While Blu-ray and HD-DVD fight over next-generation DVDs, holographic storage is catching up.
November 28, 2005
If you thought Blu-ray and HD-DVD were the only new disc formats coming out this decade, think again. The emergence of holographic data storage technology may hamper growth for the two rival high-definition formats in the years to come.
Holographic data storage has existed for 40 years, but is just coming to the commercial market and may reach the consumer market by 2007. The new DVD formats promoted by Sony (Blu-ray) and Toshiba (HD-DVD) are expected to go on sale in early 2006.
As opposed to the blue laser technology used both in Blu-ray and HD-DVD, holographic storage goes beyond recording the surface of the disc and records through the full depth of the medium.
Longmont, Colorado-based InPhase Technologies has formed an alliance with Hitachi Maxell to sell discs the size of a DVD that can store 300 GB of data. By comparison, Blu-ray discs will be able to hold 50 GB and HD-DVD discs will store about 30 GB. InPhase’s Tapestry holographic system can store more than 26 hours of broadcast-quality high-definition video.
While other technologies record one data bit at a time, holography allows a million bits of data to be written and read in parallel with a single flash of light. So transfer rates are significantly higher than current optical storage devices.
As a result, the holographic discs also can read and write data at 10 times the speed of the DVDs currently in the market, or six times that of blue laser discs.
Commercial holographic discs will go on sale by the end of 2006. The initial product, called Tapestry Media, will come in the form of 130mm discs made from a photopolymer material.
InPhase is currently marketing the product to enterprises that can afford the high cost of the discs and readers. Currently, the reader costs a lofty $15,000 each, while one single disc costs $120—clearly unaffordable for the consumer market, Liz Murphy, vice president of marketing at InPhase, said Monday.
The hopes to fill the archival needs in the commercial markets for specific applications such as security, geospatial imagery, entertainment and broadcast, medical, and scientific applications, Ms. Murphy said.
Consumer Product
However, as the cost of the equipments falls, she thinks InPhase’s technology could compete in the consumer market.
“At some point, holographic storage has the potential for being a consumer product,” Ms. Murphy said. The company is in the process of research and development for consumer applications and is looking for partners in the form of consumer electronic companies that can take the product to that market by 2007.
The technology is also offered by Optware, a five-year-old holographic data storage company based in Kanagawa, Japan.
Someday, it might be possible to put all your music on a postage-stamp-sized chip if consumer-based applications evolve.
In May, InPhase closed a large funding round to help the company commercialize its product (see InPhase Scoops Up $32.1 M). InPhase’s first commercial victory came two weeks ago when Turner Network Television became the first television network to air content originating on holographic storage.
In October, engineers from InPhase and Turner put a promotional advertisement into InPhase’s Tapestry holographic disc as a data file. The ad was recorded by the holographic prototype drive into the disc and then electronically migrated to a server and played back to air at the scheduled time.
“This was done to investigate the feasibility of using holographic storage for broadcasting television content,” said Ron Tarasoff, vice president of broadcast technology and engineering at Turner Entertainment Networks. “This is an ideal way to store high-quality, high-definition movies.”
Although holographic storage technology has great advantages, there will be limited overlap between this technology and blue laser technologies, said Wolfgang Schlichting, an analyst with IDC. Some of its drawbacks are high cost of components and difficulty in mass manufacturing which will take time to evolve.
“Ten years from now, [holographic storage] could work as a replacement technology [for blue laser],” Mr. Schlichting said.
I guess this means I'll have to buy the White Album again. ;)
I wonder what the first release on this format will be. Home Alone, anyone? :)
boe
11-29-05, 11:14 AM
Holographic Challenge for DVDs
While Blu-ray and HD-DVD fight over next-generation DVDs, holographic storage is catching up.
November 28, 2005
I look at these things as a good thing. The tougher the upcoming competition the more features they will have to release sooner if they want to establish a foothold to prevent people from jumping ship. I'd love for them to HAVE to release 1080p, DTS-HD on the first generation players instead of gimping them so they can sell you the gen 2 ones when some competition actually occurs or sales are slow. Let's see what excuse can we use - oh the technology wasn't in production so we couldn't test DTS-HD or Dolby Digital Pus (because we don't have hard drives that can do the exact same thing and yet we managed to slap a movie on the disc even though there were no units in production), there weren't any 1080p units we could test on(execpt for 4 projectors and 6 TVs and 10 monitors that already exist).
