Hitachi showcased playback of a four-layer Blu-Ray disc featuring a capacity of 25GB per layer. The company said that the drive used for reading was a standard Blu-Ray drive, at its booth at the 2007 International CES.
There have been other academic reports of creating fourlayer (100GB) or even six layer (200GB) disc media by TDK. Some companies have also showcased playback of multi-layer BD media using test players embedded with a special optical head. But in the current demonstation, Hitachi used a 'standard drive'."This is the first demonstration of quadruple disc readout using a player based on an optical head generally used in current BD drives on the market," said Hitachi representatives. Hitachi used an optical disc drive based on the "GBW-H10N" supporting 4x speed BD recording, which Hitachi-LG Data Storage, Inc. announced in July 2006. However, the company made some alterations to the firmware and the optical system inside the head, to make the player compatible with four-layer BD playback. Frontend signal processing (Renesas) and other circuits are the same as those used in the "GBW-H10N."Of course, the demonstration did not include playback of video. Hitachi set up a reference system that included a PC, the BD drive connected to an oscilator, tuned to display the HF reading signal and especially the javascript:void(0)Publishdata patterns of the disc, which indicate the BD recording marks. According to a report on the Japanese Tech-On website, the first layer (L0) of the 100GB disc included a series of 3T patterns followed by 4T patterns marked on a layer one (L1) above it, 5T patterns on L2 and 6T patterns on L3. When the player picked up signals from each layer on this disc, it displays the signals' waveforms using the oscilloscope. The frequencies changed depending on the layer being read, so demonstration observers could recognize the readout of each layer. However, the drive was not set to pick up the 2T patterns, which are the smallest found on data Blu-Ray discs (3T to 11T for the data features on DVD).Hitachi said, that developing this technology required a drive capable of detecting which layer to read. The company has not specified how the pickup lens actually detects the readout layer, but reportedly explored a wide variety of methods including a very basic way, in which the pickup lens finds a targeted layer by scanning each layer in order of shorter distance from the optical head.Quadruple BD capacity could be used for storing Digital Cinema Picture Quality content in the future. For example, a 100GB disc could hold 3.5h hours of 64Mbps video (resolution 4K-2K).
Sunday 29 April 2007
Sony launches museum of of low res
Do you still own a standard TV and DVD or even a VHS? Well, if you do your place or at least your TV set should already belong in a Museum! At least according to Sony!The main Blu-ray backer launched the "Museum of Low Res" (MoLR), a consumer website which takes you on a virtual tour of the history of technology and the conception of Blu-ray Disc itself. The tongue-in-cheek website visually explains the Blu-ray disc format; from a giant TV sculpture demonstrating the resolution power of Blu-ray Disc, to a robotic arm sculpture highlighting its storage capacity.Is it worth the time to take a look at it? Yes, a bit of humor in this battle of the formats is a good thing. We tend to forget that the main goal of high definition movies is entertainment and fun. Sony brings that back a little with this site. At least for the European market since the site was launched by Sony-Europe.The image represent what Sony says is the first High definition TV that reached 1080! I always loved videowalls!
Blu-ray lead
Washington, D.C. (April 20, 2007) -- Sales of Blu-ray HDTV DVDs once again trounced rival HD DVD in March and the Sony-backed format now has a 69-31 percent sales lead in the first three months of 2007.
This information came from a website with lots of good information: www.tvpredictions.com
This information came from a website with lots of good information: www.tvpredictions.com
More Information about DVD and the Digital Age.
DVD - stands for digital versatile disc. It records information as compressed digital data on one or more layers of optical medium and is read by a laser beam in the DVD device. Small, easily packaged & transported. Can store enormous amounts of data and costs pennies to manufacture. Data can be ANYTHING - music, moving image, still image, text, animation, you name it and all on the same little disc. The costs of creating the data, though, can be huge. Advantages are obvious. These things can store all the films that would rot in the cans in Hollywood, once they're remastered and transferred. Have a look in HMV and see all the old black & white stuff available, for example.Another great advantage of DVD is the quality of image and sound. Anything not digitally copied loses a little quality every time a copy is made. Because digital technology works on numbers, the numbers are always constant, so any copy is exactly the same as any other. Two million copies of a DVD of 'Return of the King' will all be exactly the same in terms of quality of image and sound. Same with video games, same with any type of DVD.
CD - stands for compact disc. Also stores data and is read by a laser in the CD device. See above but don't ask me how they're different because I don't know. No doubt some kind technology person will tell me in due course.
DAT files - digital audiotape files that record music digitally on to tape.
