John C Lyons
Veteran
from HD Studio –
Issues & Agendas:
A New Player Lurks in the HD-DVD Shadows
While negotiators representing two large consumer electronics groups try to compromise on a single new high-definition DVD format, a potential new competitor is waiting in the wings for its own Hollywood close-up.
The Blu-ray Disc and HD-DVD formats currently stand as incompatible, competing technologies only months before the Hollywood studios are set to release the first batch of HD motion pictures for the holiday season. Many predict that the public won’t tolerate a format war and will refuse to buy discs with an uncertain future.
Now there’s a third option: holographic storage. At NAB last April, several companies—including Bell Labs spin-off InPhase Technologies, the Japanese start-up Optware, Fuji Photo Film, and Hitachi Maxell—demonstrated new storage technology that leaves both Blu-ray and HD-DVD in the dust.
InPhase, based in Colorado , already has production models. Its first-generation holographic technology holds 300 GB at high transfer rates. That’s enough capacity to store more than 35 hours of high-definition programming on a single disc. InPhase predicted its holographic drives will eventually have capacities that range to 1.6 terabytes (TB) on a single disk.
Holography achieves increased storage capacity by recording through the full depth of the media, rather than just on the surface. Unlike technologies that 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. This enables transfer rates significantly higher than current optical storage devices.
In addition, holographic storage can exist in many form factors. InPhase said it can put 2GB of data on a postage stamp, 20 GB on a credit card, or 200 GB on a disc. This would allow the media to be used on a range of devices, including portable handheld media players.
—M.G.
Issues & Agendas:
A New Player Lurks in the HD-DVD Shadows
While negotiators representing two large consumer electronics groups try to compromise on a single new high-definition DVD format, a potential new competitor is waiting in the wings for its own Hollywood close-up.
The Blu-ray Disc and HD-DVD formats currently stand as incompatible, competing technologies only months before the Hollywood studios are set to release the first batch of HD motion pictures for the holiday season. Many predict that the public won’t tolerate a format war and will refuse to buy discs with an uncertain future.
Now there’s a third option: holographic storage. At NAB last April, several companies—including Bell Labs spin-off InPhase Technologies, the Japanese start-up Optware, Fuji Photo Film, and Hitachi Maxell—demonstrated new storage technology that leaves both Blu-ray and HD-DVD in the dust.
InPhase, based in Colorado , already has production models. Its first-generation holographic technology holds 300 GB at high transfer rates. That’s enough capacity to store more than 35 hours of high-definition programming on a single disc. InPhase predicted its holographic drives will eventually have capacities that range to 1.6 terabytes (TB) on a single disk.
Holography achieves increased storage capacity by recording through the full depth of the media, rather than just on the surface. Unlike technologies that 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. This enables transfer rates significantly higher than current optical storage devices.
In addition, holographic storage can exist in many form factors. InPhase said it can put 2GB of data on a postage stamp, 20 GB on a credit card, or 200 GB on a disc. This would allow the media to be used on a range of devices, including portable handheld media players.
—M.G.
