Blue-ray DVD : Toshiba format approved, Sony format rejected

[kaching]

Beta vs vhs . Thats all I have to say

In other words, the consumer made the choice in the end.

So, as lovers of high tech, hopefully we would be doing our utmost to help the consumers we know make the best choice in terms of flexibility and futureproofing.

Once you've established a optical media format what change is easier, faster and cheaper to implement? Expansion of codec support or increasing the physical capacity?

 

[MfA]

AFAICS if you want to get a given amount of video at a given quality on a disc going for the best codec and the lowest tech storage which meets your goals is almost certainly the most efficient over all. Silicon is cheap, even with IP licensing. Using MPEG-2 is probably a roundabout way of justifying the use of lot of the technology in Blue-Ray ... they probably think that going for a more high tech media is good for their margins and gives them a longer lasting advantage over low cost competitors (more patent coverage).

BTW, Im still hoping for the dielectric lensing material from NTU to become an actual product. Basically you can make a flat lens from special dieletric materials, I know it sounds like magic, and since you can just put these on top of the recording layer of a disc you can get evanescent coupling of the focused laser beam. This allows you to get spot sizes below the actual wavelength of the light. Since it focuses the beam at the media you could just reuse standard CD-ROM drives, only the firmware would need a slight adjustment. If they can commercialize this, blue-laser technology will become a very costly joke (hell, I could see technology like this being bought up and surpressed ... it would make the next gen disc-storage market a commodotized one from the get go, no fat margins for anyone).

 

[Crazyace]

I wonder how much hassle it would be to offer mpeg4 functionality as a part of blueray...
Maybe some players would need to be upgraded, but the market is small at the moment, so the standard could change.....

Have it all - larger disc capacity, and the new codecs....

 

[cthellis42]

Considering just how often I have to wipe people's fingerprints off my rental movies, I'd RATHER we were using cartridges all the time at this point! Ugh...

Piss off the manufacturers, but oh well. We've had decades to prove that people are too #$@!ing stupid to grab disks by their edges and not keep laying them down bare on surfaces. I need protection from their stupidity, dammit!