Digital TV - fast, high quality TV pictures processed through computerised images. They need to be received by aerial/satellite dishes, or via cable and have a 'de-coding' box to unscramble the signals & put them on your nice flat screen TV set. The one with the five speakers that annoy the neighbours and wake the baby up at two in the morning when you're watching 'Return of the King'. Add to this 'interactive TV', where the consumer can view and choose things like camera angles and replay the goals on live sport transmissions or vote Jordan off 'Im a Celebrity, Get Me out of Here'. Such fun for the bored couch-potato.Digital TV was launched around 1996 and now has three 'platforms' for reception - SKY digital (via satellite), Ondigital (BBC) via aerial and NTL (via a cable network). No doubt there will be more soon.Many options are available, like business video-conferencing and 'pay-per-view' for important live events (mainly sport).In development are 3D holographic TV and also plasma screens (worked by gas, not tubes). Video recorders were challenged by DVD technology, but also in development is a neat idea called the PVR or personal video recorder which will use a hard drive to store programmes recorded from TV for later playback. It will be able to 'profile' your consumption by tracking your preferences, so if you always watch East Enders, it will record it for you because it 'knows' you like the programme. By keeping a record of the channels you watch, it can also provide data back to market researchers, so you can be targeted for products and services.Digital radio - Until digital technology was developed all radio programmes were either AM or FM, processes which present the actual sounds generated, complete with crackles, hisses and atmospheric interference. Digital radio signals are translated into computerised digits so there is no distortion or interference, which means better sound quality.
CD - stands for compact disc. Also stores data and is read by a laser in the CD device. See above but don't ask me how they're different because I don't know. No doubt some kind technology person will tell me in due course.
DAT files - digital audiotape files that record music digitally on to tape.
Digital TV - fast, high quality TV pictures processed through computerised images. They need to be received by aerial/satellite dishes, or via cable and have a 'de-coding' box to unscramble the signals & put them on your nice flat screen TV set. The one with the five speakers that annoy the neighbours and wake the baby up at two in the morning when you're watching 'Return of the King'. Add to this 'interactive TV', where the consumer can view and choose things like camera angles and replay the goals on live sport transmissions or vote Jordan off 'Im a Celebrity, Get Me out of Here'. Such fun for the bored couch-potato.Digital TV was launched around 1996 and now has three 'platforms' for reception - SKY digital (via satellite), Ondigital (BBC) via aerial and NTL (via a cable network). No doubt there will be more soon.Many options are available, like business video-conferencing and 'pay-per-view' for important live events (mainly sport).In development are 3D holographic TV and also plasma screens (worked by gas, not tubes). Video recorders were challenged by DVD technology, but also in development is a neat idea called the PVR or personal video recorder which will use a hard drive to store programmes recorded from TV for later playback. It will be able to 'profile' your consumption by tracking your preferences, so if you always watch East Enders, it will record it for you because it 'knows' you like the programme. By keeping a record of the channels you watch, it can also provide data back to market researchers, so you can be targeted for products and services.Digital radio - Until digital technology was developed all radio programmes were either AM or FM, processes which present the actual sounds generated, complete with crackles, hisses and atmospheric interference. Digital radio signals are translated into computerised digits so there is no distortion or interference, which means better sound quality.
Why was DVD so Revolutionary
DVD initially stood for Digital Video Disc but now stands for Digital Versatile Disc. Like a CD, DVD is an optical storage system for read-only, recordable and rewritable applications. But, being similar to a CD in many ways, DVD is considered to be a CD future replacement.
The main differences between the CD and DVD are summarized in the following table:
Feature
DVD CD-ROM
Substrate diameter / thickness (mm)
120 / 1.2 120 / 1.2
Sides
1 or 2 1
Layers per side
1 or 2 1
Capacity (GB)
4.7, 8.54, 9.4, or 17 0.7
Track pitch (microns)
0.74 1.6
Min pit length (microns)
0.4 - 0.44 0.83
Linear velocity used for scan (m/s)
3.5 - 3.84 1.3
Laser wavelength (nm)
635 or 650 780
Numerical aperture
0.6 0.45
Modulation
8 to 16 EFM (8 to 17)
Error correction code (ECC)
RSPC CIRC
Durability and dust/scratch
same as that of CD high
The main differences between the CD and DVD are summarized in the following table:
Feature
DVD CD-ROM
Substrate diameter / thickness (mm)
120 / 1.2 120 / 1.2
Sides
1 or 2 1
Layers per side
1 or 2 1
Capacity (GB)
4.7, 8.54, 9.4, or 17 0.7
Track pitch (microns)
0.74 1.6
Min pit length (microns)
0.4 - 0.44 0.83
Linear velocity used for scan (m/s)
3.5 - 3.84 1.3
Laser wavelength (nm)
635 or 650 780
Numerical aperture
0.6 0.45
Modulation
8 to 16 EFM (8 to 17)
Error correction code (ECC)
RSPC CIRC
Durability and dust/scratch
same as that of CD high
- The main features of the DVD formats can be summarized as follows:
- Backwards compatibility with current CD media (at least the newest models of DVD drives)
- Physical dimensions identical to compact disc with total thickness equal to 1.2 mm, but with capacity at least 7 times larger than that of CD.
- Capacities of 4.7 GB, 8.54 GB, 9.4 GB, and 17.08 GB, depending on the disk structure.
- Single-layer/dual-layer and single/double sided options.
- DVD replication process is similar to that used for compact disks.
- A disc-based format means fast random access like in hard drives and CDs and unlike tapes.
- Designed from the outset for video, audio and multimedia. Meets the requirement for 133 minutes of high quality video on one side of a disk.
- DVD-ROM for enhanced multimedia and games applications.
- DVD-Video for full length high quality movies on one disc.
- DVD-Audio for higher quality music, surround sound and optional video, graphics and other features.
- All formats use a common file system.
- Copy protection built into standard (unless it is broken...)
