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PS3 To Use Blu-Ray Technology
Daetrin writes "GameSpot has reported an announcement by Sony that the PlayStation 3 will use Blu-Ray technology, a next-generation optical disc format which 'can hold 25GB on a single layer and 50GB on the dual-layer discs', as many people have been speculating. What Sony hasn't said for sure is whether the PS3 will be backwards compatible with DVD movies and PS2 games. However, they indicated that they will reveal more details about the PlayStation 3 at a premiere in Japan on March 31st next year. (And, if nothing else, there will certainly be plenty of rumors before then.)"
Uh, Yes, they have. Where have you been?
Geez, this is like last year news, and a simple google search revealed all of these links.
Don't think of it as a flame---it's more like an argument that does 3d6 fire damage
go to the blu-ray link. it states in plain english that it can also read CDs and DVDs.
The "blu-ray" laser can also read previous standards like DVD and CD, not just discs designed for it only. I don't see the point in putting a traditional infra-red laser when this obviously superior laser can read all.
Unfortunately, this is very true. Because of the lack of songs on both DDR MAX and DDR MAX 2 I am leaning more towards the open source Step Mania to suit my DDR needs.
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What Sony hasn't said for sure is whether the PS3 will be backwards compatible with DVD movies and PS2 games.
This isn't entirely true, Ken Kutargi has already said publically last September that the PS3 will play PS2 AND PS1 games. You can find more on the story here, but here's a quote from it:-
"Mr. Ken Kutaragi, the boss of Sony Computer Entertainment division, has confirmed that the trend of backwards compatibility across next-gen consoles will continue. The Playstation 3 will support both Playstation 2 and PSOne titles when released sometime in 2005-2006."
While no mention was made of if it'd play regular DVDs, since PS2 games are DVD-Based it's a darn good bet it'll be able to.When the PS2 came out with DVD support, Sony didn't make the PS2 incompatible with PSone games and CD just because they decided to support DVDs. There is not reason to believe back-wards compatibility would be dropped from the PS3 likewise.
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In fact. Sony has developed a laser head that can read/write Bluray/DVD+/-rw/CD-RW.
http://www.sony.net/SonyI
Ken Kutargi himself already confirmed backwards compatibility.
http://www.ps3insider.com/modules
Currently they are saying it is not required to have a cartridge for blu-ray.
http://www.blu-ray.com/faq/#1.9
heh, or not ;) I'm retarded (or Slashcode is):
Little diagram:
Compatible = PS1 <=> PS2 <=> PS3
Backwards = PS1 <= PS2 <= PS3 (notice the direction of the arrows).
I don't think so.
c i283965,00.html
:)
PS3 plays PS2 games: PS3 is backwards compatible.
PS2 plays PS3 games: PS2 is forward compatible.
See http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_g
Of course, if you have an authoritative link which shows the rest of the world being wrong, I'd be very happy to see it
In terms of just the word "compatible", I'd say that the PS3 is compatible with PS2 games.
What Sony hasn't said for sure is whether the PS3 will be backwards compatible with DVD movies and PS2 games.
a y_ps2_psone/
I remember them saying almost a year ago that PS2 games would be backwards compatible
http://www.theregister.com/2003/09/02/ps3_will_pl
Sony Computer Entertainment boss Ken Kutaragi has confirmed that the PlayStation 3 will feature backwards compatibility with the PS2 and PSone, ensuring continued support for older software formats in the new hardware.
It's 36MB per second for 1x, if I remember correctly, and it is supposed to get quite a bit faster as the technology improves. It needs at least 19MB per second of bandwidth for HDTV.
sorry about that 36 Mbps and 19 Mbps for the two numbers mentioned above, repsectively.
If the PS3 games can be played on the PS2, then they are backwards compatible. If the PS2 games can be played on the PS3, then the PS3 is backwards compatible.
I refer you to FOLDOC: " For example, WordPerfect 6.0 can read WordPerfect 5.1 files, so it is backward compatible."
HTH, HAND.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Of course, it doesn't support HD-DVD.
Since the PS3 is already stated to support PS1 and PS2 games, it *must* support CD and DVD, so you don't *have* to re-purchase your DVDs in Blu-ray, just your HD-DVDs. Of course, if you're an HD addict and just can't stand those "low-res" DVDs, then yea, you need to buy *either* HD-DVD or Blu-ray, but Sony just helped you decide which one, in that case.
If you've already bought HD-DVD stuff, you *know* you're bleeding edge, and Sony just cut you...
You can get it even smaller than that using Nlite. I've gotten an XP install down to as little as ~700MB (Knock about 250-300MB off that if you disable system file protection), although I'm not counting anything in the "Documents and Settings" directory in that total...
I'm not sure about that man ....
....
If a PS*2* can play PS*3* games I think that means the PS2 is _forwards_ compatible with the NEW platform...
Meanwhile, if a PS*3* can play PS*2* and PS*1* games then it's _backwards_ compatible with the old platforms.
If the PS3 can play DVD's and PS2 games, it's "compatible".
Compatible with what? You just leave it hanging
You don't want to mix cache memory with storage memory. Though I don't know why there is such a fuss over blue-ray technology or not.
The real memory that matters is the cache one attached to the processor. If a game runs too long, you can always swap in another disk. You can't do that for cache memory. Remember back in the days when Marvel vs. Capcom games for PS1 couldn't tag in a 2nd character because there wasn't enough cache memory?
