Curious about HD-DVD and Blu-Ray? Well wait until you hear about HVD... (1 Viewer)

[Kevin M]

Well where's the fun in that?

 

[Kyle McKnight]

Good idea! Lets try and get'em to include a $150 tax per blank HVD sold

 

[Nils Luehrmann]

Motley Fool's Dan Bloom recently chimed in with thoughts on the future of Blu-ray/HD DVD and holographic technology:

You Think Blu-ray Is Exciting?



The following is an article recently published by Dana Blankenhorn, founder of the Interactive Age Daily, and highly respected business journalist. In it he discusses how Moore's Law applies to these new holographic storage systems:

Moore's Law is Everywhere

For those that have never heard of Moore’s Law before, in a nut shell it has basically helped define and predict the history of technology.

Gordon Moore, co-founder of Intel, developed this popular technological theory back in the 60’s. Since then, Moore’s Law has become a critical element to technology forecasting whose influence has gone beyond the computer industry into communications, science, medicine, as well as several other industries.

(click here to read his original theory that led to the adoption of Moore's Law)



In addition to HVD and HDS, the article also discuses Optware's HVC which was announced earlier this month:

Optware to Release 30 GB Holographic Card for Less than $1 at the End of 2006

 

[wally]

A story on HVD made it into the July, 2005 Studio Monthly.

Written by Debra Kaufman, it’s titled Holographic Storage The Final Solution? The subtitle reads; No longer just a sci-fi fantasy, 300 GB+ holographic storage is already light years ahead of HD DVD and Blu-ray capacities, and is poised to leap fearlessly into terabyte terrain within the next five years.

Says InPhase will beta this summer with products available end of 2006 and Optware to begin beta test summer of 06.

 

[DaViD Boulet]

Sigh...

who knows...maybe this format war really *will* help consumers...if both Blu-ray and HD DVD flounder while they battle it out...that might leave room for an even *better* holographic alternative to sweep in and take possession of the market...

 

[Nils Luehrmann]

I was just imagining how convenient it would be to have a few DVDs stored on a single HVC (the size of a credit card) that I could keep in my wallet.

It certainly would better than the DVD binders I use on trips and for business.

 

[Nils Luehrmann]

Toshiba recently announced they are investing in Optware's HVD development as a future optical storage format.

Here is a report from Paul Kallender off the IDG News Service:


BTW: The other Japanese companies that have invested in Optware are:

• Dai-ichi Seimei Capital Co. Ltd
• Daiwa Securities SMBC Principal Investments Co. Ltd.
• The Shoko Chukin Bank

In addition, Optware is currently discussing with several North American companies on the possibility of additional funding.

 

[Gary Palmer]

This is the kind of technology that will pave the way for Ultra-HD discs (with 4000 lines of resolution) and multiple versions of a single film on the same DVD, optimized separately for 16:9 and 21:9 displays. All we need now is for Philips to get their 21:9 TV's out of the development stage (I've heard an unsubstantiated rumor they already have prototype models of these CinemaScope-sized sets - even if it's true, I have no clue whether they're plasma or CRT or whatever), and we'll be well on the way to Home Theater Heaven!...

 

[Jean-Michel]

Try as I might, I have trouble conceiving of any read-only HVD software that would hold any interest for consumers except movies. Is my imagination too limited? Or are they actually talking about having HVD-Video discs on the market within just two years?

 

[Nils Luehrmann]

The following are some interesting observations from Paul Shread on the prototype HDS drive from InPhase:

 

[Ken_WI]

It would be nice to archive all my DV raw video on giganto-discs like this. I hate having to hook up the camcorder with the precious original tape when I want to grab something.

With Hi-Def camcorders the next consumer standard, we will need even MORE space for all our video clips. Storage may not be sexy, but I'd much rather have 3x the storage I need than 1/3 the storage. You can never have enough, really.

 

[DaViD Boulet]

Not to mention that you'll need even *more* space when backing up consumer-generated video because it's more likely to use less efficient codecs for video compression.

For instance, the only thing that makes HD DVD even an *option* for high-quality HD video is the fact that newer codecs are so much more efficient at bit-rates not much higher than current DVD (9-10 mbps is ok...and 15-20 is near reference with the newer codecs...even better than MPEG2 at twice the same max rate).

However, if you're trying to archive HD tapes from your cam corder, or HD recordings off of the air or satelite, then chances are that you're going to be storing MPEG2 HD video which may need more generous storage room than HD-DVD can provide when it comes to extended playing times.

The HD DVD-camp comment that (paraphrasing) they "just don't think we need all that space" is utter non-sense. I hope that HD DVD is a miserable failure...that attitude of screw-the-consumer-just-to-get-their-disc-royalties really pisses me off.

 

[Edgar-N]

"Why would someone need 1 TB of data to store a High-Def movie? That's like using a giant ice chest to keep a single egg cool."


To keep the compression down.
Current movie frames on DVD don't even compare to a bad jpg image, and they certainly don't look like uncompressed tiff.
With so much storage, you could make a transfer that has invisible compression, you could put more extras, you could put image galleries with actual images, instead of video pause frames of production photographs.

Also such a disc could work great for digital cinema. For example, 8 such discs could hold a feature film image information uncompressed at 4K.

 

[DaViD Boulet]

People...think outside the box here. Don't limit your 5" disc to "a movie".

How about fitting a 4-hour movie like Return of the King EE along with hours of *hi-definition* bonus material?

How about an *entire* TV season set...in hi-definition?

How about an entire TV SERIES for 10 years...in hi-definition?

All on one 5" disc?

Why not?!?

dave

 

[Edgar-N]

In case you "quoted" me, I'm not the one who said that, I quoted that from one of the previous pages, and thought I'd respond

 

[DaViD Boulet]

knew it wasn't you...just posting in response to the earlier quote that you quoted yourself

 

[Nils Luehrmann]

This week's Faultline newsletter by Rethink Research includes several reports from the 2005 IBC Conference which ended on Monday. One of the articles offered up some interesting new details on InPhase's holographic storage developments:

 

[Kelly Grannell]

Fine by me, but how many people will pay $1,000 for the complete seasons of X-Files (for example) in a single shot. There will be way too many people saying "$1,000 for a disc?"

 

[Nils Luehrmann]

I suppose it depends on what the consumers base the value on... the shiny disc or the content.

Standard DVD's can now be made for under $0.10 a piece. What we are paying for is the content.

I understand what you are getting at though. There is a definite market appeal to "multi-disc" releases. Some of the data I've read from consumer research groups indicates that consumers place an immediate perceived difference in value between single disc and multi-disc sets, even when they have similar A/V qualities and special features.

In the past studios would occasionally release titles using both sides of the disc, like Warner’s Superman, with the special features on the back side, but you rarely see that nowadays as the added market appeal of two discs more than makes up for the minimal cost of the extra disc.

However, much of this has to do with the limited capacity of DVD, and as consumers become more aware just how cheap those discs are to make, the less likely they will have any care about how many discs they are getting as much as the quantity and quality of the content.

 

[DaViD Boulet]

Who says they'll charge $1000?

Maybe they'll charge $100 for the entire show. Why not? They've already covered their costs for making the show and given the lower replications costs for using a single disc, they might actually make MORE money given that more folks might be tempted to buy a single $100 set with the whole show on one disc than Pay $40 a pop for each year's worth spread out over multiple discs...