I found this article most interesting:
"There are two distinctly different, incompatible optical disc formats that have been developed for the distribution of high-definition video software, and the recording of high-definition signals. Both also have applications in the computer field, where they can provide storage capacities as much as ten times those of current DVD-related recordable and ROM formats. The proponents of each format insist that, in large volume production, their high-definition drives, software pressings, and recordable media will all cost little if anything more than corresponding DVD products to manufacture and sell.
The "Blu-Ray" (BD) Group, which now includes more than 100 participating companies, including movie studios, media producers, hardware (drive, recorder, and player manufacturers) and other interested parties, is headed by Sony, Philips, and Matsushita. The technology employed in BD is very different from that used in current DVD products, and these differences give it inherent advantages that, at least for some applications, may be of critical importance. The HD-DVD Group, also with a large collection of very well-known participants and supporters, and headed by Toshiba, NEC, and Sanyo, insists that its format offers important advantages because it is inherently simply a higher capacity DVD. HD-DVD, like DVD, is made by laminating together two separate 0.6mm-thick pressings together to produce the finished disc, and these pressings can be completely different one from the other.
This laminated structure means that a single hybrid disc could provide titles in both standard DVD and HD-DVD, one on each side of the disc, allowing record retailers to carry just one version of each title. This appeals greatly to the Hollywood content providers, since the hybrid discs would be immediately playable on all DVD-Video players and DVD-ROM drives, but offer high-definition playback for those already equipped with the necessary players or recorders. Since there are two completely independent pressings or recordable disc platters that are laminated together to produce the final 1.2mm-thick disc, a variety of combinations can be offered. This concept of two thinner independent pressings laminated together to form a single disc, originally developed by Toshiba, was what led to Toshiba’s victory over the Sony-sponsored MMCD format during the formative period before the DVD was born. The MMCD format, like the BD high-definition format, used a single pressed disc. Both of the high-definition formats can provide more than one recorded (or recordable) layer on one side of the disc, so some interesting combinations and capabilities can be offered by each.
Of course, no one seems inclined to mention the problems likely to occur in manufacturing hybrid discs that combine high-definition and standard DVD versions of the same title, much less dual-layers on one or both sides of the disc. Such discs would be extremely challenging to manufacture, and yields would almost certainly be very poor, at least in the early years after introduction. Retail prices for any high-definition disc, even the simplest format, will be well above current DVD prices, and could be very much higher for any of the more complex hybrids. End users are already complaining about today’s CD and DVD prices, which are considered excessive. Also, while the content providers and the distributors and retailers all think the DVD/HD-DVD concept is great, there is absolutely no valid evidence that end users would prefer this or any other kind of hybrid disc, especially at prices well above those for DVDs. They might very well prefer to buy the movies and other titles they want in standard DVD, and worry about high-definition recordings when the time comes for them to purchase an HD player or recorder. Sony’s SACD "super audio" hybrid format, which provides both the CD and high-performance versions of a musical recording on a single one-sided disc, has failed to attract the attention of record buyers, mostly because they do not understand what SACD really is.
Warner Home Video claims that, in a survey it recently ran, 77 percent of those participating said they would be "very interested" in these hybrid discs. While we do not wish to challenge Warner’s data (the company is a very strong proponent of HD-DVD), we would bet dollars to doughnuts that, if we selected 2000 people at random, less than 10 percent of them would even know what HD-DVD is, much less what a hybrid disc involves!
The plain truth of the matter is that either system is perfectly acceptable for the distribution of high-definition video software. This, however, is not true when one considers computer-related applications, and it is no accident that Dell and Hewlett-Packard, two of the largest purveyors of advanced PCs, are very much in the Blu-Ray (Sony) camp. HD-DVD is exactly what its name implies: an advanced form of DVD, while Blu-Ray employs a completely different technology. DVD has definite limitations, especially as one seeks to increase the recording capacity of the disc, or maintain a very high capacity on a smaller diameter disc, such as the 80mm discs used in camcorders or the 60mm "UMD" discs that Sony is using in its new PSP portable Playstation product. If optical media are to have a future in advanced PC, game, and other advanced applications, they cannot be limited by DVD’s technology. This is why Blu-Ray would be the better choice, assuming that one would prefer a single format for all advanced consumer-related optical media products.
But could the world live, at least for a period of time, with two incompatible formats? Of course it could! It has done so in the past, witness the LP versus the 45 record, VHS vs Betamax, LD vs VHS etc. In each case, the public ultimately forced the elimination of one of the conflicting formats, although this often took ten or more years to accomplish. Further, today’s technology would certainly allow a single player to be designed and marketed that could play back CD, DVD, HD-DVD, and Blu-Ray recordings. Give the Chinese the incentive to make millions of such combination players each year for the world market, and they would probably surprise everyone with the results, both in quality and in price! The same would be true for drives to be used in PCs for reading the multiple formats, and writing to the most important of them.
