Pioneer (the LD standard bearer) applying DVD encoding to LD size platters (Pioneer decided not to).

Quote "If DVDs were 12", internal computer DVD-ROM drives & burners would make each computer look like IBM's "Big Blue"! No thanks... "
Yeah, I guess you would require two formats in that regard. As far as bombing, maybe it wouldn't have gained the widespread appeal it has but I think it could have done well, and as far as I'm concerned I wouldn't mind a tad less mainstream appeal. I guess the snob in me remembers going into my local vid store and renting an LD as I watched J6P get the same movie for the same $ on VHS, I felt I was part of an elite group.

One of the reasons (besides hardware and software cost) that I never bought into LD was because of the huge discs.

IMO, if DVD were that big, DVD would have become niche only, instead of mainstream, at least in North America.

Plus I wonder how much the distributors like dealing with great big fragile discs.

This is all moot because DVD is what it is but I guess what I was trying to get at is would we have gotten a superior product for viewing movies?

Well, there'd certainly be more room for minimal compression and full-bitrate audio and more extras... But would it be worth the aesthetic/ergonomic tradeoff? Don't know.

I think we'd all be happier. Of course, you need the "CD sized" disc for the masses, but I would much rather own a niche product where the offerings are catered to people like us.

To me, the perfect niche product would be 12" sized discs, all with video and audio using minimal/no compression. These larger discs would never be accepted by the masses. I'm not advocating getting rid of the CD sized disc. Rather, I'd like to see the current size for the "regular folks", and the cost is no object, uncompressed, 12" discs for people like us. I would gladly go back to paying $40-$60 for the kind of quality we'd get with a larger disc using less/no compression.

I long for the days of owning a niche product like Laserdisc. That said, I agree with the person above who said that our home theater products are only going to get smaller and more compressed.

Regards,
Dan

Widescreen Review used to have a little cartoon with any article that was written about this emerging DVD format of which Gary Reber was very skeptical of when the specs were first announced. The cartoon was of a little DVD looking up to this big laserdisc and saying something like "What I could be if I had your size".

And, it was Gary who proposed how a high definition digital format could use the 12" medium.

That stopped once the 16X9 DVD started showing up.

Joel

DanR
I agree, I could never afford to own a large collection of Ld because of the price,but whenever I did buy one I felt like I was getting something special, and there was never a shortage of rental discs, so I was always able to see a movie even if I couldn't afford to buy it. DVD just feeds another addiction.

perhaps a compromise would have worked? say an 8-inch disc, so it's a fair bit bigger and holds quite a bit more data, but isn't as clunky as a 12" platter?

after all, the original size of the CD was arbitrarily set so that somebody's favourite symphony would just fit (at 74 mins) on one side. IIRC, that somebody was Akio Morita, Sony's late Chairman, but I could be wrong on this since Philips invented CD? maybe Sony collaborated? or was it Philips' chairman?

Actually according to Snopes that is undetermined.
http://www.snopes2.com/music/media/cdlength.htm
It was supposedly Beethoven's 9th Symphony.

It would have been an "elite" or high-end format for the enthusiast. I used to buy LDs (and I've kept them all) and I don't mind the big and less practical size. That adds to the value as collectors' items, IMO. That format would have been great. All that said, I'm still very, very happy with DVDs.

It would definitely hurt portability. You wouldn't have any of the small dvd players with built in LCDs, nor would you be able to watch a dvd on a plane off of your laptop. Multi-function devices like the PS2 and the Xbox also wouldn't be able to play dvds. I think that's quite a high price to pay for a sense of eliteness and superiority that some seem to crave :p)

And they'd cost more and sell less. We'd likely all own fewer movies and certain niche products might not be made available.

If they were 12" (LD sized?) wouldn't they be more susceptible to laser rot (i.e. the layers pulling apart and letting air in)? I mean at that size the tension on the layers towards the outer edges would be significantly greater, right?

I don't know, I'm not a physics whiz, but that's what it seems like to me.