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***Official Blu-Ray Discussion Thread*** (1 Viewer)

John Kotches

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Mar 14, 2000
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Felix,

Well first they have to have a standard for the media before they can talk about players.

My guess, and it's strictly that, is a minimum of 2 years, with 3-4 years a more realistic estimate.

Regards,
 

Neil Weinstock

Stunt Coordinator
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Nov 28, 2000
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176
Just a quick item on color selection for the lasers:

At a college summer job in 1985, a roommate of mine was working in a lab where they were trying to develop blue-green laser diodes. That's 17 years ago.

Which is simply to say that the development of cheap blue laser diodes has not been a picnic. I would presume that violet or UV laser diodes would be another difficult step, but I would also assume that they'll come eventually, and we'll have optical disks with lottabyte capacity. Maybe when the blue diodes become really cheap we'll start migrating towards smaller disks, who knows. 5 1/4" is a nice size but not pocketable.

Disclaimer: not an optics guy.
 

Aaryn Chan

Supporting Actor
Joined
Jul 5, 2002
Messages
511
The discs hold up to 27 gigabytes on a layer that is similar to the way that DVDs work but the new drives will use a blue laser to read the discs. Current DVD players use a red laser. Blue lasers have a shorter wavelength allowing them to focus on a smaller area which in turn means that more information can be crammed onto a disc.
Full article: http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=7786
Check out more of the player: http://www.avland.co.uk/sony/bdzs77/index.htm
(please delete if old news)
 

Sean Laughter

Screenwriter
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Aug 3, 1999
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1,384
$4000 is steep, but I believe this machine has all kinds of extra stuff in it including a satellite tuner, so I think a much more reasonably priced, less feature extravegant version is possible. Here's hoping the technology comes down in price enough that Blu-Ray is in Playstation 3! :)
 

Andy_MT

Second Unit
Joined
Jun 23, 2001
Messages
486
27 gigabytes (per layer) doesn't sound enough. is that going to be able to compete with DVHS ?

Next!
 

RobertR

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27 gigabytes (per layer) doesn't sound enough. is that going to be able to compete with DVHS ?
The article says the transfer rate is 4.5 MB per second, or 36 Mbits per second. This compares to 28.5 for DVHS.
So your "Next!" is irrelevant. :)
I like that the article says that Blu Ray is gaining momentum over the competing Toshiba system!
 

Andy_MT

Second Unit
Joined
Jun 23, 2001
Messages
486
ok, scrap the "Next!" statement. it can come back. still, 27Gb sounds quite low. as long as it looks good ...
wonder if they'll be any studio support (films), or if this is going out to the "business" market first. given that this is sony, perhaps a chance to re-do that enigma transfer again (properly) :)
 

Tomoko Noguchi

Second Unit
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Nov 23, 2000
Messages
459
I'll buy it. The thing I like is that it will be compatible with DVD-R and DVD-RW and not DVD-Ram or DVD+RW. Guess which recording format will be gone soon?
 

John Alderson

Supporting Actor
Joined
Aug 8, 2001
Messages
564
Unfortunately, I believe that any HD DVD format is doomed to nichitude if it is released so soon after DVD goes mainstream. Don't get me wrong, I'm always happy to see technology march onwards, but I predict this will be less successful than Laserdisc was, meaning it will remain very high priced and not worth it (for most people) to upgrade, which will in turn mean limited title availability (especially catalog titles).
Maybe I'm wrong, but I believe most folks are going to need 50"+ TV's to be able to appreciate the improved quality. Note, I said MOST people, as in NORMAL people, which excludes most in this forum :) . DVD already has the instant access and special feature thing covered, so that won't wow people.
Maybe this will become big once HDTV is ubiquitous, but I fear that is also a ways off. :frowning: At least this may be the return of an elitist format, which some seem to miss.
 

Jeff Kleist

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Dec 4, 1999
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11,266
Tomoko wa chojin desu yo! :)
I know that Japan has had analog HDTV for quite some time (and it's pretty nice), has there been a transition to digital?
Given that they're building in a satellite reciever, I wonder if it's for DirecTV, since they seem to cover a lot of the world and they'd be able to market the unit outside Japan. (OK, my knowlege of DirecTV is limited to Arnold Schwartzenegger commercials for it and the shoutouts given during Chage & Aska's Sennenya ichiya Live :) )
 

Brian-W

Screenwriter
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Feb 8, 1999
Messages
1,149
I know that Japan has had analog HDTV for quite some time (and it's pretty nice), has there been a transition to digital?
They've been running digital (Digital Hi-Vision) for a few years now. Analog HD going to be gone shortly. Same as U.S. standards but instead of 19.7Mbs limit, their OTA limit is closer to 23Mbs.

They have their own satellite set up and have been for many many years.

Don't know how I'm going to explain this to my wife, but I will be buying one of these on April 10.
 

Tomoko Noguchi

Second Unit
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Nov 23, 2000
Messages
459
Jeff,

:b Thank you, but it's really the fact that I work for a university that gives me research money that I can get new things.

Japan still has analog HDTV. DirecTV is no longer in Japan, but SkyPerfect is (it bought DirecTV) and is a satellite tv company. I haven't heard if they will go hidefinition digital but I hope so.
 

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