A brief History on DVD
DVD (commonly known as "Digital Versatile Disc" or "Digital Video Disc") is an optical disc storage media format that can be used for data storage, including movies with high video and sound quality.
In the early 1990s two high-density optical storage standards were being developed; one was the MultiMedia Compact Disc, backed by Philips and Sony, and the other was the Super Density disc, supported by Toshiba, Time-Warner, Matsushit Electric, Hitachi, Mitsubishi Electric, Pioneer, Thomson, and JVC. IBM's president, Lou Gerstner, acting as a matchmaker, led an effort to unite the two camps behind a single standard, anticipating a repeat of the costly videotape format war between VHS and Betamax in the 1980s.
Philips and Sony abandoned their MultiMedia Compact Disc and fully agreed upon Toshiba's SuperDensity Disc with only one modification, namely EFMPlus. EFMPlus was chosen as it has a great resilience against disc damage such as scratches and fingerprints. EFMPlus, created by Kees Immink, who also designed EFM, is 6% less efficient than the Toshiba code, which resulted in a capacity of 4.7 GB as opposed to the original 5 GB. The result was the DVD specification, finalized for the DVD movie player and DVD-ROM computer applications in December of 1995.In May 1997, the DVD Consortium was replaced by the DVD Forum, which is open to all other companies.
"DVD" was originally used as an initialism for the unofficial term "digital videodisk" was reported in 1995, at the time of the specification finalization, that the letters officially stood for "digital versatile disc" (due to non-video applications)
Philips and Sony abandoned their MultiMedia Compact Disc and fully agreed upon Toshiba's SuperDensity Disc with only one modification, namely EFMPlus. EFMPlus was chosen as it has a great resilience against disc damage such as scratches and fingerprints. EFMPlus, created by Kees Immink, who also designed EFM, is 6% less efficient than the Toshiba code, which resulted in a capacity of 4.7 GB as opposed to the original 5 GB. The result was the DVD specification, finalized for the DVD movie player and DVD-ROM computer applications in December of 1995.In May 1997, the DVD Consortium was replaced by the DVD Forum, which is open to all other companies.
"DVD" was originally used as an initialism for the unofficial term "digital videodisk" was reported in 1995, at the time of the specification finalization, that the letters officially stood for "digital versatile disc" (due to non-video applications)
Friday 27 April 2007
EVD
An EVD developed before HD DVD or Blu-Ray in 2003 by On2 and Beijing E-World . And anouched by chinese 'Xinhua News Agency' to take-over from DVD to play on High Definition TV. This is mainly a chinese format, it is successful due to the fact that 1 in 5 people in the world are chinses but is consider to be sub standard to HD DVD and Blu-ray. It would be the equivlent to and VCD, when DVD was the lastest format.
New DVD's Cracked
"Movie studios, start your attorneys, because muslix64, the guy who cracked HD DVD with his BackupHDDVD utility has done it again. His next Pandora's box is called BackupBluray. It's not perfect yet, because the first iteration can only crack backup Blu-ray discs whose CPS unit key is known, but sources say full decryption will be added soon.
Of course, all of this unraveling of Blu-ray and HD DVD's bulletproof security is for backup purposes only. Certainly those who have bought these discs should be allowed to store away a backup for safekeeping, you know, in case the disc gets scratched? But we thought these encryption schemes were impossible to crack. Perhaps "impossible" is a relative term."
Of course, all of this unraveling of Blu-ray and HD DVD's bulletproof security is for backup purposes only. Certainly those who have bought these discs should be allowed to store away a backup for safekeeping, you know, in case the disc gets scratched? But we thought these encryption schemes were impossible to crack. Perhaps "impossible" is a relative term."
What this means is that it is possible to change the whole configuration of the CD. That means, Piracy controls can be altered, so that people are able to pirate copy the DVD's as they can bypass the security.
More information can be found: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/01/technology/01hack.html?ei=5088&en=38ddb2918d77f8a4&ex=1325307600&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&pagewanted=print
More information can be found: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/01/technology/01hack.html?ei=5088&en=38ddb2918d77f8a4&ex=1325307600&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&pagewanted=print
Question 3: Exam question
1.Global village - Media making the world 'smaller'DemocratisationConvergence - The process in which multiple technologies form together to form a new product i.e. VCR/DVD/CD players.
-Digitisation - the material, whether picture, text or film can be reproduced by computers digitally in a very long sequence of 0's and 1's. This means the information can be sent digitally through computerised systems, for instance Sky+, and becase the square wave can only be a 0 or a 1, no where in between, there is barely any interference.
-Linear/Non Linear - a linear experience is one that starts, goes in a straight line until it finishes e.g. a film at the cinema, you start watching at the start of the film and stop watching at the end of the film. Non linear is different, when someone uses interactive television, they can choose a variety of different extras e.g. alternative voiceover, extra video footage or explanitory text. this will give the viewer a unique experience to that narrative, and is controlled when they hit the red button. This experience then can be described as non linear.
-Digitisation - the material, whether picture, text or film can be reproduced by computers digitally in a very long sequence of 0's and 1's. This means the information can be sent digitally through computerised systems, for instance Sky+, and becase the square wave can only be a 0 or a 1, no where in between, there is barely any interference.