Blu-ray does not use cartridges any more. Future Blu-ray drives will also read DVDs and CDs.
Will Blu-ray Discs require a cartridge?
No, with the added support for "no-cartridge" usage to the Blu-ray Disc specification it currently looks like the cartridge will be optional, but we still haven't heard of any definitive decision about this issue. There is research going on to hard-coat the surface to protect the discs from dust and fingerprints without requiring a cartridge, which looks very promising. By making the cartridge optional manufacturers will be able to downsize drives for PC usage and lower their media production costs.
Emphasis mine above...From their FAQ, laso if you look at some of the other media images there, they all don't have the cartridge shell on them.
Sehr geehrter Toilettenbenutzer!
I don't see the point in putting a traditional infra-red laser when this obviously superior laser can read all.
;-)
Okay, time for the day's lesson, "Color transmittance and reflectance"...
For a pressed aluminum disc, you could use any currently-available wavelength of LZD you wanted, it will reflect them all very very well.
For a burned disc, you don't have just a pitted aluminum layer that either reflects or disperses the light from the drive. You have a dye that, due to the action of a particular frequency laser shining on it, has turned more-or-less permanantly opaque (or transparent) to certain frequencies of light.
The particular frequencies the dye will block or let pass vary enormously on the particular dye used, as well as the power and frequency of the laser used for writing data.
So, while we finally have a fairly standard set of DVD and CD dyes that work with each other, that all changes when you add in another frequency laser. Suddenly we'll find ourselves back to the early days of CD-Rs, where some drives could read some brands, and others couldn't.
So what do I see as the problem here? Sure, Sony can claim that their spiffy new drive will read "DVDs" and "CDs"... By which they mean pressed, commercially-manufactured DVDs and CDs. Don't hold your breath for that to also mean compatibility with either your particular drive and/or your favorite brand of media to burn to.
And rewritables? Don't feel too surprised when we learn that sticking a rewritable into a Blu-Ray just to try to read it has the unintended side-effect of erasing it.
Now, if I felt like going into conspiracy-theorist mode here, I would suggest that breaking compatibility with home-burned media seems like a very nice perk to all the Big Boys, who would love to put the CD- and DVD-burner genie back in the bottle...
But I won't go there. Not today.
A quick Google search shows the Blu-ray 1x spec at 36Mbps... So it's pretty fast. At that speed, the article I read said it would take about 2.5 hours to fill a single sided Blu-ray disk. I'm too lazy to double check the math. :)
(1) Cartridges: Thankfully (or not, depending on how you feel about it) they dropped the cartridge requirement from the spec. Quoth the Blu-Ray FAQ #1.9:
(2) Transfer Rates: I had no idea transfer rates were so much higher with Blu-Ray. It's 36 Mbps for Blu-Ray versus 11.08 for DVD. And if you were wondering, yes HD-DVD transfers at 36 Mbps as well.Sony has a great history of wide acceptance for their formats, so I'll be watching this one closely. ;)
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Yes, but not so for PS1/PS2 --> ???PS3? reason being that in the PS2 the PS1 is to all intents and purposes done via emulation (probably with the aid of some additional clever chips)
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It exists. I think it was panasonic a few years ago that put 4 or 5 lasers in one CD-ROM unit, read at 50x or so but spun really slow (compared to other equal speed drives) hence quieter and more reliable (didn't stress the motor as much).
I think the problem was that it was too expensive.
Blu-ray isn't any less a proprietary format than HD-DVD. Nor is it a Sony format.
Sony is only one of many companies that are involved with Blu-Ray, ppl mistake it for their format because they were the first to market the blu-ray. Here are the players:
Hitachi, Ltd.
LG Electronics Inc.
Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
Pioneer Corporation
Royal Philips Electronics
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
Sharp Corporation
Sony Corporation
TDK Corporation
Thomson Multimedia
Dell
HP
In fact, the only real backers for HD-DVD are:
Microsoft
Toshiba
NEC
And, arguably, HD-DVD is more proprietary than Blu-ray being that they require the player be able to play Miscrosoft's VC-9 codec, while Blu-ray is required to play only MPEG2.
The current triple-writer (reads/writes CD/DVD/Blu) from Sony uses one multi-frequency laser, a beamsplitter and three seperate light paths leading to three seperate detectors.
The current competing OPU uses three seperate lasers - but only one (multifruency) detector.
We can expect a (cheaper/smaller) OPU in maybe 18 months or so, which will work with a single laser.
But from a consumer point of view - who cares. Blu drives will read and write everything.
There *may* be a few cheaper 'blu only' drives out there (some of the really early blu drives are) - but probably few people will buy them.
And, AFAIK, there is nothing technical that stops a blu drive from reading/writing HD-DVD - but there's plenty of licensing agreements to make them cost quite a lot. Expect the DVD+/-/RAM wars again people, and expect the same outcome (drives that do everything)
Anyway, I'm happy. The PSP is using 2cm Blu, and the PS3 is using blu - we can expect a BIG market for PC Blu-disc burners.
(There's currently a bit of a fight over the copy protection systems, too - the movie people have bought into HD-DVD, which has a technically weaker system. Mind you, since this is their games consle, Sony may just implement their own stronger protection for it and just choose to play DVD. I doubt many people will be replacing their whole collections any time soon anyway - and by the time any kind of high-res DVD has taken off, the novelty of the PS3 as a video-player will have worn off.