DVD Forum says NO to Bluray

[chaphack]

DVD Forum Eyes Developing Enhanced DVD Format

October 25, 2003 (TOKYO) -- The 216 members of the DVD Forum will work together to develop an enhanced DVD format that sticks with red laser technology and has the same capacity as existing DVDs, but can enable Internet connections and high-speed recording.

Among the members are film companies and makers of consumer electronics and information technology equipment from Japan, the rest of Asia, North America and Europe. The list includes Hitachi, Ltd, Matsushita Electric Industrial Co Ltd, Toshiba Corp, Sony Corp and Pioneer Corp.

The new format will enable DVDs to store Internet addresses and digital keys that authorize connection to sites. New recorders accommodating it are expected to be commercialized in 2004. With these systems, a user will be able to watch a DVD movie and at the same time connect to the Net and access information about it, viewing both the DVD content and the Internet content simultaneously on a monitor.

A next-generation optical disc technology has been developed that uses a blue laser and can store more than three hours of digital TV programming. The enhanced DVD format will only be able to store two hours of analog video, just like the current DVD format. But the next-generation optical disc technology is still very expensive, and the DVD Forum sees the new enhanced format serving as a bridge.

 

[chaphack]

Next DVD spec. to offer Net access not more capacity
By Tony Smith
Posted: 27/10/2003 at 14:37 GMT

The DVD Forum, the body that oversees the DVD specification, has decided to stick with red laser technology and current storage capacities rather than make the move to blue light and more capacious discs.

Instead, it will offer Internet integration to tempt upgrade-hungry consumers.

The Forum, which counts consumer electronics companies as well as music and movie industry giants among its 216 members, last week laid down its plans for the next generation of the DVD standard.

While Toshiba and NEC had been pitching a blue light technology that would have considerably increased the space available for movie and other data, the Forum has decided to stick with the existing laser specifications, NE Asia Online reports, presumably for greater backward compatibility.

As it stands, the next generation of DVD will work just like today's format, but with greater Internet integration. Many DVDs already include links to web sites, but they're included in a separate DVD-ROM partition on the disc that can only be read by a computer-hosted DVD drive.

The next version of the spec. will allow content creators to build those links directly into the scripts that tell a DVD player how to show the movie. The idea is that 'Enhanced DVD' players will have Net access built-in, either directly or via a home network, enabling consumers to access extra material at will.

The format will also support the use of "digital keys", as the report puts it, to authorise the connection to web sites.

Both technologies are expected to appear in product next year, which means the spec. isn't that far off completion.

Put them together and it's clear the move is about shifting the DVD spec. away from a simple storage medium to a kind of digital theatre ticket where purchasing the DVD buys you entry to the content - which will almost certainly be stored someplace else.

Today, broadband take-up is growing, but it remains a primarily PC technology. But presumably there will come a time when most homes have it, and it will feed a broader local network comprising not only computers but games consoles and other home entertainment devices. While a DVD is likely to prove the best medium for movies for the next few years, if not further out, there's still plenty of supplemental content that punters are going to want, and the movie industry is going to want to sell them.

But how to provide it without it being ripped off? Full-scale DRM is an option, but one consumers are unlikely to support, even those who aren't in the habit of filching films off the Internet. The solution then is to provide content on the Net, but through a controlled access system. Playing an 'Enhanced DVD' for the first time might begin a background process that links a disc ID to a player ID and records the connection on a server somewhere. Play the disc elsewhere and the system spots the fact and blocks access to the content.

Such an approach is likely to be used to deliver extras, which some buyers will want and many others won't. But extend the idea just a little and all the content, including the movie itself, comes down the wire to the player owned by the consumer who bought the disc. In essence the DVD is nothing but a entry ticket, perhaps with some free content on board that the industry doesn't mind giving away.

Such a system doesn't preclude nor is precluded by direct video on demand systems. Instead it provides a way into such systems for consumers who don't own a PC but have a 'transparent' Net connection, perhaps via a cable TV box, anyway.

Such a system neatly gets over the content industry's aversion to delivery technologies that don't involve physical product for punters to purchase, or at least business models that aren't based on the old 'x dollars for y items' mode. It also includes enough DRM to block piracy (at least theoretically) but not enough of it to make usage difficult for the customer.

Of course, the next generation of the DVD standard is unlikely to deliver all this, at least not at the outset, but it does appear to put in place the foundations for such a structure. ®

 

[Paul]

WTF are you talking about, the DVD forum didn't say no to anything. They ARE BACKING Blu-Ray.

Did you even read this?