-Linear/Non Linear - a linear experience is one that starts, goes in a straight line until it finishes e.g. a film at the cinema, you start watching at the start of the film and stop watching at the end of the film. Non linear is different, when someone uses interactive television, they can choose a variety of different extras e.g. alternative voiceover, extra video footage or explanitory text. this will give the viewer a unique experience to that narrative, and is controlled when they hit the red button. This experience then can be described as non linear.
Wednesday 25 April 2007
Exam questions
1a) Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo.
b) Evidence that it will be a success is clear, due to the uprising of broadband in many homes. This means that people are used to using the interent access and already buy things over the interent. Many people have been using online gaming for years but the hardcore gaming is becoming incresing more popular. The online gaming is becoming cheaper as well, with more people joining means there are more options to create for the game develpers.
c)Broadband is always on. It is reliable. multiplayer potentionally.
b) Evidence that it will be a success is clear, due to the uprising of broadband in many homes. This means that people are used to using the interent access and already buy things over the interent. Many people have been using online gaming for years but the hardcore gaming is becoming incresing more popular. The online gaming is becoming cheaper as well, with more people joining means there are more options to create for the game develpers.
c)Broadband is always on. It is reliable. multiplayer potentionally.
Apple joins Blu-Ray
"Computer giant Apple has thrown its weight behind the new high-definition DVD format Blu-ray, according to backers of the format.
"Apple has joined us," said Victor Matsuda, vice president of Blu-ray disc group Sony Corporation of America, at a presentation at Cebit.
Blu-ray, backed by 100 firms including Sony, is competing against Toshiba and NEC-backed HD-DVD to be the format of choice for future films and games."
This information came from: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4335809.stm
This is intresting as Microsoft have put their efforts behing HD DVD, and Apple and Microsoft are fierce rivals. Do apple really belive in Blu-ray or do they want to get one over Microsoft.
29th April 2007: i found how apple is merging blu-ray into its own software.
Fastmac on Friday announced a Blu-ray optical disk upgrade for Apple PowerBooks, iBooks and MacBook Pros. The upgrade costs $799.95. The low-profile drive also works in Mac minis. Fastmac estimates delivery within 10 days.The drive replaces the existing optical drives on these machines with a Blu-ray model that can store up to 50GB of data on a single disk, compared to 8.5GB for a double-layer DVD.The drive supports reading, writing and re-writing to single (25GB) and dual layer (50GB) Blu-ray media at 1x speeds. It also works with DVD and CD media, able to write to DVD-R and DVD+R discs at 8x in single layer and 2x in dual/double layer mode; it can rewrite to DVD-R and DVD+R media at 4x speeds. The Fastmac drive also supports DVD-RAW reading and writing and up to 5x speeds and CD-R and CD-RW discs at 8x speed.System requirements call for Mac OS X v10.2.8 or later. The drive is compatible with the following Mac models, according to Fastmac:
- iBook G4
- iMac G5
- iMac Intel
- MacBook Pro (17-inch)
- Mac mini
- PowerBook G3 Pismo
- PowerBook G4 Titanium (667 Mhz or higher)
- PowerBook G4 AluminumFastmac notes that the disc requires Roxio’s Toast 8 Titanium or other third-party software compatible with Blu-ray disc drives in order to add support in the Mac OS X Finder.“Native support for Blu-ray burning within iLife & iTunes is expected in the future via Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, but cannot be guaranteed at this time,” said the company in a statement.
"Apple has joined us," said Victor Matsuda, vice president of Blu-ray disc group Sony Corporation of America, at a presentation at Cebit.
Blu-ray, backed by 100 firms including Sony, is competing against Toshiba and NEC-backed HD-DVD to be the format of choice for future films and games."
This information came from: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4335809.stm
This is intresting as Microsoft have put their efforts behing HD DVD, and Apple and Microsoft are fierce rivals. Do apple really belive in Blu-ray or do they want to get one over Microsoft.
29th April 2007: i found how apple is merging blu-ray into its own software.
Fastmac on Friday announced a Blu-ray optical disk upgrade for Apple PowerBooks, iBooks and MacBook Pros. The upgrade costs $799.95. The low-profile drive also works in Mac minis. Fastmac estimates delivery within 10 days.The drive replaces the existing optical drives on these machines with a Blu-ray model that can store up to 50GB of data on a single disk, compared to 8.5GB for a double-layer DVD.The drive supports reading, writing and re-writing to single (25GB) and dual layer (50GB) Blu-ray media at 1x speeds. It also works with DVD and CD media, able to write to DVD-R and DVD+R discs at 8x in single layer and 2x in dual/double layer mode; it can rewrite to DVD-R and DVD+R media at 4x speeds. The Fastmac drive also supports DVD-RAW reading and writing and up to 5x speeds and CD-R and CD-RW discs at 8x speed.System requirements call for Mac OS X v10.2.8 or later. The drive is compatible with the following Mac models, according to Fastmac:
- iBook G4
- iMac G5
- iMac Intel
- MacBook Pro (17-inch)
- Mac mini
- PowerBook G3 Pismo
- PowerBook G4 Titanium (667 Mhz or higher)
- PowerBook G4 AluminumFastmac notes that the disc requires Roxio’s Toast 8 Titanium or other third-party software compatible with Blu-ray disc drives in order to add support in the Mac OS X Finder.“Native support for Blu-ray burning within iLife & iTunes is expected in the future via Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, but cannot be guaranteed at this time,” said the company in a statement.
