Interesting Blu-Ray Disc Article
#1
hey,

was on Gamespot.com and well saw this interesting article on the fight for blu-ray for the next slew of next gen systems. they are trying to get blu-ray as the format for the game systems and well to replace dvds as you all might now. mostly to put out high Defenition dvds that cant be put out on regular DVD's.

Read on its a long one:

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There are few who contest the fact that the acceptance of CD-ROM and then DVD-ROM standards for video game software led to new opportunities for the interactive entertainment industry. Disc-based software made massive worlds and high-end graphics a cheap and easy-to-produce reality that would have been hard to imagine on cartridges. But now, a potential conflict over the successor to DVD storage may help shape the next battle for console and home-entertainment supremacy.

Electronics and entertainment companies have been throwing their support behind various high-density disc specifications for months in the hope that theirs will become the widely accepted standard for everything--from games to high-definition movies and home video recording. Two dominant camps have emerged: the HD-DVD Association, which has the support of the standard-setting DVD Forum, and the Blu-ray Disc Founders Association, which has the support of many international computing and entertainment behemoths, including Sony.

"This is a macro-level battle between the consumer electronics industry and the PC industry, as both Sony and Microsoft try to fill the home networks with standards they prefer," said American Technology Research analyst P.J. McNealy.

Both the Blu-ray and HD-DVD formats use a narrower blue laser--compared with the standard red laser--to allow more data to be squeezed onto a CD-sized disc. Whereas standard DVDs can hold about 5GB of data, Blu-ray discs (BD) can hold roughly 23GB to a layer, while HD-DVD discs can hold about 15GB. These numbers can be increased through the use of dual-sided and/or dual-layered discs, which are currently in development by both high-density camps. Both discs come in rewritable and read-only (ROM) formats and are projected to be widely available in the US by late 2005 or early 2006, according to each format's representative organization.

The format skirmish officially entered the video game realm in August, when Sony declared in an interview with Kyodo News that the PlayStation 3 will support the BD-ROM format, in addition to standard DVDs and CDs. Sony chief operating officer Ken Kutagari later confirmed this at September's Tokyo Game Show. "On the computer applications front, including video games, the importance of a medium with the capability of storing huge amounts of data and programs is becoming greater than ever," Sony said in a press release accompanying Kutagari's announcement.

Speculation increased in early October when NEC and Toshiba, the main companies behind the HD-DVD format, publicly announced that they were trying to convince Microsoft to accept their standard in the next Xbox. "Of course we'd like [Microsoft] to use it," Toshiba president Tadashi Okumura said in media reports from the Japanese SEATEC conference. Microsoft offered a strict "no comment" on the issue.

While Microsoft has previously shown public support for the HD-DVD, it's still far from certain whether its next console will support the format. Indeed, Microsoft may decide to follow Sony's lead and jump on the Blu-ray bandwagon, a move Sony might welcome.

"It is my understanding that Blu-ray Disc will be open to any company that wishes to use the technology," said Ingemar Henriksson, webmaster of the fan site Blu-ray.com. "Sony has invested a great deal into Blu-ray, so anything that helps it become more popular is a good thing for them." Sony did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

The DVD Forum also left the door open for Forum-member Microsoft to support the rival Blu-ray format if it chooses. "The DVD Forum charter states that members shall not be required to support Forum-approved formats to the exclusion of other formats," a spokesperson for the Forum said. Still, such a move could possibly alienate Microsoft from the nebulous 220-member body, which, incidentally, also includes Sony.

Regardless of what format Microsoft chooses, game developers will have to make good use of the extra storage space if either standard is to succeed. Julien Merseron, worldwide technical director for Ubisoft, said that a developer could use the extra space for everything from more-detailed textures and sound files to faster-loading redundant data. "It is not really the additional space that will lead to new gameplay experiences," Merseron said, "but [it] will allow us to add more details and objects into the levels, and that can lead to a better immersion." Merseron added that, while he "would tend to think that HD-DVD has a brighter future," both standards are equally viable from a technical and business standpoint.

