Hi WAMUGers,
Interesting article in today's Age.
<http://theage.com.au/articles/2004/11/23/1100972376429.html>
Battle on for next DVD standard
Tokyo
November 23, 2004
As videocassettes fade into history, a full-fledged battle is on to
establish the next standard of DVDs which could open up a new realm of
possibilities in interactive home entertainment.
But shoppers hungry for the latest technology should be warned to hedge
their bets: in a few years time a film released on DVD by Sony could
fail to work in a next-generation DVD player on a computer of rival
Toshiba.
Top electronics makers are divided between two formats of
next-generation DVDs, expected for mass commercial release in mid-2005,
which are not compatible with each other at present or in the
foreseeable future.
The technology war is similar to the one that erupted in the late 1970s
when home videocassette players hit the market. By the 1980s, customers
who had gambled on Sony-developed Betamax had to switch to VHS which
triumphed and became the standard.
DVDs, or digital versatile discs, are well on the way to globally
conquering videocassettes less than a decade after hitting the market
as consumers begin collecting them in the same way as music CDs. Last
year, rentals of DVDs overtook videocassettes in the key US market.
One draw of DVDs is the ability to adjust features, such as choosing
the language of a program, searching through movies scene by scene, and
accessing bundles of extras such as deleted scenes and commentaries
from actors and directors.
The next-generation of DVDs promises even more.
Using blue lasers, which have a shorter wavelength than the red light
used in current DVDs and CDs, allows the storage of up to six times as
much data.
The result will be DVD quality similar to high-definition television.
The extra data space could also be used to develop more features, such
as creating video games with the look and feel of cinema.
But the new technology could first be overshadowed by the competing
formats, a point of concern for the industry.
"As a consumer, I don't want to worry about formats," Louis Burns, vice
president of the world's largest chipmaker Intel, said at an October
trade fair in Tokyo.
The duelling formats, whose names could become household words in a few
years, are High Definition DVD (HD-DVD) and the Blu-ray Disc format.
Sony has thrown its crucial weight behind Blu-ray, which it is expected
to use for its next-generation PlayStation home video-game machine to
be unveiled in the spring. Blu-ray is also backed by Dell and
Matsushita, maker of the Panasonic brand.
But HD-DVD enjoys the support of 13 companies including giants Toshiba
and NEC.
Although the size of discs is the same, the method of writing data
differs.
The HD-DVD format writes on a layer 0.6 millimeters below the disc
surface, while Blu-ray writes on a layer 0.1 millimeters below the
surface on a Blu-ray.
As a result, a Blu-ray disc is expected to have storage capacity of
more than 50 gigabytes, compared with about 30 gigabytes for HD-DVD. A
single-sided, single-layer current-generation DVD can store only 4.7
gigabytes.
But the difference also works to HD-DVD's advantage. Its layer is
similar to current DVDs. Blu-ray, however, would be more expensive to
make, at least in the short term, as production lines would need to be
revamped.
Kazuya Ishii, chief sub-editor of the monthly consumer electronics
magazine Nikkei Zero One, said Blu-ray appeared to be "one step ahead"
due to its support from Sony and Matsushita and its bigger memory
capacity.
But he advised against buying a next-generation disc drive at this
point as it was far from clear which camp would be victorious.
Ishii said the final judgment could come not from consumer electronics
makers but from Hollywood and from the computer industry as "the era of
people seeing films through their PCs rather than TVs is coming".
In October, Blu-ray seemed to get a boost when Twentieth Century Fox
said it would participate on the board of directors for Blu-ray.
But Fox quickly said it was not choosing between the formats and was
also a member of the HD-DVD Promotion Group. Michael O'Neill, technical
special adviser to Fox, said both HD-DVD and Blu-ray "are strong
candidates".
"Manufacturers are eagerly seeking their allies in major Hollywood
studios because the quality and the quantity of content is the key to
next-generation discs gaining popularity," said information technology
expert Akihisa Ishizuka of the MM Research Institute in Tokyo.
"Hollywood movie-makers' decision will have a great deal of impact," he
said.
Still, even if the format war is resolved, next-generation DVD could be
prohibitively expensive. Price estimates for next-generation players go
into the thousands of dollars, making it a high-end high-tech product
purchase much like the increasingly popular flatscreen TVs.
"Even if the commercialisation comes next summer, it will not be an
immediate big hit as it will be very expensive at the beginning," said
Takashi Esaka, a clerk at a Tokyo electronics store.
Cheers,
Ronni
When Microsoft asks you, "Where do you want to go today?" Tell them,
"Apple!"
