Sony Announces Blu-ray Disc Production to Begin in Late February 2006

[typoEDR]

Well, I don't think there will be many launch games. I initially would have made it 75% DVD and 25% BluRay, but I haven't a clue on:

- how many titles are making launch
- the scale of these games

If cost isn't a huge factor, I wouldn't be surprised people using BluRay to not deal with the constraints of a DVD9 (and pack it with assloads of extras; especially Heavenly Sword; NT, make it happen).

If coast is a huge factor, then yes, DVD will reign for a while (especially with multiplatform titles).

 

[Edge]

Cost is not a factor, and games will use Blu-ray if they need the space, if not, they will use a DVD disk.

And when it comes to production, Sony is not the only company. There are a number of companies, with the giant Panasonic being one of them.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

This is only for DADC... There are still other plants that will manufacture BD-ROMS...

So not movies, right?

How is that any different from now?

I was thinking of people buying early BRD films expecting BRD quality and getting a lower quality because the capacities are smaller. The early films (if on 25 GB discs) would actually be a sort of 'half-BluRay' standard. If not advertised as such, that'd be disappointing for the early adopters.

 

[sir doris]

Some early "Widescreen" DVDs were 4:3 aspect ratio with black bars top an bottom
So the actual image was about half the size/ res of the current releases.

I bought Armageddon on DVD when it first came out and I've also seen an early version of Day of Thunder which was the same. On my PC it looked like any other DVD but on my DVD player conected to my Widescreen TV the native picture was 4:3 so it had black bars either side of the image and then it was in (very)widescreen 2.35:1 with black bars top and bottom. So you end up with a black boarder all around the film, which took my 37" TV down to an effective 25ish" You could zoom in but then the image was quite bocky in places with allisasing on diagonal line, very poor.

 

[Bigus Dickus]

Surprise, surprise... many "widescreen" DVD's are still produced the same way. In fact, AFAIK, only anamorphic widescreen DVD's use the full DVD resolution to store widescreen content.

 

[one]

Isn't this news kind of old? I think it was posted in some thread around here a couple of days ago. I think someone beat you to it this time One!

(not that I'm going to dig around trying to find it)

Hehe, searching "DADC" in this forum couldn't come up with anything! :smile:

Anyway, just FYI, here's the latest (1/13) interview with BD-related Sony executives, and an excerpt of interesting parts:
http://plusd.itmedia.co.jp/lifestyle/articles/0601/13/news004.html

+ The BD-ROM standard is already complete and currently reviewed by related parties. It will end in the next week and the licensing will begin in a few days. But as for AACS, though the final standard is complete the review is not yet done. But the licensing and key issuing will begin soon.

+ In a BDA conference in December, Apple proposed that BDA should make VC-1 as an option. It'll be discussed further, but if it's not decided until a disc is actually manufactured, VC-1 is going to be incorporated in BD-ROM 1.0 as a requirement.

+ Cell processor is not in the first BD products from Sony. For future products, currently Sony engineers visit Sony Computer Entertainment in Aoyama and are discussing what kind of application is possible, but it's not decided yet whether one is put in a BD recorder. Even though it's adopted in a product, it'll be the end of 2007 at the earliest.

+ The concept of Cell "ripening" Kutaragi talked in an interview is tested in R&D and it can actually produce a better movie in proportion to time spent, but still unclear about an actual product.

+ The biggest strength of Sony among BDA companies is Sony can manufacture a blu-laser diode in-house and can design an optical pickup according to properties of diodes. Nichia and Sony co-develop blue laser diodes and currently only those two can supply them.

So it seems they will be busy for some time until the end of February when they actually manufacture BD-ROM discs at Sony DADC. If VC-1 becomes an "option" (read: almost removed from the standard, as no one will use it) BD products may become a bit cheaper. I forecast the launch of PS3 in April or May in FY 2006.

 

[Magnum PI]

mpeg2 was enough for dvd, why would BR need more than h.264 ?
what brings vc-1 to the table except to add more complexity to the player ?

better concentrate on one codec, i'm all for vc-1 removal.

 

[hongcho]

If VC-1 becomes an "option" (read: almost removed from the standard, as no one will use it) BD products may become a bit cheaper.

That's a big "if". AFAIK, at least, Warner is very likely to use VC-1 for both BD and HD DVD releases.

Hong.

 

[one]

That's a big "if". AFAIK, at least, Warner is very likely to use VC-1 for both BD and HD DVD releases.

As Warner is now one of the BDA Board of Directors, if the majority vote against it, it has to comply, I assume. The majority are CE companies which won't benefit from VC-1. But the time is running out now anyway.

 

[AlphaWolf]

As Warner is now one of the BDA Board of Directors, if the majority vote against it, it has to comply, I assume. The majority are CE companies which won't benefit from VC-1. But the time is running out now anyway.

Has to comply... option... which is it? Maybe warner will just threaten to pull out of the BDA if they don't get what they want. /shrug

 

[hongcho]

As Warner is now one of the BDA Board of Directors, if the majority vote against it, it has to comply, I assume. The majority are CE companies which won't benefit from VC-1. But the time is running out now anyway.

As another said, Warner may threaten to leave. Not that that may happen or not.

The thing is that either having VC-1 support or not doesn't matter that much in terms of cost. Most (Broadcom and Sigma) decoding chips already support all required video codecs (MPEG-2, H.264 and VC-1).

If one wants to debate the cost, probably BD-J costs way more (which was rumored to give some CE player manufactures headache). Personally, I think nothing will change, though.

Anyway, dropping VC-1 might be relatively easier (or as easy as keeping it for that matter). But that still means publishing an updated spec with approvals from key members, which is cutting really close for BD.

Note that I am talking about the decoder side because that's where the "mandatory" items really matters. BD or HD DVD studios can use MPEG-2 or H.264 for all their titles if they choose to.

Hong.