Friday 20 April 2007
Dual Formatted Players
"One of the main backers of the Blu-ray Disc format, South Korea’s Samsung Electronics, plans to release an optical disc player this year that will play both Blu-ray Disc and the rival HD DVD format, it said Friday.Samsung hopes to make the BD-UP5000 player available before the end of 2007 in the U.S., said Kwak Bumjoon, a spokesman for the company in Seoul. He said the player could be available in Europe in the following few months, but an exact release schedule has not been decided. No details on possible pricing were also available.
The news makes Samsung the second company to shift from a single-format stance and adopt the idea of a dual player than can read both types of disc. The other, fellow South Korean maker LG Electronics, launched a dual player in North America earlier this year."
This information was found from this article: http://www.macworld.com/news/2007/04/13/samsung/index.php
Pornography's Role In The Format War.
Just as in the 1980s, when the Betamax and VHS video formats were battling it out for supremacy, the pornography industry will likely play a big role in determining which of the two blue-laser DVD formats — Blu-ray Disc and HD-DVD — will be the winner in the battle to replace DVDs for high-definition content.
Ron Wagner, director of IT operations at E! Entertainment Television Inc., in Los Angeles, said his company has already chosen the Blu-ray Disc format, in large part because of talk in the porn industry favoring it over rival HD-DVD.
Wagner said that while attending last year’s National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) annual conference in Las Vegas, more than one panel discussed “several major players in the porn industry going the Blu-ray route.” He said the Blu-ray vs. HD-DVD rivalry was also the buzz around NAB 2006 last month.
“If you look at the VHS vs. Beta standards, you see the much higher-quality standard dying because of [the porn industry’s support of VHS],” he said. “The mass volume of tapes in the porn market at the time went out on VHS.”
E! Entertainment is using Blu-Ray discs primarily for Sony’s XDCam applications for acquisition of television programming materials. The television network, which has more than 85 million subscribers to its celebrity gossip and entertainment news, said it is not considering optical formats for long-term data archiving, but will stick with magnetic tape for now.
The pornography industry, which generates an estimated US$57 billion in annual revenue worldwide, has always been a fast leader when it comes to the use of new technology, according to analysts.
Porn studio Digital Playground, which claims to have produced the largest number of high definition movies in the industry over the past three years, said it is choosing Blu-ray Disc for all of its “interactive” films because of its greater capacity. It also selected Blue-ray because Sony chose the format for its PlayStation 3 (PS3) box, due out in November.
The co-founder of Los Angeles-based Digital Playground, who goes by the one-word name “Joone,” said the fact that Sony chose Blu-ray guarantees his studio an instant home audience.
“PlayStation 3 is going to be the Trojan horse that will get a lot of numbers into the home theater systems — the living rooms,” said Joone, who is also a movie director. “Technology-wise we’ve chosen Blu-ray, which doesn’t mean we won’t support both formats … but as far as having really cool technology and a lot of storage for future proof, Blu-ray is a good format.”
Blu-ray Disc and HD-DVD are the new optical-disc formats that are positioned as replacements for DVDs with high-definition content.
Blu-ray is not only backed by entertainment giant Sony, but Panasonic, LG Electronics, Philips Electronics and movie studios Disney and Fox. Blu-ray offers storage up to 50GB capacity, or up to nine hours of high-definition content. In contrast, HD-DVD has 30GB capacity and is supported by companies like Toshiba, NEC and Warner Home Video.
Paul O’Donovan, an analyst with Gartner Inc., said pornography’s support of either DVD format will be a “strong factor” to the uptake of the technology by the general marketplace, but even more critical is Sony’s adoption of the technology.
O’Donovan said even though initially the Blu-ray format will be more expensive and will come after that of HD-DVD, the sheer support it is receiving from the entertainment industry, including pornography studios, will catapult it to a victory within a range of 18 months to five years.
Steve Hirsch, head of the adult film studio Vivid Entertainment, said he’s currently using the HD-DVD format because it was the first to come out, but his studio will begin burning to the Blu-ray format as soon as it’s available.
“The adult industry has always been ahead of the curve when it comes to technology. We don’t have any theatrical distribution issues nor do we have big box retailers, like Wal-Mart and Blockbuster, to cater to. We’re forced to find distribution wherever we can,” Hirsch said.
Hirsch, who founded Vivid Entertainment in 1984, said the porn industry — just as in the 1980s — will have a big influence on the outcome of the latest high-definition video format wars. In the 1980s, Hirsch said VHS tapes started selling for $50 a piece and Betamax went for $55. “Therefore we pushed VHS harder, and in that sense we did have something to do with VHS winning out,” said Hirsch, whose studio pulls in an estimated $100 million in revenue a year.
“It was the adult industry who jumped right in and were putting movies on both VHS and Beta. We pushed the actual technology more than anyone else,” he said. “The adult industry has always been ahead when comes to technology.”
But not everyone believes the format war will be determined by the porn industry. Steve Duplessie, founder of research firm Enterprise Strategy Group, in Milford, Mass., and a Computerworld columnist, said the porn industry’s influence over the fate of VHS and the upcoming high-def DVD formats is overstated. Duplessie said VHS ultimately won over Betamax because Betamax was a proprietary format owned by Sony, while VHS was more open.