Fool me once shame on you - fool me twice shame on me.
Iron_Giant
11-29-05, 11:16 AM
10 years from now...I am happy with DVD, HD is just a plus. But, to put an entire season of Smallville on one chip/Disk with no compression is cool. But, if the one Chip/Disk becomes unplayable, then all is lost. In computers I do not like all in one solutions, so I may not like it in my HD DVD/Chip/Halo medium.
woofman
11-29-05, 11:55 AM
Interesting article, as if we needed something else to speculate and debate about. ;)
Bareit
11-29-05, 01:46 PM
This has been "on the horizon" for some time now. I remember getting excited about it when I heard about it shortly after DVDs came out. I won't get my hopes up until I see players and discs at my local retailer.
Qui Gon Jim
11-29-05, 03:31 PM
While this is far from "WalMart" ready, I think that discussion of this stuff is important so that you don't end up backing a loser new format. If there is a format war for HD, and these guys can move this format forward quickly, they may be able to swoop in and steal their thunder. With that kind of capacity, they could easily design the media to be forward compatible to the higher resolutions past the 1080P sets now hitting the market. Buy the film now and watch it at 1080P and when that 1240P (or whatever) set comes along, you disc is ready to go for that. After typing that, I don't think Hollywood would settle for that LOL.
mattgoble
11-29-05, 03:37 PM
I'm still not quite sure how this works for audio / video.
The demonstration I saw was concerened with laying down pages of data at a single point on the disc. When this point is 'full', the laser(s) focus at a different point on the disc and lay down more data. As far as I'm aware, the discs don't actually spin because you're not pulling off a stream of data, the disk merely 'shifts' to a different position.
Hence all the examples given are for archival data.
And yes, I do believe there are several competing holographic formats :rolleyes:
Cocopugg
11-29-05, 04:15 PM
The thought of one day being able to backup my entired 5,000 title DVD collection onto a couple of discs does intrigue me...It's about time we traded our multiple DVD 400 disc changers for just a couple of discs...Anything that saves room is alright in my book!
Tarantino
11-29-05, 05:51 PM
That'd be nuts, to have a complete season on one disc.
= J
Wannabe
11-29-05, 07:31 PM
The thought of one day being able to backup my entired 5,000 title DVD collection onto a couple of discs does intrigue me...It's about time we traded our multiple DVD 400 disc changers for just a couple of discs...Anything that saves room is alright in my book!
You could fit only 35 regular DVDs on a holographic disc.
TomOpus
11-29-05, 07:32 PM
I guess this means I'll have to buy the White Album again. ;)Nice movie reference :lol::up:
Doughboy
11-29-05, 07:38 PM
HD-DVD will be replaced by HG-DVD? :)
Bronkster
11-29-05, 08:32 PM
You could fit only 35 regular DVDs on a holographic disc.
only 35. the horror.
;)
rdodolak
11-29-05, 09:57 PM
Apparently the format has a potential 1.6 TB capability. More info from the Digitalbits, but it sounds like the studios may squash this in terms of a viable option for home entertainment.
Around the Net today, Maxell has announced that it expects to debut 300GB "holographic" storage discs in late 2006. There's already a movement by the HDV Alliance in Japan to create an Holographic Versatile Disc (HVD) video format, which would make HD-DVD and Blu-ray Disc obsolete. However, with the industry (both on the hardware and software side) so invested in HD-DVD and Blu-ray Disc, don't look for HVD to make much in the way of a splash on the home video side. It will, however, quite likely be a big hit in the data storage industry at large. Click here (http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn8370) and here (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/11/24/maxell_holo_storage/) for more on this story. Just goes to show you how quickly the technology is evolving... new formats are developed before the other new formats are even available yet! Welcome to life in the 21st Century.
eau
11-29-05, 11:55 PM
The thought of one day being able to backup my entired 5,000 title DVD collection onto a couple of discs does intrigue me...It's about time we traded our multiple DVD 400 disc changers for just a couple of discs...Anything that saves room is alright in my book!