But the next-generation optical disc technology is still very expensive, and the DVD Forum sees the new enhanced format serving as a bridge.

Durrr!

A bridge from now to 2005-6... Take your trolling somewhere else.

 

[chaphack]

trolling?

Didnt say no, but still bad for BR. 2004 - 2005 bleh. Good for them to introduce a new standard to only jump onto BR a year later? I say BR take off will be slower than you think.

I still recall people expecting to see full BR capabilities on a $299 2005 PS3. So the technology isnt cost efficient enough for a standalone player, what more than a PS3.

 

[Paul]

So tell me, the DVD forum said no to Blu-Ray? You even admit they didn't, I would change your topic title. But it doesn't take a fool to know why you created this topic.

How is this even bad for BR? The only reason why BR is expensive is because there is no market saturation of the product, there is like what 1-2 different players out? Of course the costs are going to be huge now, this is the same for ALL new standards and always was. It's only expensive because Sony can get away with it.

The BR push will come when PS3 is using BR much like PS2 did use DVD's. And please, who really expected FULL BR capabilities with PS3? It will be a read-only, and from what I read; no caddy.

Just like the PS2's DVD, something basic to push the medium into millions of homes.

 

[chaphack]

And please, who really expected FULL BR capabilities with PS3?

It will be a read-only

ahhh....i recall how much i was campaigning for that line of thought. "At best PS3 BR = read only"....ahhhh

But it doesn't take a fool to know why you created this topic.

Does it hurt you?

The BR push will come when PS3 is using BR much like PS2 did use DVD's

DVD was already established as the next big time and highly pushed even before PS2 arrived. There is still not much talk about BR, well maybe cept for a few excited people on Internet forums...

The only reason why BR is expensive is because there is no market saturation of the product, there is like what 1-2 different players out?

I recall producing BR lens is a risky procedure.

 

[Paul]

Only a dummy would think PS3 will use full BR with all the bells and whistles, oh and no; I have never said it would. The only time I said Sony could use blu-ray with the rewrite functions is if they wanted to sort of rid the use of a huge HDD. It would be a smart thing to do if you think about it. Couple it with a small HDD for saves and network files.

But now I do think that you will see a HDD inside PS3, but I don't know how big.

ahhh....i recall how much i was campaigning for that line of thought. "At best PS3 BR = read only"....ahhhh

And?

Does it hurt you?

Aww, Orsen fall down?

DVD was already established as the next big time and highly pushed even before PS2 arrived. There is still not much talk about BR, well maybe cept for a few excited people on Internet forums...

The BR standard has been established for quite some time now Chap. And the first BR player has already been released, it now needs a push, and need I remind you Kutaragi is in charge of doing that.

Put BR inside millions of PS3's and you have... exactly. Millions of people buying games based on BR disks, millions of new BR players to play HDTV quality movies on.

I recall producing BR lens is a risky procedure.

They don't make things by hand now adays chap, it's all done by something called a "machine".

 

[MfA]

Blue light is harder to diffract.

Personally Im hoping the near-field-focusing-layer from NTU actually works and gets commercialized. Then we could just keep using regular old CDs (the drives would just need to turn down their RPM a lot).

 

[chaphack]

No need to get all defensive Paul. If it is, it is. Did you say rewrite functions? Of coz, i understand you are the lesser of dudes determind that PS3 will have full BR capabilities.

Just to note everyone, first DVD player came out in Japan, a year after the PSOne(yes! ONE! Formerly known as PSX or PS1 ). That be like 1996. As i said before, it is more like DVD that maketh the PS2 and not the other way round.

 

[Paul]

I say re-write functions if Sony wants to skimp on a HDD, but I do think that this is not likely.

That be like 1996. As i said before, it is more like DVD that maketh the PS2 and not the other way round.

Dude, listen. Nothing makes anything.

If PS2 never had the DVD ability, DVD as a medium would have caught on eventually; and the same is for BR.

But what did Sony do? They included DVD in PS2 to "push" the medium, to give it a jump start. And it worked.

They will do the same for BR, another new medium. Including it inside PS3 will give it the boost it needs to gain marketshare faster.

 

[Paul]

Hell BR isn't going to start getting popular until a few years after it's release, the same happened for DVD.

DVD was released in 96 you say? Was it an instant success overnight? Of course not, it took a few years and a few pushes later.

Same for BR.. noone said this would take a year Chap, the first BR player is out in 2003, think of this as DVD's 1996. It won't be until after PS3 comes out that BR starts to gain momentum.

 

[Sonic]

Thread closed because it has no use for discussion in the console forum.

Chap, next time you start a thread please keep it to the console industry.