“I love the whole pornography concept simply because porn is still the number one money-making use of the Internet. But I don’t believe the porn industry will drive the format. Like any other industry, it will supply what the consumer wants,” he said.
This Information came from:http://www.macworld.com/news/2006/05/02/pornhd/index.php?lsrc=mwrss
Ron Wagner, director of IT operations at E! Entertainment Television Inc., in Los Angeles, said his company has already chosen the Blu-ray Disc format, in large part because of talk in the porn industry favoring it over rival HD-DVD.
Wagner said that while attending last year’s National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) annual conference in Las Vegas, more than one panel discussed “several major players in the porn industry going the Blu-ray route.” He said the Blu-ray vs. HD-DVD rivalry was also the buzz around NAB 2006 last month.
“If you look at the VHS vs. Beta standards, you see the much higher-quality standard dying because of [the porn industry’s support of VHS],” he said. “The mass volume of tapes in the porn market at the time went out on VHS.”
E! Entertainment is using Blu-Ray discs primarily for Sony’s XDCam applications for acquisition of television programming materials. The television network, which has more than 85 million subscribers to its celebrity gossip and entertainment news, said it is not considering optical formats for long-term data archiving, but will stick with magnetic tape for now.
The pornography industry, which generates an estimated US$57 billion in annual revenue worldwide, has always been a fast leader when it comes to the use of new technology, according to analysts.
Porn studio Digital Playground, which claims to have produced the largest number of high definition movies in the industry over the past three years, said it is choosing Blu-ray Disc for all of its “interactive” films because of its greater capacity. It also selected Blue-ray because Sony chose the format for its PlayStation 3 (PS3) box, due out in November.
The co-founder of Los Angeles-based Digital Playground, who goes by the one-word name “Joone,” said the fact that Sony chose Blu-ray guarantees his studio an instant home audience.
“PlayStation 3 is going to be the Trojan horse that will get a lot of numbers into the home theater systems — the living rooms,” said Joone, who is also a movie director. “Technology-wise we’ve chosen Blu-ray, which doesn’t mean we won’t support both formats … but as far as having really cool technology and a lot of storage for future proof, Blu-ray is a good format.”
Blu-ray Disc and HD-DVD are the new optical-disc formats that are positioned as replacements for DVDs with high-definition content.
Blu-ray is not only backed by entertainment giant Sony, but Panasonic, LG Electronics, Philips Electronics and movie studios Disney and Fox. Blu-ray offers storage up to 50GB capacity, or up to nine hours of high-definition content. In contrast, HD-DVD has 30GB capacity and is supported by companies like Toshiba, NEC and Warner Home Video.
Paul O’Donovan, an analyst with Gartner Inc., said pornography’s support of either DVD format will be a “strong factor” to the uptake of the technology by the general marketplace, but even more critical is Sony’s adoption of the technology.
O’Donovan said even though initially the Blu-ray format will be more expensive and will come after that of HD-DVD, the sheer support it is receiving from the entertainment industry, including pornography studios, will catapult it to a victory within a range of 18 months to five years.
Steve Hirsch, head of the adult film studio Vivid Entertainment, said he’s currently using the HD-DVD format because it was the first to come out, but his studio will begin burning to the Blu-ray format as soon as it’s available.
“The adult industry has always been ahead of the curve when it comes to technology. We don’t have any theatrical distribution issues nor do we have big box retailers, like Wal-Mart and Blockbuster, to cater to. We’re forced to find distribution wherever we can,” Hirsch said.
Hirsch, who founded Vivid Entertainment in 1984, said the porn industry — just as in the 1980s — will have a big influence on the outcome of the latest high-definition video format wars. In the 1980s, Hirsch said VHS tapes started selling for $50 a piece and Betamax went for $55. “Therefore we pushed VHS harder, and in that sense we did have something to do with VHS winning out,” said Hirsch, whose studio pulls in an estimated $100 million in revenue a year.
“It was the adult industry who jumped right in and were putting movies on both VHS and Beta. We pushed the actual technology more than anyone else,” he said. “The adult industry has always been ahead when comes to technology.”
But not everyone believes the format war will be determined by the porn industry. Steve Duplessie, founder of research firm Enterprise Strategy Group, in Milford, Mass., and a Computerworld columnist, said the porn industry’s influence over the fate of VHS and the upcoming high-def DVD formats is overstated. Duplessie said VHS ultimately won over Betamax because Betamax was a proprietary format owned by Sony, while VHS was more open.
“I love the whole pornography concept simply because porn is still the number one money-making use of the Internet. But I don’t believe the porn industry will drive the format. Like any other industry, it will supply what the consumer wants,” he said.
This Information came from:http://www.macworld.com/news/2006/05/02/pornhd/index.php?lsrc=mwrss
VHS vs Beta Max, Will History Repeat Itself?
Sony's Betamax video standard was introduced in 1975, followed a year later by JVC's VHS. For around a decade the two standards battled for dominance, with VHS eventually emerging as the winner.
The victory was not due to any technical superiority (Betamax is arguably a better format), but to several factors. Exactly how and why VHS won the war has been the subject of intense debate. The commonly-held belief is that the technically superior Betamax was beaten by VHS through slick marketing. In fact the truth is more complex and there were a number of reasons for the outcome.
