Toshiba Touts 51GB HD DVD 236
srizah writes to mention that Toshiba plans to launch a 51 GB HD DVD, with a 1 GB advantage over Sony's Blu-ray disc. From the article: Toshiba has submitted a triple-layer, 51GB HD DVD-ROM disc to the standard's overseer in the hope the technology will be adopted as a standard by the end of the year. If approved, it allow the format to exceed the 50GB storage capacity of rival medium Blu-ray Disc. The HD DVD standard currently defines single- and dual-layer discs capable of holding 15GB and 30GB of data, respectively."
200 GB blu-ray (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Can someone help me out? (Score:3, Informative)
2 layers = 34
3 layers = 51
Amazing! (Score:4, Informative)
Someone's competitor plans to launch a product with a 2% advantage over the product you can already get, mere years after something with a 100% advantage was demonstrated [engadget.com], and within only 8 months of something with 200% advantage [engadget.com]!
The spec can't be changed now (Score:5, Informative)
The HD-DVD spec was finalized a while ago. HD-DVD players can only read two layers, therefore no movie can ever have more than two layers. All this talk about more layers is just PR wanking.
Re:Fifty one! (Score:4, Informative)
According to Wikipedia [wikipedia.org], Blue Ray is up to 33 GB **PER LAYER** in the labs, that would give 66 Gigabytes for a *two layer* blueray disk.
And of course, a 3 layer "standard" blueray disk would be about 70GB.
And then there's reality, it looks like Sony will manage to shoot itself in the leg (head) with it's silly restrictions on content. (No pron).
Re:Fifty one! (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Finally? (Score:2, Informative)
Vivid which is the largest producer is exclusively blu-ray. I hate it when people take bloggers for the truth.
Re:the winnar is pr0n (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Can someone help me out? (Score:5, Informative)
2 layers = 30 GB = 2 x 15 GB/layer
3 layers = 51 GB = 3 x 17 GB/layer
For 3-layer HD-DVDs, Toshiba decided to use 17 GB layers instead of 15 for the sole purpose of obtaining the upper hand in capacity over the competing 50 GB Blu-ray discs. I agree that this is a bit laughable
Re:Fifty one! (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Finally? (Score:5, Informative)
People keep saying this because the PS3s were on-the-shelf available through most of the Christmas season, while Wiis were sold out on the morning of day one and continued to sell out immediately everywhere throughout the season. Nintendo could have easily sold two or three times what they did if they had the products on the shelves. Sony had their products out in the marketplace, which means they sold all they were capable of selling at their current price point.
There's still a lot of guesstimation, but the Wii is far more popular than the PS3. Not that the PS3 is dying (Sony won't let it) but it's not going to dominate the current console market.
Re:Fifty one! (Score:4, Informative)
Apparently this is not true. See: http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070112-860
Re:Can someone help me out? (Score:5, Informative)
HD-DVD is 15GB per layer, in the current shipping product.
1 layer = 15GB
2 layers = 30GB
In this product the capacity per layer has been increased to 17GB.
3 layers = 51GB
Theoretically that will also make 17GB and 34GB HD-DVDs a possibility. However there is a wee slight issue. Current HD-DVD players may not be able to read these new 17GB layers, and quite possibly may not manage 3 layers either. The first may be fixable in the firmware, but the laser is very much hardware - although the laser power might be firmware controllable, and hence make it possible to read with firmware tweaks.
BluRay is 25GB per layer. However in a similar vein 33GB/layer BluRay discs have been done (200GB capacity in 6 layers), but some current players may read them, AFAIK. However if a firmware update would work then 66GB dual-layer BluRay discs are a possibility.
OTOH Hitachi apparently showcased a 25GB x 4 layer BluRay disc recently however: "Hitachi demonstrated reading from a 100 GB Blu Ray disc, comprising four layers of data. It is probably in reaction to the upcoming adoption of triple layer HD-DVD. The good news is that this technology seems close at hand: the device used to read is very close to the LG GBW-H10N that we tested. A firmware modification was all it took to allow all four layers to be read."
Re:200GB 51GB (Score:2, Informative)
Apparently the 'no porn' policy does not exist. See:
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070112-860
Re:Not a big deal... (Score:3, Informative)
Just a point
" June 21, 2003
"DVD rentals outpaced videocassette rentals last week for the first time, the Video Software Dealers Association reported."
Link [washingtontimes.com]
" December 19, 2006
"For the first time, DVD players were found in more U.S. households compared to VCR players, according to new research."
Link [ibtimes.com]
" January 4, 2002
"The BVA also reports sales over the last 12 months in Britain of a record total of 122 million videos - more than 30% of which were in the DVD format."
Link [bbc.co.uk]
DVD was finalized in September 1996, and DVD players began to be produced in early 1997 and the DVD format only (really) started taking off in 1999/2000; remember that DVD was considered one of the fastest adopted formats because everyone could gain the benefits without needing a new TV and there was only one format.
Now, I'll explain again my objections with saying that now is the time to adopt HD:
Now, maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think that the vast majority of people are going to be looking to upgrade their entertainment centers at this point in time because it is too expensive, with too little benefit. In 2009 we will be looking at a different situation (likely dual format players for $200 and 30inch LCD HDTVs for $500) but today, unless you want to waste your money, you should wait for the prices to come down and the quantity of content to increase before you buy in.