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45GB Triple-Layer HD DVDs
m4c north writes "Toshiba has developed a new DVD-ROM: 45GB spread over 3 layers. From the press release (which has a few illustrations) the new discs have the ability "to record twelve hours of high-definition movies on a single disc." They've also added a "dual-layer hybrid ROM disc comprised of a dual-layer HD DVD-ROM side and a dual-layer DVD-ROM side." Japan Today's article adds, "The huge capacity means that a single disk can store a Hollywood movie trilogy." Do I smell yet another Star Wars re-re-release? Toshiba will take the wraps off the new DVDs at the Media-Tech Expo 2005 in Las Vegas. The HD DVD Promotion group offers the press release in PDF."
With something like this I'll be able to backup my workstation with ten pieces of media, instead of the seventy or so DVDs it would take to do a Full Backup.
Seriously, it's about time offline media started catching up with hard drive capacities.
Personally, I hope the one with the least restrictive DRM becomes the standard.
HD-DVD's AACS is just disgusting.
1) Even if it has a "scratch-proof" surface, data gets much more delicate. Think about it, 45 GB of data on one disk. If this disk gets broken, you lose a whole lot more than having the data on 10 DVDs and losing one.
2) It is still a mechanic, spinning system. Which sucks, because it has to accelerate first, then it can read. If there is an error, it decelerates.. well, you know it already. It blocks parts of the system, and is downright annoying.
OK - the data density is MUCH higher than in a CD. But no one says that the maximum transfer rate isn't going to increase. And when this happens, we have the spinning & error problems again.
This sig does not contain any SCO code.
The HD-DVD folks have upgraded their inferior 30GB disc to a still inferior 45GB disc. (15GB per layer) Meanwhile, Blu-Ray still holds steady at 50GB. (25GB per layer) All of this is moot, of course, as Blu-Ray will prevail with an eventual max size of 200GB (8 layers) per disc, outdistancing a max size of 120GB (8 layers) per disc for the HD-DVD condortium.
It's about the money. Only so much to buy toys with. The cheaper the toys, the more you can have.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
Back when I first bought a CD burner, I did it to archive. Back then, a "big" consumer harddrive was around 1.2G and a CD held about half of that. Not bad for the time.
These days a "big" consumer harddrive is around 250G to 300G, and this "great new technology" (yet to be released) will allow for about one fifth of that.
That's simply not enough for me to justify using it as a method of data archiving or backup. To backup a single 250G volume I'd need 5+ blanks.
On the consumer side of the equation, I can't see people moving from DVD to this unless there is some justification better than "you'll have to swap discs one third as often".
Now, on the topic of size, since most optical media is recorded radially, why not make the physical size of the discs bigger? Not as big as LDs, because those were a little unmanageable, but another inch or two in diameter would GREATLY increase the capacity of even a DVD-R. Some will point out that it would no longer fit in a 5.25" bay, but who cares. This is why we have firewire and USB2.
Thoughts comments?
Wow I need to get my calculator and see how many divix movies that is. Lets see, the whole battlestar galactica first season fit on 1 and a half regular (4GB?) dvds..... I could move my whole movie collection to a few mega-dvds, and my entire music collection to just one.
I Am My Own Worst Enemy
DVD Burners are what, $50 max for an excellent Dual-Layer burner, and discs can be had for $0.30. How much cheaper can you get? You can barely get a CD burner for that!
I bought into the Double Layer hype.
The price of the CDs are prohibatively expensive.
So no mater how many layers you cram onto a CD, unless the price is worthwhile, its useless.
You're trying to tell me you're gonna try and sell a single disk for $100? No way. It won't happen. They'll still box them. And if people complain, they'll just add 40 hours of worthless crap to the discs to justify their 6-disc sets (instead of deleted scenes, they'll simply have 4 versions of each episode in their entirely, each differing by 30-seconds or so, or interviews with the "key grip," "costume designer," etc - it'll cost them pennies to tape those interviews, and they'll reap the benefits.).
It seems to me that the consumer market is unlikely to select the "best" technical solution (cf. Betamax versus VHS).
Not that old canard again. The consumer did select the best technical solution (VHS) because at the time, technically Betamax couldn't store a 2-hour movie on a single cassette.
When you say "X is the best solution", you'd better be sure it's solving the right problem.
-- Alastair
While that's hardly a guarantee that Blu-Ray will win it's a pretty big installed userbase for a loser. Not to mention Sony's sizeable movie interests.
It seems to me that there isn't a lot of consumer interest in replacing DVD and could prove difficult for either format to push its way into the market. If that turns out to be the case the advantage will clearly be with Sony and their Blu-Ray, regardless of how much earlier HD-DVD hits store shelves.
The Farewell Tour II
This 3-layer disc is just a prototype; it's not included in the specs and DVD players won't play them.