highdef

Found this on YAHOONEWS...

CHIBA, JAPAN--Many of the companies behind the Blu-ray Disc optical video disc format unveiled prototype players here Tuesday, the first day of the Ceatec 2002 exhibition. Toshiba, meanwhile, gave the first public demonstration of its competing format.

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The two formats, which are both still in the design stage, are based on blue lasers, which allow the discs to hold several times more data than DVD discs--up to 27GB per layer in the case of Blu-ray and 20GB per layer for Toshiba's Advanced Optical Disc.

Both formats are already battling to succeed DVD Video in the consumer electronics market, and technology derived from their development is expected to play an important part in future optical disc formats aimed at computer use.

In February, a group of companies headed by Sony announced Blu-ray; the format grew out of work the company was doing with Pioneer on DVR Blue, a blue-laser-based system project unveiled at Ceatec in 2000.

Surprise Announcement
Among the companies showing prototypes of Blu-ray recorders at Ceatec was JVC, which was a surprise because the company was absent from the nine-member group that established the format. Other prototypes were on display from consortium members including Sony, Matsushita Electric Industrial (Panasonic), Sharp, and Pioneer Electronics.

The recorders looked impressive. However, they are still far from completion, and many were displayed in a way that hid the large component boards typical of such prototype devices.

Alongside the players, the companies were also showing media for the format. There are three capacities of Blu-ray media: 23.3GB, 25GB, and 27GB. Each version is a single-layer disc; double-layer discs (with double the capacity) are also specified.

While stressing that commercial plans for the format have yet to be decided, representatives of both Sony and Matsushita said their companies hope the media will cost around $42 per disc when they go on sale.

Competing Formats
Toshiba, which is one of the few major consumer electronics companies not behind the Blu-ray format, unveiled in public for the first time a prototype of its new Advanced Optical Disc.

The AOD is being developed by Toshiba and NEC and has the ability to store around 20GB of data on a single-layer recordable disc and 15GB of data on a single-layer prerecorded disc, says Naoki Morishita, a specialist at Toshiba's optical disc development department.

Its announcement in August set the stage for a format battle between AOD and Blu-ray.

Toshiba proposed AOD to the DVD Forum, which it chairs, as a next-generation successor to DVD Video. The Blu-ray group has not approached the DVD Forum, however, maintaining. that its format is a new-generation system and should not fall under the DVD Forum's auspices.

Based on the prototypes on display at Ceatec 2002, it is still too early to tell which format has the edge, although the sheer number of Blu-ray prototype players make that format difficult to ignore.

zargon

I much rather see FMD used than blue laser.

bfrank

At CEDIA last week Microsoft showed (with a few vendors) Windows media 9 with HD compression that would fit on a standard disk.

I saw it and it was very good. I expect this to get ugly before any progress is made on a final direction.

zargon

Screw compressed formats. I say go all out and do as little compression as possible. Compression leads to many funny things, I just want my audio and video to be as pure as the driven snow. This is why FMD should be the only choice, upto 1 terra! Plus it has 12 layers, but it reads from all layers at once, so there shouldn't be any worry about layer changes.

broadwayblue

how many gigabytes does a HD movie require (figure 2 hours)?

joshd2012

Compression sucks. Blu-Ray looks like the best format because of the high amounts of data it can hold. As long as they make a Blu-Ray player that is has backwards capability, I'll be happy.

zargon

If you think blu-ray is all that, check out FMD. If they don't pick FMD they are just stupid, it has been ready for some time now basically, it is just the best solution right now. The DVD Consortium needs to get off their asses.

Frank S

Whevever you deal with compression you are going to get vast differecenes in quality as each production house has different people trying to be creative with available space and that usually leads to some pretty shotty releases! You need A LOT of compression to store a HD film on a regular DVD and since Microsoft has a hand in it you can bet it will not satify us videophiles! And you can totally forget extras on these goofy MS compressed DVD's!

The only way going at present is Blu-Ray because it has major manufacturer backing and enough space to not need much of any compression.

There may be other formats out there but they have little support and will at best be a niche produce with little studio support.

bfrank

Blu-ray is compressed. Current dvd is compressed.

There is lossless compression in the Windows media 9. It is about 50% compression. It is not what was demo'ed at CEDIA though. I will tell you that the picture was good. Granted I did not have it at home for a long amount of time but it was still impressive. I think the current Sound and Vision Mag has a wirte up on it.

I think 2 hours uncompressed is ~27g.

bigE

I agree on compression zargon. I'm still looking for a skyline on DVD that isn't compromised by compression. A blue sky without shimmer or halos, is that so much to ask? Optimally I would prefer a film like video transfer with a little grain. Sounds crazy, I know, but if your intent is to have a cinematic experience then make it look like film, not digital cable.

Cheers
bigE