Format Wars: Attack of the New Disc
I am so tired of Blu-ray and HD DVD. I like Blu-ray (it has a higher capacity per layer) even if it does use a less advanced programming language to encode the content on the movie discs. But that being said if the market decides HD DVD is the way to go I won't fight it, it would be pointless as my Blu-ray player wouldn't support the dominant media format. I also have to look at history here; Sony has a great track record of losing format wars. That all being said, this war is going to go on forever!
But wait, is there an end in sight? I just read about the new HD VMD format. It has lower capacity per layer than even HD DVD and uses a reworked version of the standard DVD techonolgy, but if it can offer similar performance for movies at a lower cost (because of using the technology that is already standard) maybe we will see an end to this thing yet. Instead of using blue lasers that can focus sharper than the red ones used in DVD, HD VMD uses the older red lasers (less expensive to produce both the lasers and the discs that they use) and just adds more layers onto the disc. I have been reading about 10+ layered discs in Popular Mechanics for years now but nobody has capitalized on the idea until now. The company that developed the format has announced that HD VMD currently has less than half the capacity of the largest of the other two formats, but others say that they have already developed discs matching Blu-ray and HD DVD's best.
Why do we need a third format in the war? HD VMD discs and players are reported to cost a third as much as the most inexpensive HD DVD players and discs and a fourth the cost of Blu-ray. This is a significant advantage in this knock down drag out fight. Maybe the winner won't be from Sony or Toshiba. Maybe it will be the late comer to the fight. Look at the fight between K56flex and X2. Both brands were trying to take over, then after a couple years there came V.90 who took over the market. Sometimes David does slay Goliath.
I can easily see this going the way of HD VMD. If they can make true on their promise of lower priced discs and players for the same capacity out of the gate and the movie industry will support the format, they may just win this thing.
But wait, is there an end in sight? I just read about the new HD VMD format. It has lower capacity per layer than even HD DVD and uses a reworked version of the standard DVD techonolgy, but if it can offer similar performance for movies at a lower cost (because of using the technology that is already standard) maybe we will see an end to this thing yet. Instead of using blue lasers that can focus sharper than the red ones used in DVD, HD VMD uses the older red lasers (less expensive to produce both the lasers and the discs that they use) and just adds more layers onto the disc. I have been reading about 10+ layered discs in Popular Mechanics for years now but nobody has capitalized on the idea until now. The company that developed the format has announced that HD VMD currently has less than half the capacity of the largest of the other two formats, but others say that they have already developed discs matching Blu-ray and HD DVD's best.
Why do we need a third format in the war? HD VMD discs and players are reported to cost a third as much as the most inexpensive HD DVD players and discs and a fourth the cost of Blu-ray. This is a significant advantage in this knock down drag out fight. Maybe the winner won't be from Sony or Toshiba. Maybe it will be the late comer to the fight. Look at the fight between K56flex and X2. Both brands were trying to take over, then after a couple years there came V.90 who took over the market. Sometimes David does slay Goliath.
I can easily see this going the way of HD VMD. If they can make true on their promise of lower priced discs and players for the same capacity out of the gate and the movie industry will support the format, they may just win this thing.
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