Of course, one format is desirable, and reports from Japan over the past month or so have indicated that discussions have been held, and continue to be held, between representatives of the two groups. Despite published claims in some of these publications that agreement was imminent, there appears to be no chance at this time for any such happy result. A great deal of money, in the form of royalties, would go to the winner of any such single-format decision. Prestige is also very much a factor here, especially for Sony, already troubled by claims that it has lost its innovative edge, and still smarting from its loss to Toshiba in the DVD/MMCD conflict ten years ago. It is therefore not in the financial or corporate interests of either group to yield to the other unless or until circumstances occur that force such an agreement.
The Japanese hardware manufacturers, including Sony and Toshiba, are all desperate to advance the introduction of the high-definition era of television and video, and a rapid settlement of this format conflict would certainly benefit everyone. Alas, MMIS doubts this will happen, at least anytime soon, and we could very well see both HD-DVD and Blu-Ray players, recorders, recorded video software, and recordable media all being introduced by various manufacturers throughout 2006.
Sony is committed to use Blu-Ray drives and media in its new PS-3 games console, which it unveiled for the first time on Monday May 16. It is a real beauty, and sports advances in picture quality and overall performance said to be superior to rival Microsoft’s X-Box 360 console. It is interesting to note that the Microsoft unit employs removable 20GB hard-disk-drive modules as well as DVD-ROM discs to handle the input-output chores. The new X-Box will be introduced in time for the holiday season, probably in November, in the U.S. market, and before the end of 2005 in Japan and Europe. The Sony PS-3 will not be available until sometime in the Spring of 2006.
Sony also wishes to promote its UMD (Universal Media Disc) in a variety of portable applications, and is already using it in the PSP portable game machine. At its current 1.8GB capacity, it can provide full-length motion pictures of adequate quality, but eventually a much higher capacity will be desirable if not essential, in order to compete with flash-memory, hard-disk drive cards, and other miniaturized optical formats like the newly resurrected DataPlay format. Blu-Ray technology, once large volume consumer applications drive down the costs of the BD drives, would assure UMD’s ability to compete."
"There are two distinctly different, incompatible optical disc formats that have been developed for the distribution of high-definition video software, and the recording of high-definition signals. Both also have applications in the computer field, where they can provide storage capacities as much as ten times those of current DVD-related recordable and ROM formats. The proponents of each format insist that, in large volume production, their high-definition drives, software pressings, and recordable media will all cost little if anything more than corresponding DVD products to manufacture and sell.
The "Blu-Ray" (BD) Group, which now includes more than 100 participating companies, including movie studios, media producers, hardware (drive, recorder, and player manufacturers) and other interested parties, is headed by Sony, Philips, and Matsushita. The technology employed in BD is very different from that used in current DVD products, and these differences give it inherent advantages that, at least for some applications, may be of critical importance. The HD-DVD Group, also with a large collection of very well-known participants and supporters, and headed by Toshiba, NEC, and Sanyo, insists that its format offers important advantages because it is inherently simply a higher capacity DVD. HD-DVD, like DVD, is made by laminating together two separate 0.6mm-thick pressings together to produce the finished disc, and these pressings can be completely different one from the other.
This laminated structure means that a single hybrid disc could provide titles in both standard DVD and HD-DVD, one on each side of the disc, allowing record retailers to carry just one version of each title. This appeals greatly to the Hollywood content providers, since the hybrid discs would be immediately playable on all DVD-Video players and DVD-ROM drives, but offer high-definition playback for those already equipped with the necessary players or recorders. Since there are two completely independent pressings or recordable disc platters that are laminated together to produce the final 1.2mm-thick disc, a variety of combinations can be offered. This concept of two thinner independent pressings laminated together to form a single disc, originally developed by Toshiba, was what led to Toshiba’s victory over the Sony-sponsored MMCD format during the formative period before the DVD was born. The MMCD format, like the BD high-definition format, used a single pressed disc. Both of the high-definition formats can provide more than one recorded (or recordable) layer on one side of the disc, so some interesting combinations and capabilities can be offered by each.
