Blu-Ray DVDs Hit 100 GB

Xesdeeni writes "According to The Register and MacWorld, TDK has unveiled a Blu-Ray DVD with four layers that will hold a whopping 100 GB of data. This is shortly after the previously reported HD-DVD announced three-layer HD-DVD that would hold a "mere" 45 GB. Unfortunately, this is also on the heels of the news that the HD DVD unification talks have stalled."

Comments

groovy...

[zxnos]

...i can now fit my 1/100th of my porn collection on one disk. sweet.

Re:groovy...

[rampant mac]

Along the same lines, I was complaining to a co-worker a few days ago about how my Firewire drive was on it's last legs... It's a 100g drive and nearing capacity so I needed to buy a new one anyway.

He was blown away that I had that many files as it was, and I was about to make a humorous comment about the boatloads of porn I have on it, when a female co-worker walked in...

"Oh, it's all Photoshop documents that I've done! Some of `em are almost 400 megs each!"

Except everyone in the office knows I can't draw to save my life. Now she won't even talk to me. :(

Re:groovy...

[Anonymous Coward]

Don't kid yourself... she wouldn't talk to you in the first place..

Multiple Standards

[bunburyist]

This multiple format business is a mess. Look at the problems with SACD and DVD-A. Nobody is buying them (and if the music industry stopped suing people and promoted those formats that are so much better than downloaded music they would actually make more money because there is new value there.)

But back to the topic at hand: The industry would benefit more from having ONE SINGLE TRUE UNIFIED STANDARD as opposed to a couple of standards, which would confuse people. The public at large (Joe Sixpack) gets all confused with this 2-format thing. They want to buy a movie and play it, not worry about if this disc will play on their type of player. When we have one unified standard, confusion is reduced, people can just buy and make the industry happy. The the industry focus can be put on actually releasing content and worthwhile stuff, as opposed to teaching consumers that they need a different player for their Fox releases versus some other studio and then wondering why people don't buy any of these confusing and conflicting products.

Re:Multiple Standards

[mbbac]

This multiple format business is a mess. Look at the problems with SACD and DVD-A. Nobody is buying them (and if the music industry stopped suing people and promoted those formats that are so much better than downloaded music they would actually make more money because there is new value there.)

Early adopters aren't buying them because all of the discs are encumbered with DRM unlike CDs. Without early adopters, there is no one to influence the mainstream. Thus little market for SACD and DVD-A.

Re:Multiple Standards

[soupdevil]

I'm a composer/producer. It's actually as easy or easier to make a surround mix than a stereo mix.
But it's difficult for the average consumer to have a playback system that makes it worthwhile. You have to spend a few thousand dollars, and have the right room, and then spend your time sitting in the sweet spot to listen to your music.
If, like me, you listen to music while driving, exercising (oh wait, this is /.) and entertaining, there really is no reason to pay for the equipment/setup, and therefore no reason to spend the extra bucks on the higher quality discs.

Re:Multiple Standards

[soupdevil]

A stereo mix gives you just two channels into which you have to place all of your content. Generally bass content is placed fairly equally into both channels, and bass takes up a large percentage of the energy an average speaker can produce. So it's quite difficult to carve out a unique space on the virtual stage for each instrument, balancing frequency, amplitude, depth, etc., for all the instruments and allow each of them to be heard without overwhelming either of the speakers.
Surround, especially with a separate subwoofer, gives you a much larger virtual stage, which allows you to make creative choices with your instrument placement, and rather than having to squeeze them into what's left of a stereo speaker's capacity.

Size is no longer the issue

[kneecarrot]

After a certain threshold, the capacity of the next generation DVD standard ceases to matter as much as cost, ease of use, and compatibility. So Sony/Toshiba... please step up and convince me of these issues instead of throwing capacity numbers around!

Reliability

[Airline_Sickness_Bag]

We already have problems with DVDs and CDs going bad. From what I've read, the Blu-Ray discs may be even more fragile due to their extremely thin protective layer. If I am to pick between the two coming standards (Blu-Ray vs HD), I'll choose the more reliable one.

YAY

[lupinstel]

Yay! Now we just have to wait 3 years for this to come to the market and 3 more years for it to be affordable. Then I will be all over it, until something better comes along.

Unification

[DuBois]

Perhaps they should both talk to the Rev. Sun Myung Moon?

excellent! we're closer to

[Savatte]

all 3 lord of the rings movies on one dvd without any pauses between the movies or needing to switch discs. Numb ass, here I come!

Re:and everyone is still using floppies : )

[Mr Smidge]

TFA says that Blu-Ray discs are still more prone to scratching than DVDs.

How about one of these four-layer discs with built-in redundancy to improve that?

i.e. a 50GB disc with four layers, two of which are redundant?

For archival purposes, I'd buy it.

Scratches

[Niekie]

100 GB of data on a DVD? I think we're putting too much trust in those little discs, no matter how handy they are.. Would sure be very painful if you'd scratch it and lose 100 GB's of data.

Overkill?

[moviepig.com]

Blu-Ray DVD with four layers . . . will hold a whopping 100 GB of data.

For movie-consumers, now those DVD extras will include the cast party, the set-security tapes . . .

And TV-fans now can buy a single disk with the entire 2004 season of . . . well . . . TV.

Re:Think of all the stuff you can fit.

[Hoi Polloi]

They'll actually start encouraging the cast to screw up in front of the camera so they can have more blooper shots to pad the movie DVD with. Soon they'll have "Show up drunk on the set" day.

Maybe they'll start showing the business bloopers too. Morris in accounting: "And this is crazy! See, I forgot to include capital depreciation in that quarter so we took a tax hit on the film editing systems. Everyone just cracked up!"

Not stalled, they are meeting again

[The-Bus]

Sony, Toshiba presidents to meet on new DVD format

5/18/05

TOKYO (Reuters) - The presidents of Japanese electronics giants Sony , Toshiba and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. will meet to try to break a stalemate in talks over a unified format for next-generation DVD technology, a source close to the matter said on Tuesday. Sony and Toshiba, leading rival camps, have waged a three-year battle to have their new technology standards adopted by the industry. The winner will have pole position in the multi-billion-dollar markets for DVD players, PC drives and optical discs.

The high-level talks offer new hope for negotiations that appeared to have reached an impasse. A senior Toshiba official was quoted by the Nihon Keizai Shimbun on Monday as saying one format based on Sony technology would be "extremely difficult." Both sides still believe one standard is the best scenario, knowing that a prolonged format battle like the one between VHS and Betamax two decades ago would likely discourage consumers from shifting to advanced discs and stifle the industry's growth.

(continued)

They know they need to collude if they want to maximize profits. Not having a standard is going to hurt everybody.

Only three layers?

[wheany]

This is shortly after the previously reported HD-DVD announced three-layer HD-DVD that would hold a "mere" 45 GB.

Oh, the fools! If only they'd built it with four layers! When will they learn?!?