That's like 40+ terabytes of diskspace!
DthRdrX
11-30-05, 01:29 AM
Apparently the format has a potential 1.6 TB capability. More info from the Digitalbits, but it sounds like the studios may squash this in terms of a viable option for home entertainment.
Agreed. It's pretty worthless as a source of pre-recorded content. They (studios) are pretty happy with 25-30 GB discs for HD. These Holo discs cost too much for what the industry considers capacity overkill for prerecorded HD. The only thing I see happening with this technology is that maybe a company like JVC will start another niche format with one or two studios releasing limited titles. 4K resolution perhaps someday?
It would be awesome for recording but I have a feeling we are a long way away from seeing something like this on a single disc. It's a funny topic though b/c I remember saving all of my files in middle school on 5.25 floppy, then moving to 3.5 floppy in High School, CD-Rs when I started college, and now we are using Dvds. Looks like the PC industry is going Blu-Ray next. Something better will eventually follow it.
Tom Banjo
11-30-05, 01:50 AM
That'd be nuts, to have a complete season on one disc.
= J
I'd love that. It definately seems to be the best use of a disc of that capacity. It'd be a waste to put a two hour movie and a couple of extras on something that size.
Qui Gon Jim
11-30-05, 03:27 AM
They could have a high resolution copy of a movie on a disc, without as much compression so the film could look really good. That is why large capacity isn't a "waste."
Cocopugg
11-30-05, 03:48 AM
You could fit only 35 regular DVDs on a holographic disc.
They're already working on 25 terabyte discs. Those would hold about 5,000 single layered or 2,500 double layered movies each. Skies the limit on this format as far as disc space is concerned.
I have seen the recorder before.It's quite huge.Like a projector and the company Optware is headed by a guy who quit Sony to start this company.They were trying to make the recorder a bit smaller and they said by year 2007 they plan to market it.With 25TB the PC industry could be having a big leap into the future.My 20GB laptops feels useless in the TB region.I was just lokking at the Toshiba 1TB DVD recorder.But this things blow is away
DthRdrX
11-30-05, 09:29 PM
I have seen the recorder before.It's quite huge.Like a projector and the company Optware is headed by a guy who quit Sony to start this company.They were trying to make the recorder a bit smaller and they said by year 2007 they plan to market it.With 25TB the PC industry could be having a big leap into the future.My 20GB laptops feels useless in the TB region.I was just lokking at the Toshiba 1TB DVD recorder.But this things blow is away
Interesting. I didn't know that. I have read that Sony has already purchased a developmental hardware kit of some kind for this holo technology from this company.
This technology is still overkill for 1080p HD though. 4K perhaps, but not HD.
"InPhase is currently marketing the product to enterprises that can afford the high cost of the discs and readers. Currently, the reader costs a lofty $15,000 each, while one single disc costs $120—clearly unaffordable for the consumer market, Liz Murphy, vice president of marketing at InPhase, said Monday."
Tarantino
12-01-05, 02:04 AM
I wonder how much a season on one disc would cost.
= J
ChrisKnudsen
12-01-05, 02:24 AM
Man, that sounds great. Then I could rid of my 5 externals of 250 GB each of music if I could easily fit it on a 25TB Disc and I would have so much space. Imagine 25TB of music. Christ, that would make my head explode. I could start an ultimate archive. I am going to have a wet dream tonight.
Qui Gon Jim
12-01-05, 07:31 AM
This technology is still overkill for 1080p HD though. 4K perhaps, but not HD. "
Not necessarily. Think of the quality of an uncompressed data stream or the quality of the audio possible with such large capacity.
Mopower
12-01-05, 09:15 AM
Man, that sounds great. Then I could rid of my 5 externals of 250 GB each of music if I could easily fit it on a 25TB Disc and I would have so much space. Imagine 25TB of music. Christ, that would make my head explode. I could start an ultimate archive. I am going to have a wet dream tonight.
I can't even find enough songs I like to fill a DVD-R. Shit man do you just buy every CD that comes out to add to your collection or what?
Numanoid
12-01-05, 11:06 AM
I can't even find enough songs I like to fill a DVD-R. Shit man do you just buy every CD that comes out to add to your collection or what?I have almost 2TB of music and video, spread over 10 or 12 hard drives. Only a fraction of it is stuff I have purchased. A lot of the video is ripped from TV, including about 1500 music videos. Keeping three PCs with four or five HDs in each is a pain. I'm dying for this bulk storage.