Besides storage capacity, one factor will likely determine whether gamers accept either new format: the price. Sony would not speak on the record about how the integration of Blu-ray technology would affect hardware and software prices for its next system. A Sony Blu-ray recorder currently goes for 224,000 yen ($2,049) in Japan, and blank Blu-ray discs run about 2,700 yen ($25), according to Blu-ray.com.

Henricksson is quick to downplay the potential effects such high costs might have on developing Blu-ray-enabled video game hardware. "The major cost factor of Blu-ray players/recorders are the blue-laser diodes, so the prices of Blu-ray-based products won't come down until they begin mass production of blue-laser components. Sony hopes to drive up the production volumes with sales of the PS3 in the same way they did when they adopted DVD for the PS2."

As for the discs themselves, a PowerPoint presentation released by the Blu-ray Disc Founders Association estimates production costs for BD-ROMs at roughly 110 percent of current DVD production costs. The increase comes from a slight jump in material costs, while estimated costs for manufacture and distribution of BD-ROMs remain consistent with those for DVDs.

Concrete data for potential HD-DVD costs is harder to come by, but Bill Hunt, editor of technology Web site The Digital Bits and a proponent of unified DVD standards, said any cost difference would be minimal in the long run. "Current DVD/CD production lines would have to be modified more for Blu-ray Disc than HD-DVD, but as economies of scale come into play, the difference will quickly evaporate."

And what of Nintendo? The always-secretive system maker (which didn't respond to requests for comment) bucked the industry trend by supporting a proprietary 1.5GB minidisc format for the GameCube. McNealy feels that Nintendo may make a similar move in the next generation of consoles. "Nintendo likes to make hardware that is not too expensive in order to keep the pricing down," he said. "Further, Nintendo's traditional strengths have been in software development, not hardware development, so cutting-edge hardware is not likely compared with Microsoft and Sony."

The standards each company chooses for its next console could have implications outside the video game realm as well. Just as the huge installed base of PS2 users partially drove the success of DVDs, the next dominant system might break the stalemate for high-definition movie formats. "The PS3 will obviously sell a huge number of units, and you can bet the [movie] studios aren't going to ignore that built-in market," Hunt said. Merseron pointed out that Sony's potential acquisition of MGM's movie lineup would also help push the Blu-ray standard in that market.

In the end, McNealy said, it might be a previous format war that provides the best template for the current one. "Go back to the days of VHS and Betamax," he said. "Why didn't all the companies involved choose just one standard? The market decided."

Whether it's Blu-ray, HD-DVD, or some other standard, what the market will decide this time around is still very much up in the air.


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-LE


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#2
It has already been decided that PS3 will be useing Blu-ray. 50 gigs on two layers, thats insane!
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#3
dude thats not recent
Blu ray has been tipped for PS3 etc for an age!!!

like yonkers ago....like a year ago

but in my oinion it aint gonna take out DVD it will become as VCD was to VHS probably in terms of movies etc
Theres the...

Wrong way

the...

Right way

then the...

Rav way!

\m/
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#4
but this is a NEW ARTICLE giving out more information. just informing dont kill the messenger.

-LE
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#5
*raises his Dragon Slayer*

mWahahahahaha
Theres the...

Wrong way

the...

Right way

then the...

Rav way!