Of course, no one seems inclined to mention the problems likely to occur in manufacturing hybrid discs that combine high-definition and standard DVD versions of the same title, much less dual-layers on one or both sides of the disc. Such discs would be extremely challenging to manufacture, and yields would almost certainly be very poor, at least in the early years after introduction. Retail prices for any high-definition disc, even the simplest format, will be well above current DVD prices, and could be very much higher for any of the more complex hybrids. End users are already complaining about today’s CD and DVD prices, which are considered excessive. Also, while the content providers and the distributors and retailers all think the DVD/HD-DVD concept is great, there is absolutely no valid evidence that end users would prefer this or any other kind of hybrid disc, especially at prices well above those for DVDs. They might very well prefer to buy the movies and other titles they want in standard DVD, and worry about high-definition recordings when the time comes for them to purchase an HD player or recorder. Sony’s SACD "super audio" hybrid format, which provides both the CD and high-performance versions of a musical recording on a single one-sided disc, has failed to attract the attention of record buyers, mostly because they do not understand what SACD really is.
Warner Home Video claims that, in a survey it recently ran, 77 percent of those participating said they would be "very interested" in these hybrid discs. While we do not wish to challenge Warner’s data (the company is a very strong proponent of HD-DVD), we would bet dollars to doughnuts that, if we selected 2000 people at random, less than 10 percent of them would even know what HD-DVD is, much less what a hybrid disc involves!
The plain truth of the matter is that either system is perfectly acceptable for the distribution of high-definition video software. This, however, is not true when one considers computer-related applications, and it is no accident that Dell and Hewlett-Packard, two of the largest purveyors of advanced PCs, are very much in the Blu-Ray (Sony) camp. HD-DVD is exactly what its name implies: an advanced form of DVD, while Blu-Ray employs a completely different technology. DVD has definite limitations, especially as one seeks to increase the recording capacity of the disc, or maintain a very high capacity on a smaller diameter disc, such as the 80mm discs used in camcorders or the 60mm "UMD" discs that Sony is using in its new PSP portable Playstation product. If optical media are to have a future in advanced PC, game, and other advanced applications, they cannot be limited by DVD’s technology. This is why Blu-Ray would be the better choice, assuming that one would prefer a single format for all advanced consumer-related optical media products.
But could the world live, at least for a period of time, with two incompatible formats? Of course it could! It has done so in the past, witness the LP versus the 45 record, VHS vs Betamax, LD vs VHS etc. In each case, the public ultimately forced the elimination of one of the conflicting formats, although this often took ten or more years to accomplish. Further, today’s technology would certainly allow a single player to be designed and marketed that could play back CD, DVD, HD-DVD, and Blu-Ray recordings. Give the Chinese the incentive to make millions of such combination players each year for the world market, and they would probably surprise everyone with the results, both in quality and in price! The same would be true for drives to be used in PCs for reading the multiple formats, and writing to the most important of them.
Of course, one format is desirable, and reports from Japan over the past month or so have indicated that discussions have been held, and continue to be held, between representatives of the two groups. Despite published claims in some of these publications that agreement was imminent, there appears to be no chance at this time for any such happy result. A great deal of money, in the form of royalties, would go to the winner of any such single-format decision. Prestige is also very much a factor here, especially for Sony, already troubled by claims that it has lost its innovative edge, and still smarting from its loss to Toshiba in the DVD/MMCD conflict ten years ago. It is therefore not in the financial or corporate interests of either group to yield to the other unless or until circumstances occur that force such an agreement.
The Japanese hardware manufacturers, including Sony and Toshiba, are all desperate to advance the introduction of the high-definition era of television and video, and a rapid settlement of this format conflict would certainly benefit everyone. Alas, MMIS doubts this will happen, at least anytime soon, and we could very well see both HD-DVD and Blu-Ray players, recorders, recorded video software, and recordable media all being introduced by various manufacturers throughout 2006.
Sony is committed to use Blu-Ray drives and media in its new PS-3 games console, which it unveiled for the first time on Monday May 16. It is a real beauty, and sports advances in picture quality and overall performance said to be superior to rival Microsoft’s X-Box 360 console. It is interesting to note that the Microsoft unit employs removable 20GB hard-disk-drive modules as well as DVD-ROM discs to handle the input-output chores. The new X-Box will be introduced in time for the holiday season, probably in November, in the U.S. market, and before the end of 2005 in Japan and Europe. The Sony PS-3 will not be available until sometime in the Spring of 2006.
Sony also wishes to promote its UMD (Universal Media Disc) in a variety of portable applications, and is already using it in the PSP portable game machine. At its current 1.8GB capacity, it can provide full-length motion pictures of adequate quality, but eventually a much higher capacity will be desirable if not essential, in order to compete with flash-memory, hard-disk drive cards, and other miniaturized optical formats like the newly resurrected DataPlay format. Blu-Ray technology, once large volume consumer applications drive down the costs of the BD drives, would assure UMD’s ability to compete."