Maquis
12-02-05, 11:33 AM
That'd be nuts, to have a complete season on one disc.
A complete season? Hell, with 25TB, give me the entire SERIES on one disk!
I would love that...
tanman
12-02-05, 11:52 AM
I have almost 2TB of music and video, spread over 10 or 12 hard drives. Only a fraction of it is stuff I have purchased. A lot of the video is ripped from TV, including about 1500 music videos. Keeping three PCs with four or five HDs in each is a pain. I'm dying for this bulk storage.
Wow, you're a digital squirrel. Do you keep the music files as mp3s or wav or some other compression and at what bit rate.
Maybe these disks will finally be good enough for all the audiophiles that are sticking with records :)
Dan Average
12-02-05, 01:18 PM
From another article (http://biz.gamedaily.com/features.asp?article_id=11193§ion=feature&email=):
Both InPhase and Optware are currently targeting the market from an archival perspective—for example, it would be entirely possible to store whole movie libraries on just one disk. However, for the consumer market the companies also are working on developing disks that would be less than half the physical size of DVDs but could hold around 30GB.
So their grand plan to break into the consumer market is to release a disc that can store a whopping 5 GB more than a single-layer Blu-ray disc? Wow, that's stunningly inept. If they think the average consumer is going to be impressed by the smaller physical size, I think they're in for a shock. I don't see a whole lot of people complaining that CDs and DVDs are just too bulky and unwieldly.
Seriously, if they had any clue what they were doing they wouldn't attempt a consumer launch until they have something that would make even the most casual users say "holy shit." 30 GB isn't going to do it.
sracer
12-02-05, 01:58 PM
In a roundabout way, people HAVE complained about DVDs. Primarily the packaging. That is why thinpaks came out. I'll bet that as people's DVD collections grow, they'll be looking at UMD discs and packaging with an envious eye.
If consumer disc players are designed to handle both the smaller and larger form factors, then it may be possible to release the smaller discs at a lower cost (initially) and then move on to the larger form later as costs drop.
Anything that takes Sony's Blu-Ray format out of the game gets a big :thumbsup: from me.
DthRdrX
12-02-05, 02:30 PM
Anything that takes Sony's Blu-Ray format out of the game gets a big :thumbsup: from me.
Why is this exactly?
Dan Average
12-02-05, 02:42 PM
In a roundabout way, people HAVE complained about DVDs. Primarily the packaging. That is why thinpaks came out. I'll bet that as people's DVD collections grow, they'll be looking at UMD discs and packaging with an envious eye.
This is a packaging issue, not a disc size issue. Ship everything in thinpaks and you solve the problem. If people still want smaller packaging, reduce it to jewel case proportions. I doubt anyone is going to look at UMD as some sort of ideal space-saving packaging, given that most people shelve their collections vertically with the spines facing out and UMD packaging isn't substantially shorter or narrower than standard Amarays.
If consumer disc players are designed to handle both the smaller and larger form factors, then it may be possible to release the smaller discs at a lower cost (initially) and then move on to the larger form later as costs drop.
Well, first of all, no content providers have expressed any interest in this format, so it's going to be a long time before we see any HVD "players" -- the first models are going to be recorder/players, not playback-only.
And while there's no barrier I can see to the type of future-proofing you describe, we're still not talking about a huge increase here -- maybe 100GB vs. 25GB, which is a sizable difference on paper but not enough to convince the studios and hardware manufacturers to suddenly abandon the years of work and millions of dollars sunk into HD DVD and Blu-ray. That's why I think it's way too early to launch this stuff at the consumer level -- if they wait, say, 5-10 years, the costs may come down to the point where they can offer a truly vast storage increase (like 1TB) at consumer-friendly prices, and they'll have a better shot at getting studios on board, since they may have already milked all they can out of Blu-ray (I'm not holding out much hope for HD DVD at this point).
Anything that takes Sony's Blu-Ray format out of the game gets a big :thumbsup: from me.
They won't.
sracer
12-02-05, 02:53 PM
Why is this exactly?
