Tommy Boomfiger
02-28-2004, 03:27 AM
DVD Forum approves rewritable next-gen DVD format
IDG News Service 2/26/04
Martyn Williams, IDG News Service, Tokyo Bureau
The group of companies behind the DVD format has approved a next-generation rewritable optical disc that is the same size as existing DVDs but can hold more than four times the amount of data.
The rewritable HD-DVD (High Definition and High Density-DVD) format was approved as the DVD Forum kicked off its general meeting in Tokyo this week, according to an official at one of the group's founding members. It specifies a 12-centimeter optical disc that can store up to 20G bytes of data on a single-sided disc compared to 4.7G bytes on existing DVDs. The format has been largely developed by Toshiba Corp. and NEC Corp. and a read-only version of HD-DVD, which can hold 15G bytes of data, was approved late last year.
Approval of the format marks a further step towards a format battle that is expected to see at least four incompatible technologies battling in the computer data storage market.
Currently, the format with the largest number of backers is Blu-ray Disc, for which 12 companies sit on the format committee. Until recently it was targeted at recording of high-definition video, although the addition of Hewlett-Packard Co. and Dell Inc. to the format steering committee earlier this year is expected to result in a widening of its target market to include the computing space.
Sony Corp., a prime supporter of Blu-ray Disc, has also developed Professional Disc. The format is available in two variants and is targeted at the specific markets of high-definition broadcast quality video and data archiving and storage. U.K.-based Plasmon PLC has also launched its own format called UDO (Ultra Density Optical), which is also targeted at the data archiving and storage market as a replacement for MO (Magneto Optical) discs.
While all four formats are physically incompatible, they all realize a large jump in data storage because of the same blue laser technology. Blue light has a shorter wavelength than the red light used in CD and DVD systems and so the laser beam makes a smaller spot on the disc surface. That means each bit of data takes up less space on the disc and so more data can be stored on a disc.
The current meeting, which ends on Friday, also marks the expansion of the DVD Forum's steering committee to 20 members with the addition of Microsoft Corp. and a unit of The Walt Disney Co.
The full member list is: Hitachi Ltd., IBM Corp., Industrial Technology Research Institute (Taiwan), Intel Corp., LG Electronics Inc., Matsu****a Electric Industrial Co. Ltd. (Panasonic), Microsoft Corp., Mitsubishi Electric Corp., NEC Corp., Pioneer Corp., Koninklijke Philips Electronics NV, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., Sanyo Electric Co. Ltd., Sharp Corp., Sony Corp., Thomson SA, Time Warner Inc., Toshiba Corp., Victor Co. of Japan Ltd. (JVC) and Walt Disney Pictures and Television.
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http://storage.itworld.com/4653/040226dvdformat/page_1.html
now we get to have a 4 way dvd format battle to look forward to. even though some of the formats a targeted to specific markets, not general, its still not great. another negative is that they are all physically incompatible, so no chance of multiformat drives if more than one emerges as a popular format. i hope that the winner, at least at the consumer level, is backwards compatible with current dvds
IDG News Service 2/26/04
Martyn Williams, IDG News Service, Tokyo Bureau
The group of companies behind the DVD format has approved a next-generation rewritable optical disc that is the same size as existing DVDs but can hold more than four times the amount of data.
The rewritable HD-DVD (High Definition and High Density-DVD) format was approved as the DVD Forum kicked off its general meeting in Tokyo this week, according to an official at one of the group's founding members. It specifies a 12-centimeter optical disc that can store up to 20G bytes of data on a single-sided disc compared to 4.7G bytes on existing DVDs. The format has been largely developed by Toshiba Corp. and NEC Corp. and a read-only version of HD-DVD, which can hold 15G bytes of data, was approved late last year.
Approval of the format marks a further step towards a format battle that is expected to see at least four incompatible technologies battling in the computer data storage market.
Currently, the format with the largest number of backers is Blu-ray Disc, for which 12 companies sit on the format committee. Until recently it was targeted at recording of high-definition video, although the addition of Hewlett-Packard Co. and Dell Inc. to the format steering committee earlier this year is expected to result in a widening of its target market to include the computing space.
Sony Corp., a prime supporter of Blu-ray Disc, has also developed Professional Disc. The format is available in two variants and is targeted at the specific markets of high-definition broadcast quality video and data archiving and storage. U.K.-based Plasmon PLC has also launched its own format called UDO (Ultra Density Optical), which is also targeted at the data archiving and storage market as a replacement for MO (Magneto Optical) discs.
While all four formats are physically incompatible, they all realize a large jump in data storage because of the same blue laser technology. Blue light has a shorter wavelength than the red light used in CD and DVD systems and so the laser beam makes a smaller spot on the disc surface. That means each bit of data takes up less space on the disc and so more data can be stored on a disc.
The current meeting, which ends on Friday, also marks the expansion of the DVD Forum's steering committee to 20 members with the addition of Microsoft Corp. and a unit of The Walt Disney Co.
The full member list is: Hitachi Ltd., IBM Corp., Industrial Technology Research Institute (Taiwan), Intel Corp., LG Electronics Inc., Matsu****a Electric Industrial Co. Ltd. (Panasonic), Microsoft Corp., Mitsubishi Electric Corp., NEC Corp., Pioneer Corp., Koninklijke Philips Electronics NV, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., Sanyo Electric Co. Ltd., Sharp Corp., Sony Corp., Thomson SA, Time Warner Inc., Toshiba Corp., Victor Co. of Japan Ltd. (JVC) and Walt Disney Pictures and Television.
-------------------------------------------------------------
http://storage.itworld.com/4653/040226dvdformat/page_1.html
now we get to have a 4 way dvd format battle to look forward to. even though some of the formats a targeted to specific markets, not general, its still not great. another negative is that they are all physically incompatible, so no chance of multiformat drives if more than one emerges as a popular format. i hope that the winner, at least at the consumer level, is backwards compatible with current dvds