Slashdot Mirror


Blue-Laser DVD Formats Wars

killmore notes a story running on ZDNet talking about incompatible blue laser formats of Blue-Laser DVDs which can store 36GB of data. The new format is from Toshiba & NEC and boasts backwards compatibility with the current standards for DVDs.

5 of 224 comments (clear)

  1. Is it just me or... by billstr78 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    ... has the media format standards always been divided between two non-compatable formats. Is there really any reason they cannot agree on one. Why not argue over three or four.

    Beta/VHS, CD-RW/CD-RW+, mp3/wma, DVD-RW,DVD-RW+. One of them always looses big time, they ought follow in the footsteps of the W3C or IETF and make _one_ standard that makes everyone happy.

    It seems as though companies align themselves along competition lines rather than going with the one with the best specification.

  2. As wavelenth shortens, scratch-resistance dies... by harrkev · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I already have problems with my 2-year-old son scratching my CD collection. DVDs are even MORE sensitive to scratching. As the wavelength shortens and density increases, it seems reasonable to expect the thing to be a lot more sensitive to scratching. If the format stores a disc in a cartridge, then this is not a problem. However, cartridges seem to have died out years ago.

    --
    "-1 Troll" is the apparently the same as "-1 I disagree with you."
  3. Re:As wavelenth shortens, scratch-resistance dies. by blincoln · · Score: 4, Interesting

    However, cartridges seem to have died out years ago.

    The Blu-Ray format uses cartridges which hold the discs. It's the main reason I hope it wins out.

    --
    "...always new atoms but always doing the same dance, remembering what the dance was yesterday." -Richard Feynman
  4. A crazy idea by swb · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I had a crazy idea this morning.

    Why can't they make a "generic" optical disc that can be written in any format (CD, DVD-R, DVD+R, etc) up to whatever the granularity of the dye is?

    I know its probably a dumb question, but it seems like there's no reason I shouldn't be able to write a CD-R format disc onto a DVD-R, at least in terms of pit density.

  5. Re:Way too slow to roll out. Don't buy DVHS by TheAwfulTruth · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The development of the "blue" (Really violet) laser diode has taken TREMENDOUS effort over the last 3-4 years. (Read up on it some time it's pretty interesting) Yes, it was mostly all done (though not ALL) in asian countries. The US can't (and shouldn't) be the leader of ALL tech you know.

    I don't know why a blue dvd recorder HAS to be revolutionary to be news-worthy, It is evolutionary and it is news-worthy, therefore it's in the news.

    "Holographic" storage has been talked about and played with incessently for almost a decade now. If it were practical, something would have been done with it by now. But the much simpler CD/DVD optical disk technology has progressed with sufficient speed and capacity to warrent more complex solutions completely unneccesary.

    --
    Contrary to popular belief, coding is not all free blow-jobs and beer. Those things cost MONEY!