Because I detest Sony's sneaky tactics of using rootkits for copy protection and using a subsidiary to spread false rumors about the Xbox 360. I don't want to buy any proprietary technology that they have control of.
Dan Average
12-02-05, 03:13 PM
I don't want to buy any proprietary technology that they have control of.
Blu-ray is controlled by the Blu-ray Disc Association, not Sony. Sony sits on the board of directors but their vote counts for no more than those of the 16 other companies on the BOD.
nazz
12-02-05, 11:25 PM
Blu-ray is controlled by the Blu-ray Disc Association, not Sony. Sony sits on the board of directors but their vote counts for no more than those of the 16 other companies on the BOD.
Wouldn't it be fair to say that the others on the board have chosen to support Sony by sitting on it? Even with one vote their influence weighs heavily on the others.
Dan Average
12-02-05, 11:44 PM
Wouldn't it be fair to say that the others on the board have chosen to support Sony by sitting on it?
Yes. By the same token, manufacturing and purchasing CDs and DVDs (and related products such as hardware and accessories) also indicates support for Sony. I fail to see what bearing this has on the degree of control Sony wields over the spec.
Even with one vote their influence weighs heavily on the others.
Uh...sure. After all, Sony can push for whatever they want. But there's nothing preventing anyone else on the BOD from doing the same thing. Given the size of some of the other corporations on the board (Matsushita, Samsung, Warner Bros., Fox and Hitachi, among others), it would be pretty difficult for Sony to throw their weight around unilaterally.
DthRdrX
12-03-05, 12:19 AM
Most companies with the BDA are offering full support and letting Sony take the lead. HP is there, now, to push for what MS wants (half of which the BDA has given them). Warner has joined just to get BD9 in the spec before it was too late, which they got handed to them on a silver platter by the BDA.
In short, while most companies are with Sony 100%, the other two pushed for what they want.
BTW, the real issue at this point has little to do with the BDA, but the current state of AACS.
rdodolak
12-03-05, 12:57 AM
A complete season? Hell, with 25TB, give me the entire SERIES on one disk!
I would love that...
I'd prefer my whole library on one disc. Forget the petty sizes, we should be looking into the future (petabyte, exabyte, zettabyte, yottabyte, etc) :)
darkside
12-03-05, 01:04 AM
Why is this exactly?
I will only have a major problem with Blu-Ray if all the DRM rumors turn out to be true. If my DVD player has to phone home and tell Sony what I'm watching and if they can change the DRM at will causing me to have to upgrade my player I will pass on it. I'm about at my limit for tolerating DRM.
After the rootkit I put nothing past Sony. I'm still waiting for them to try and lock movies to your hardware so you can't lend them out to friends or resell them.
DthRdrX
12-03-05, 02:08 AM
I will only have a major problem with Blu-Ray if all the DRM rumors turn out to be true. If my DVD player has to phone home and tell Sony what I'm watching and if they can change the DRM at will causing me to have to upgrade my player I will pass on it. I'm about at my limit for tolerating DRM.
After the rootkit I put nothing past Sony. I'm still waiting for them to try and lock movies to your hardware so you can't lend them out to friends or resell them.
That rumor was squashed long ago. No outside connection is required for popping in a disc and watching a movie. The only worry anyone will have about DRM is if they plan on pirating movies ....
critterdvd
12-03-05, 03:05 PM
some how IM doubting wiehter the public will embarce blue-ray or HD-DVD, let alone this new kind... Too many "general consumers" are too invested in there current collection... and these might end up as Niche productions like laserdisc...
Reservoir
12-03-05, 04:40 PM
Because I detest Sony's sneaky tactics... I don't want to buy any proprietary technology that they have control of.
Like the MGM vaults? :D
I like idea of a 1TB disc and don't think $120 sounds that bad when you compare it with a HDD (which is just a disc inside a heavier case).
However, I'd be expecting a DVDRAM Type II style protective case at the very least to protect the disc.
darkside
12-03-05, 05:07 PM
That rumor was squashed long ago. No outside connection is required for popping in a disc and watching a movie. The only worry anyone will have about DRM is if they plan on pirating movies ....
If its DRM I don't notice like current DVDs then I will have no problem with it.
Buy: