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[Wulfer]

"Japan Companies Develop DVD That Can Play on Existing Machines, Coming High-Definition Players


TOKYO (AP) -- Two Japanese companies said Tuesday they have developed a DVD that can play on both existing machines and the upcoming high-definition players, raising hopes for a smooth transition as more people dump old TV sets for better screens."

"Toshiba Corp. and Memory-Tech Corp. said their disc has a dual-layered surface that can store both types of data on the same side.

For consumers, that would eliminate the potential headache of having to own two types of DVD players: Both will be able to read such discs, though only the newer equipment can take advantage of the higher-resolution technology.

The discs, which took six months to develop, will be able to hold 4.7 GB in the current format and 15 GB in high resolution, Memory-Tech spokesman Masato Otsuka said."

"Making the discs won't cost any more than the companies now spend on producing current DVDs, Otsuka said.

The new DVDs rely on the HD-DVD format, which has the backing of the DVD Forum, an international association of electronics makers and movie studios. New DVD players using the format are expected to hit stores by late 2005.

Its competitor, Blu-Ray, is backed by Sony Corp., its Hollywood studio and News Corp.'s Fox Entertainment Group Inc. Blu-Ray has more storage space, but HD-DVD is expected to be cheaper to produce because its technology closely resembles current DVDs.

It's still unclear which will become the dominant technology."

After reading this the choice is clear for me.

Question wasn't Toshiba still working with Sony's Blue-Ray?

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/041208/japan_toshiba_dvds_1.html

 

[Suikoguy]

I will give them credit in that would be a plus for consumers, however 15 gigs is not that much.

 

[sonycowboy]

Old.

Discussed.

http://forums.gaming-age.com/showthread.php?t=26581&highlight=HD-DVD

And your title is crap. Try again.

 

[sohka88]

But BR group announced this a couple of months ago....

 

[jarrod]

But BR group announced this a couple of months ago....

They announced a CD/BD combo, not DVD/BD.

 

[jedimike]

I will give them credit in that would be a plus for consumers, however 15 gigs is not that much.

15 gigs at MPEG2 compression isn't enough... but 15 gigs at MPEG4 or WM9 is plenty for a 2-3 hour movie.

 

[Wulfer]

I think this is a good chioce it allow's the costumer to test HD waters and it allow the same disc to be played on older DVD players in the home. It's a win- win solution.

 

[kaching]

See comments in other thread where this was already discussed. It's not quite what I'd call win-win.

 

[The Shadow]

I will give them credit in that would be a plus for consumers, however 15 gigs is not that much.

It's enough for mpeg-4 at a decent compression rate.

 

[Foreign Jackass]

This is a false solution, as it doesn't make "old" DVDs (which are still selling like mad) more readable by the new DVD drives. What they need is to make their new drives backwards compatible. If it's not, forget about it. DVDs haven't even reached their peak in sales right now. Consumers won't be ready for another VHS-to-DVD transition, even less if the medium is physically similar. Try to explain to the average consumer that this disc is better than this other disc.. they just won't care.

 

[DarienA]

This is a false solution, as it doesn't make "old" DVDs (which are still selling like mad) more readable by the new DVD drives. What they need is to make their new drives backwards compatible. If it's not, forget about it. DVDs haven't even reached their peak in sales right now. Consumers won't be ready for another VHS-to-DVD transition, even less if the medium is physically similar. Try to explain to the average consumer that this disc is better than this other disc.. they just won't care.

Aren't Blu-Ray and HD-DVD drives backward compatible?

 

[kaching]

They're supposed to be, although this article makes it sound like HD-DVD at least wouldn't, hence this hybrid disk solution. As follows:

For consumers, that would eliminate the potential headache of having to own two types of DVD players: Both will be able to read such discs, though only the newer equipment can take advantage of the higher-resolution technology.

But, as said in the previous topic about this, I think the source of this article may just be misinformed.

 

[Duckhuntdog]

15 gigs at MPEG2 compression isn't enough... but 15 gigs at MPEG4 or WM9 is plenty for a 2-3 hour movie.

Keep WM9 where it belongs....on the PC.

 

[rastex]

Actually, what's great about these discs is that people can start buying them now, or as soon as they're available even before HD-DVD players are out and can watch their movies now. Then when HD-DVD players are available/affordable they can purchase the player without having to repurchase all their movies.

 

[Warm Machine]

Keep WM9 where it belongs....on the PC.

Isn't WMV 9 / 10 or whatever the basis for HD-DVD?

 

[kaching]

Actually, what's great about these discs is that people can start buying them now, or as soon as they're available even before HD-DVD players are out and can watch their movies now. Then when HD-DVD players are available/affordable they can purchase the player without having to repurchase all their movies.

Again, see other thread

 

[LAMBO]

Blue ray wil be great, i don't care about high quailty, i want basicailly a vcr that uses something better than tapes(BR-RW). Hopefully blur ray will be it because i don't see anything else being pushed.