Sony's founder, Akio Morita, claimed that licensing problems between Sony and other companies slowed the growth of Betamax and allowed VHS to become established. However most commentators have played down this issue and cited other reasons as being more important.
It is certainly true that VHS machines were initially much simpler and cheaper to manufacture, which would obviously be an attraction to companies deciding which standard to back. It has also been reported that Sony inadvertently gave its competitors a helping hand by revealing key aspects of Betamax technology which were then incorporated into VHS.
In any case, manufacturers divided themselves into two camps: On the Betamax side were Sony, Toshiba, Sanyo, NEC, Aiwa, and Pioneer. On the VHS side were JVC, Matsushita (Panasonic), Hitachi, Mitsubishi, Sharp, and Akai.
For consumers, the most immediately obvious difference between the two formats was the recording length. Standard Betamax tapes lasted 60 minutes — not long enough to record a movie. Conversely, the 3-hour VHS tapes were perfect for recording television programmes and movies. Sony did adapt and offer various solutions for longer recording, but it was too late. The issue of recording time is often cited as the most defining factor in the war. (ironically Sony's Blu-Ray can hold more information than HD DVD)
At some point and for some reason the choice of rental movies on VHS became better than Betamax. It is arguable how this situation came to be, but once it happened, there was no turning back. Bitter Betamax owners cringed in their ever-decreasing corner of the video store while VHS owners gloated.
The war was over by the late 1980s, although supporters of Betamax have helped keep the format going in a small niche market. Betamax production in America ended in 1993, and the last Betamax machine in the world was produced in Japan in 2002.
Of course, both Betamax and VHS were eventually made obsolete by digital technology.
The victory was not due to any technical superiority (Betamax is arguably a better format), but to several factors. Exactly how and why VHS won the war has been the subject of intense debate. The commonly-held belief is that the technically superior Betamax was beaten by VHS through slick marketing. In fact the truth is more complex and there were a number of reasons for the outcome.
Sony's founder, Akio Morita, claimed that licensing problems between Sony and other companies slowed the growth of Betamax and allowed VHS to become established. However most commentators have played down this issue and cited other reasons as being more important.
It is certainly true that VHS machines were initially much simpler and cheaper to manufacture, which would obviously be an attraction to companies deciding which standard to back. It has also been reported that Sony inadvertently gave its competitors a helping hand by revealing key aspects of Betamax technology which were then incorporated into VHS.
In any case, manufacturers divided themselves into two camps: On the Betamax side were Sony, Toshiba, Sanyo, NEC, Aiwa, and Pioneer. On the VHS side were JVC, Matsushita (Panasonic), Hitachi, Mitsubishi, Sharp, and Akai.
For consumers, the most immediately obvious difference between the two formats was the recording length. Standard Betamax tapes lasted 60 minutes — not long enough to record a movie. Conversely, the 3-hour VHS tapes were perfect for recording television programmes and movies. Sony did adapt and offer various solutions for longer recording, but it was too late. The issue of recording time is often cited as the most defining factor in the war. (ironically Sony's Blu-Ray can hold more information than HD DVD)
At some point and for some reason the choice of rental movies on VHS became better than Betamax. It is arguable how this situation came to be, but once it happened, there was no turning back. Bitter Betamax owners cringed in their ever-decreasing corner of the video store while VHS owners gloated.
The war was over by the late 1980s, although supporters of Betamax have helped keep the format going in a small niche market. Betamax production in America ended in 1993, and the last Betamax machine in the world was produced in Japan in 2002.
Of course, both Betamax and VHS were eventually made obsolete by digital technology.
Will Sonys Blu-ray better but more expensive lose out to a cheaper model again?
History seems to be repeating itself?
This information came from: http://www.mediacollege.com/video/format/compare/betamax-vhs.html
Thursday 19 April 2007
A Short Comparision
The primary rival to HD DVD is Blu-ray, championed by Sony. Blu-ray has a higher disc capacity per layer (25 GB vs 15 GB). However the majority of Blu-ray titles released before 2007 are in the 25 GB single layer format while almost all HD DVD movies are in the 30 GB dual layer format.The first 50GB release for Blu-Ray was not made until November 2006. So far in 2007 approx half of the new releases for Blu-ray movies were released in 25GB Discs with the other half being released in 50GB dual layer format.
In terms of audio/video compression, HD DVD and Blu-ray are similar on the surface: both support MPEG-2, VC-1, and H.264 for video compression. Virtually every HD DVD released uses an advanced codec (VC-1 or H.264) for video compression, re
ducing the required space for equivalent quality video. The first generation of Blu-ray Disc movies however used the legacy video codec, and many new titles still do. In terms of audio, there are many differences. With HD DVD support for the new Dolby Digital Pluss audio codec is mandatory at a maximum of 3.0 Mbit/s, but for Blu-ray players it is optional at a maximum of 1.7 Mbit/s. Furthermore HD DVD players must be able to decode the new losslesss audio codec Dolby True HD, but this is optional for Blu-ray players.
Both HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc support the 24pp (traditional movie) frame rate, but technical implementations of this mode are different among the two formats. Blu-ray Disc supports 24p with its native timing, while HD DVD uses 60i timing for 24p (encoded progressively, replacing missing fields with "repeat field flags"). Decoders can ignore the “flags” to output 24p. There is no impact on picture resolution or storage space as a result of this, as the HD DVD format uses the exact same video information — it simply adds notational overhead.
