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Sony's Blue-Violet Laser the Future Blu-ray?
JoshuaInNippon writes "Japanese researchers from Sony and Tohoku University announced the development of a 'blue-violet ultrafast pulsed semiconductor laser,' which Sony is aiming to use for optical disks. The new technology, with 'a laser wavelength of 405 nanometers in the blue-violet region' and a power out put 'more than a hundred times the world's highest output value for conventional blue-violet pulse semiconductor lasers,' is believed to be capable of holding more than 20 times the information of current Blu-ray technology, while retaining a practical size. Japanese news reports have speculated that one blue-violet disk could be capable of holding more than 50 high-quality movie titles, easily fitting entire seasons of popular TV shows like 24. When the technology may hit markets was not indicated."
Of course, as soon as Sony brings this to market, some other company, or group of companies, will unveil a competing product incompatible with Sony's, starting yet another format war. Too bad these guys can't just work together and agree on a common format and save us all time, money, and having to deal with dead formats (e.g. HD-DVD).
We'd already be walking around with 500GB USB sticks.
Or worse, we'd be walking around with 1Gbps wireless connections and we'd be streaming HD movies from YouTube.
So unless they've figured out how to cram like 1PB or even 1EB on an optical disc, they're walking down a blind alley.
The only reason HD-DVD didn't take off was Not enough repeated letters in the name to be catchy. This time they'll try HHDVVDDBVD.
*props to RvB
I thought we were pretty much done with physical media?
We'd already be walking around with 500GB USB sticks.
Or worse, we'd be walking around with 1Gbps wireless connections and we'd be streaming HD movies from YouTube.
And the "HD" YouTube videos would still look like shit.
The world looks mighty good to me,
'Cause goatse holes are all I see.
Whatever it is I think I see,
becomes a goatse hole to me
Goatse hole how I love your anusy gue,
Goatse hole I think I'm in love with you
Whatever it is I think I see,
becomes a goatse hole to me.
According to wikipedia, the light used in a bluray laser is also 405 nm, so that isn't the new part, in case that was confusing for anyone else.
The difference in going from VHS to DVD was far more substantial than going from DVD to Blu-Ray. No more rewinding, easy seeking, a menu system. Blu-Ray does have a higher quality, but doesn't provide enough new features to warrant upgrading my entire DVD collection...especially when a decent upconverter can be purchased for relatively cheap. Some titles I have purchased for Blu-Ray, Casino Royale, and Dark Knight look gorgeous in high definition. Duck Soup and Spaceballs, however will likely stay in my collection as DVDs.
"Never let your sense of morals prevent you from doing what is right" - Salvor Hardin
History is easy to forget. DVD was around on the shelves for almost a decade before it hit mass consumption levels.
No, it wasn't.
DVD came out between late 1996 (Japan) and early 1999, depending on where you lived. Here in the UK it apparently came out in late 1998 (*), and in 3-4 years sharply falling prices were already seriously eroding the VHS market. I got a DVD-ROM drive for UK £40-45 circa 2002, and that wasn't especially cutting edge (nor expensive!) by that time.
(*) Or so Wikipedia claims. However, I remember DVD-ROM drives and decoder cards being offered- albeit it at a notable premium- as a mainstream option when I was choosing a PC in Spring '98.
"Slashdot - News and Chat Sites Deviant". (Click "homepage" link above for details).
In 2005 there was some story that Steve Ballmer threw a chair. Every day since then somebody has made a +5 Funny post referring to it. According to Slashdot, if Steve hits a red light while driving to work, he'll throw a chair, and the idea of that is really really really funny.
"I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)
If your storage medium has to explicitly allow your content then someone is doing it terribly, terribly wrong.
50 High quality movie titles had been produced since Blu ray started shipping.
Nullius in verba
If your storage medium has to explicitly allow your content then someone is doing it terribly, terribly wrong.
Yeah, they were very stupid about licensing, and that's why, even with, what a year+ lead, HD-DVD died an embarassing death. This is one case where the market really DID decide.
According to Slashdot, if Steve hits a red light while driving to work, he'll throw a chair, and the idea of that is really really really funny.
Well... I personally think it is pretty funny that Steve Ballmer keeps a chair in the trunk of his car to throw out into traffic whenever he hits a red light but hey maybe I'm a bit odd...
Hoo brother, you have no idea how many libraries of congress this thing outputs.
Paying video stores to only carry your format is not really letting the market decide. The whole things was a weasel-fest, and the more expensive format, with a non-finalized spec and forced DRM (or so I'm let to believe) won. I'm still dreaming the day consumers get together and start asking "in that an open, non-patent encumbered format", and not using it if the answer is "no". In my defence, I do realise it is dreaming.
HD DVD was an open format available to anyone who wanted to implement it. As far as content went, it was the more open of the two - you didn't need, for example, to license AACS to press a disc.
HD DVD's failure had nothing to do with licensing, it was a straightforward case in which Hollywood picked the winner. Hollywood, as a whole, didn't like the fact HD DVD didn't require access controls (making it harder to trace pirates), and lacked snake-oil solutions like BD+. Added to the fact Sony is a studio, Blu-ray had the studio support.
You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
... the cost of 20PK of 25GB discs (500GB) is the same as a 750GB-1GB hard disk, with 2TB hard disks going for $99. The media for blu-ray is not cost competitive with hard disks any longer they better hurry up since by the time blu-ray discs become cost competitive so hard disks no longer offer more bang for the buck there will be new Hard drives out.
These can hold 20x the capacity, but you'll still have to buy the theatrical and extended special editions of LOTR separately
So really, Hollywood execs will render these discs moot, at lest as far as home entertainment purposes go.
The reason HD-DVD didn't take off was because they didn't allow porn.
HD-DVD was supported by Warner Brothers and Universal.
Blu-Ray had Disney.
In home video, that is all you need to know to predict a winner.
Disney was the rocket that launched the ABC television network into orbit in the mid 1950s.
When Disney moved to NBC and all-color programming, the big screen B&W set was on the fast track to oblivion.
The big screen HDTV is family entertainment -
and Disney has 87 years of product to meet that demand.