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Sony and Toshiba Give Up On Unified DVD Format
HoTiCE_ is one of several to let us know, Reuters is reporting Sony and Toshiba have apparently given up efforts to develop a unified format for next-generation DVDs. The two companies had opened up negotiations but they fell through due to time constraints on new products from both groups.
unfortunately, both of them are.
As the parent poster so eloquently points out, format wars are inherently bad. One technology analyst on NPR said he estimates that format wars can reduce a potential market by "as much as 90%" - that is, the two formats combined sell up to 9 times fewer DVDs than if you only had one format.
To make laws that man cannot, and will not obey, serves to bring all law into contempt.
--E.C. Stanton
Read this fine article. It has six sections, I enjoyed it a lot. Well written, unbiased, and to the point.
The AACS key is NOT 0xF606EEFD628B1CA427BEA93A9CA9773F
Even today, almost all major motion pictures are shot on film. Film is higher resolution than DVD. They just need to reconvert the film into HD.
I can't figure out why dual-layer writable DVD media have been SO slow to come about.
Dual layer (re)writeable media is a proper bitch to manufacture with (currently) a high failure rate, that's why. All the current manufacturers of DL media have struggled to get consistent batches.
This is why they still cost a packet. If they can iron out the kinks and go to full mass production they'd be nearly as cheap as normal DVDs.
You are in a twisty maze of processor lines, all alike.
There is a lot of hype here.
"but most of the post-production work done on film is done at a specific resolution (2k). so it woud be more than trivial to convert a lot of these movies into high def."
Um, 'hi def' isn't even 2k. It's 1920. Even if they produce a standard that's higher than that, they'll just upsample it. It'll be a little soft, but they won't re-do the effects or avoid it altogether.
"Derp de derp."
And, I completely agree with you that grammar (or, even, English) is not tested for nearly as much as coding ability. After all, the company isn't selling documents to their clients!
I feel fantastic, and I'm still alive.
You seem to know an awful lot about film production not to know that digital effects done at 2K or 4K are still much higher resolutions than the top end of hdtv -- ie 1080p at 1920x1080. And even still, reworking them in a higher resolution would not necessarily be the huge challenge you suggest it is. Film is already edited digitally using lower resolution stand-in footage to proof before it's rendered out in full glory. Increasing the resolution might require recapturing the frames (at higher resolution) and rerendering the color, effects, etc, but this process, though time consuming, is largely automated by software and hardware.
Too bad MS hasn't even announced if Xbox2 will even have an HD-DVD drive eventually.. The first run is set to use DVDs stll.
What's to stop manufacturers from including support for both standards?
Considerable technical differences. DVD-R and DVD+R are almost identical, as you can see by their identical capacity. While both Blue-Ray and HD-DVD work with blue lasers, they use different platters, different focus and so on. Personally I wish they could agree on a media-independent content structure (i.e. you can make a CD/DVD/HD-DVD/Blue-Ray and the only difference was capacity), but no such luck.
Kjella
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
according to http://www.gamespot.com/news/2005/06/28/news_61282 95.html, it should debut in the US at $399, and cost around $494.
I try not to laugh in death's face. I tend to make belittling comments and snicker behind death's back.
The blue ray scheme DOES NOT require internet access; the latest updates are included on every disc you buy and loaded into the player the first time it's played. So if rights to play some disc are revoked for whatever reason, you can continue to use it so long as you do not play any new discs on that specific player.