In terms of audio/video compression, HD DVD and Blu-ray are similar on the surface: both support MPEG-2, VC-1, and H.264 for video compression. Virtually every HD DVD released uses an advanced codec (VC-1 or H.264) for video compression, re
ducing the required space for equivalent quality video. The first generation of Blu-ray Disc movies however used the legacy video codec, and many new titles still do. In terms of audio, there are many differences. With HD DVD support for the new Dolby Digital Pluss audio codec is mandatory at a maximum of 3.0 Mbit/s, but for Blu-ray players it is optional at a maximum of 1.7 Mbit/s. Furthermore HD DVD players must be able to decode the new losslesss audio codec Dolby True HD, but this is optional for Blu-ray players.Both HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc support the 24pp (traditional movie) frame rate, but technical implementations of this mode are different among the two formats. Blu-ray Disc supports 24p with its native timing, while HD DVD uses 60i timing for 24p (encoded progressively, replacing missing fields with "repeat field flags"). Decoders can ignore the “flags” to output 24p. There is no impact on picture resolution or storage space as a result of this, as the HD DVD format uses the exact same video information — it simply adds notational overhead.
HD DVD
HD DVD, or High-Definition DVD is a high-density optical disc format designed for the storage of data and high definition video.[1]
The HD DVD disc is designed to be the successor to the standard DVD format. It can store about three times as much data as its predecessor (15 GB per layer instead of 4.7 GB). The HD DVD standard was jointly developed by Toshiba and NEC On 19th November 2003, the DVD Forum voted to support HD DVD as the high definition successor of the standard DVD. At this meeting, they also renamed it HD DVD. The format had previously been called the "Advanced Optical Disc" (AOD).
At CES (Consumer Electionics Association) 2006, Microsoft announced that there would be an external add-on HD DVD drive for the Xbox 360 game console; this was released in November 2006. Also at CES 2006, companies backing HD DVD said that nearly 200 titles would be available for the format by the end of the year. [1]
- Unlike Blu-ray, the HD DVD players are backwards compatible.
- Has menu's assceable while watching the movies, such a commentaries and extra features.
[1] In reference to Wikipedia
More information can be found on the Toshiba website: http://www.home-of-hd.co.uk/
Blu-Ray
Blu-ray Disc (also called BD) is a high-density optical disc format for the storage of digital media, including high definition media. [1]
The name Blu-ray Disc is derived from the blue-violet laser used to read and write this type of disc. Because of its shorter wavelength, substantially more data can be stored on a Blu-ray Disc than on the DVD format. A Blu-ray Disc can store 25 GB on each layer, as opposed to a DVD's 4.7 GB.
Blu-ray Disc is similar to PDD another optical disc format developed by Sony (which has been available since 2004) but offering higher data transfer speeds. PDD was not intended for home video use and was aimed at business data archiving and backup.[1]
- On September 1st 2003 Blu-ray was first released in Japan.
- They have been developed so that it is more scratch resitence and will still work after varoius scratches. someone has made a video to prove this : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5jEbZt6AIQ&mode=related&search
- Playstation 3 has an inbuilt Blu-ray drive.
- An experimental Blu-ray disc was capable of holding up to 200 GB.
- In Sony's attmept to be eco friendly a Blu-ray disc is due to be relased that is made of 51% of paper.
- Blu-ray is in fierce competion with HD DVD, it contains more storage space and better quality but more expensive. Blu-ray is currently leading the race.
- A major boost is that the Blu-ray can network between machines liek a computer, so you can transfer movies, music etc to it.
[1] reference to wikipedia.
Sony also has its own online Blu-ray magazine which explains the product and its updates: http://www.sony.co.uk/view/ShowArticle.action?articlesection=1&article=1104845091195&site=odw_en_GB
Topic
I have decided to study the recent developments of the DVD. This will focus on the Blu-Ray and HD DVD Format War.
Here is an Introduction of both these formats, that was done by an american new group: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_Pv2feAzmw&mode=related&search
5 Areas of Study
+Technology: You should understand what the technology allows audiences and institutions to do that they couldn't do before. How is it marketed and which companies provide it and at what cost?
+Institutions: This is about how the new media technologies have enabaled companies to work in new ways and reach their audiences in more varied approaches. It should also increase their profits adn help marketing campaigns.
+Audience: Represents audiences and how they can interract with the media technologies in different ways and take more from the experience.
+Issues: Does the media encourage illegal activityor increased spending? Will the shops in the areas face times of hardship and could the new meida harm children.
+The Future: How can the technology be extended and how could the meida practices be different, this is based around the potential of current technologies.
+Institutions: This is about how the new media technologies have enabaled companies to work in new ways and reach their audiences in more varied approaches. It should also increase their profits adn help marketing campaigns.
+Audience: Represents audiences and how they can interract with the media technologies in different ways and take more from the experience.
+Issues: Does the media encourage illegal activityor increased spending? Will the shops in the areas face times of hardship and could the new meida harm children.
+The Future: How can the technology be extended and how could the meida practices be different, this is based around the potential of current technologies.
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