Another Competitor for Blu-ray and HD-DVD

neutron_p writes "New Medium Enterprises unveils the highly anticipated pre-industrial Versatile MultiLayer Discs, the next generation HD Disc & Drive containing 20GB of storage capacity. VMDs use the current Red Laser technology, so it's easier for DVD factories to switch over. The company is set for launching production and sales of 15 GB, 20 GB, 25 GB and 30 GB Discs & Drives by Fall 2005. The drives will be inherently backward compatible with the existing pre-recorded and recordable DVD and CD formats."

Comments

Blu-Ray Killer?

[darkmeridian]

The prime consideration is that this technology uses current red-laser technology rather than a new blue-laser. This makes it inherently backwards compatible with today's CD-RW and DVDs. It is also cheaper and carries 20 gig on one side, with a 30 gb model available. If we use high-bandwidth XVID/Ogg streams on this, why would we need blu-ray?

Again I say I need MORE storage

[purduephotog]

Really, I currently have 600gb of data archived for photographs and images. That's not a whole hell of alot. 3x200gb Seagates take care of the raiding and assorted 80, 120, 160's (and I Just found another 60 laying around, YES!) handle day to day demands.

So, as with bluray, All I've got to say is "How soon do your writers and media get down to 1/10th the cost of IDE media (currently reasonably at $0.47/gb).

A DVD (cheap) can be had for about 40 cents per disk- which doesn't get you much for archiving except the ability to slap it into a jukebox that makes whirling sounds.

I need a massive data storage solution that I can ship off to friends to keep backups for me that does not rely on moving metal /ceramic disks.

So, I welcome another format- so long as they MOVE THEIR ASSES and get the price down to what I can afford.

And now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go check Amazon and Outpost to see if they have any more 200gb Seagates for less that $0.47/gb after rebate.

DRM crap included

[Alwin Henseler]

I for one would welcome any new DVD-like format, if it just offers more storage capacity per disc (or $). And reliable recording. But my guess is consumers are really sick of all the format wars as seen with DVD.

I'm also very fond of the small 8 cm. discs. They fit in your pocket nicely. With PC equipment getting smaller/more powerful all the time, one of the things holding back small formfactor PC's is the size of optical drives/discs. In the past, the small capacity of 8 cm. discs may have been a good argument for keeping those, but with multiple GB.'s storage on even these small discs, that argument isn't so strong anymore. I would welcome it if some manufacturer had the balls to produce a 8 cm. disc only optical drive (about floppy-drive sized), and build an extra small PC around that. Think Nintendo GameCube style, but PC-compatible.

From the article: "VMD is a high quality format with unparalleled built-in copyright protection .."

And then there's the DRM issue. With DVD, it doesn't actually prevent consumers from copying/converting discs, but what if this changes? I wouldn't be willing to sink ANY money in it if that were the case.

If DRM on next-gen optical discs really does become a barrier for consumers, I might start looking to grey import some equipment/discs using non-DRM including China-developed format.

Same as the D-Data DMD format?

[benwaggoner]

This sounds exactly the same as D-Data's apparently defunct Digital Multilayer Disc format, which also was a multilayer red laser. The CTO is even a Russan/Israeli, although not Eugene Levich.

Vinyl is better!

[ImaLamer]

Some of us can notice the quality loss on DivX.

Yeah, sure, I know.

Divx/MPEG-4 at high bit rates is the same "quality"... actually better than MPEG-2 (DVD) in most cases.

Then again it's all about where you play your MPEG-4 movies. Play the same "DVDRip" on a 550 MHz computer, a 2 GHz computer and a stand-alone player. The stand-alone will likely come out on top because it was built to only decode MPEG-1/2/4 and do nothing else.

My player has what they call "upsampling" which sounds like pseudo-science but it actually does make the movies come out better (then they look on the ol' PC).

Then again it's all a matter of correct encoding and so forth. If the movie was encoded badly it will never come out right. Come look through my DVD backups, I dare you to find the flaws.

And when it comes to most video content you'd be suprised about how much stuff you don't see anyways because you aren't looking for it. If you watch the background constantly you are likely to be angered by bad extras or movie mistakes before video flaws.

Anyways to say that you can see the quality loss with Divx makes me laugh because you can even go a whole Mbit/s higher than MPEG-2 (DVD)... it's all about encoding (like mp3 and real audio!).

Re:oh for the love of god

[zonker]

or more recently vhs and beta.

interestingly, the vinyl music recording standards battle is one of the earliest format wars (discounting early pre-vinyl edison cylinders as their wasn't big industry behind differing designs). the major labels (columbia and rca victor) were trying to promote their differing designs to replace the 78 (ever wonder why their are 33 1/3, 45, 78's etc.?). here's some more links for the curious...

all that being said, i think it is really just the early adopters that get screwed and that is and will always be the risk of being one. in general, history usually shows that some competition in the market usually helps (but when there are too many choices, it can confuse consumers and backfire)...