\m/
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#6
well the one thing that Blu-ray has is alot of companies have started to pick up with it.. i think there is like 5-6 or maybe more big name companies that will put movies and such on them. There are also other competing technologies like HD-DVD and a new one using Red laser which can store 15-30 as the others .. for generally good info about it http://www.doom9.org its all about video.. if you search last month's news you will probably find the names fo the companies that are going for it.. Also yes we knew ps3 was going to use Blu-Ray since Blu-Ray was created by Sony..
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#7
Imagine like having 1 or 2 COMPLETE anime series on 1 disc!!! Rolleyes :p Big Grin :eek:
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#8
guitarshredder Wrote:Imagine like having 1 or 2 COMPLETE anime series on 1 disc!!! Rolleyes :p Big Grin :eek:
That would be pretty sweet.
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#9
you know they won't do that.. that would loose them money.. But what it is they are planning on using the space to make HD DVDs.. basically encoding the Video at 1080i screen resolution and at a very high bitrate.. probably like 15mb/s so then the movies are much larger and probably would fill the whole discs.. right now depending on how they do ti.. most dvd's are ~ 5mb/s bitrate at 720x480 screen resolution.. But they still don't have the codec they want to use yet.. keep mpeg2 or go with mpeg4 or with wmv etc..
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#10
it wasent just sony.
but it is for HD movies and can be used for big games and the quality of games you can make better games for nex gen systems like cut scenes from FF games i want to see those types of graphics on the next gen systems and blu-ray can help them cause they can store a shit load more stuff on them just the cost of the games will go up i bet a hell of alot and the PS3 will be a hefty penny as well.

-LE
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#11
Last Exile Wrote:it wasent just sony.
but it is for HD movies and can be used for big games and the quality of games you can make better games for nex gen systems like cut scenes from FF games i want to see those types of graphics on the next gen systems and blu-ray can help them cause they can store a shit load more stuff on them just the cost of the games will go up i bet a hell of alot and the PS3 will be a hefty penny as well.

-LE


The price part will probally cause a lot of sales problems unless people are really HARDCORE gamers and I mean extreme...Fifty dollars is quite a big price to me but higher would be terrible lol...But seriously I am honestly looking forward to seeing how all of this turns out...
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#12
I really don't think the price of games will go up.. I mean you saw 4 cd games.. but the prices of them wasn't higher even though they had to make 4 times the production cost of the cd's. ALso with dvd's they can make multiple disc games also if they truely need it.. Plus the one thing is even about all this.. its still cheaper then using cartriges.. So i don't think we will see a price increase.. Especially since they won't use Blu-Ray unless the game requires that much space.. I mean even on the Ps2 some games are still on Cd's not dvd's

Yea it wasn't just sony.. but sony is a major contributer. and in main stream they are the ones you always hear about when it comes to blu-ray. They are pushing it more. and have more invested.. Kinda like there Cell Processor for Ps3 in which they i think are developing it with IBM and Toshiba..
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#13
Schultz Wrote:you know they won't do that.. that would loose them money.. But what it is they are planning on using the space to make HD DVDs.. basically encoding the Video at 1080i screen resolution and at a very high bitrate.. probably like 15mb/s so then the movies are much larger and probably would fill the whole discs.. right now depending on how they do ti.. most dvd's are ~ 5mb/s bitrate at 720x480 screen resolution.. But they still don't have the codec they want to use yet.. keep mpeg2 or go with mpeg4 or with wmv etc..

That won't lose them money. They can continue charging a ton for anime and now their manufactoring costs have been cut by 1/6.
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#14
I'd support those blu-ray things ONLY if I was able to play my regular dvd's on a blu-ray machine. I have way too many damn dvd's to switch over completely lol. VHS to dvd was pretty bad, I had a ton of VHS to phase out, but I have a crapload of dvd's. Most of the VHS I have right now are bootlegs of old TV shows companies are too damn stupid to put out on dvd. Except reboot, which is stupid because two companies are disputing over the rights to it and are taking their sweet time in doing so. I mean seriously, if Mork and Mindy can warrant a dvd release why the hell isn't the ninja turtles (the most popular cartoon show of the 80's period) being released on dvd? A couple never-before-seen episodes and I think the first three episodes of season one (and being retarded enough to call it season one) just doesn't cut it.
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#15
yea i think this would have to be a must.. I mean the Ps3 is said to support Blu-ray, DVD, and CD's. So hopefully everything will follow.. and yea well VHS was a little different.. At least with Cds,dvd's they are the same design and machines can be used for everything.
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