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Whither Blu-Ray and HD-DVD?

Many of the regular readers of this forum have commented on the lack of commercial success of SACD and DVD-A, and have looked forward with anticipation to the launch of the new Blu-Ray and/or HD-DVD formats.

The Saturday issue of The Seattle Times carried an article on the technology page, written by two of its reporters covering the CES in Las Vegas, that raises questions about whether either Blu-Ray or HD-DVD will become successful as "hi-def" formats.

According to the article, a company called InPhase (located in Longmont, CO) has announced that is has begun distribution of a new holographic storage disc called the H-ROM. This new disc, which is shipping years ahead of its expected debut, has a storage capacity of 300 gigabytes (5-10 the capacity of HD-DVD or Blu-Ray), and is read by the same type of red laser used for CD's and DVD's. The data transfer rate for the H-ROM is 20 MB per second.

InPhase is currently shipping the discs to to companies that are developing consumer devices that will use the H-ROM, and it anticipates that professional systems using the H-ROM to go on sale later this year.

So, this poses an interesting dilemma for both the entertainment industry and for aduiophiles and early adopters of new technology: support Blu-Ray or HD-DVD, or simply wait just a bit longer for H-ROM to leapfrog both of these formats?

Opinions and commentary welcome...
sdcampbell
kennyt's avatar
kennyt
1,226 posts
 
Bombaywalla,

I did read that little snippet you speak of, well actually skimmed it so I do not recall the actual transfer rates for the proposed formats...

FWIW It is not in the Feb TAS, and I can't find the mag it was in...
bombaywalla's avatar
bombaywalla
1,958 posts
 
Kennyt,
>> FWIW It is not in the Feb TAS, and I can't find the mag it was in...

I was also a bit doubtful that it was in the Jan/Feb TAS as I wrote my post as I could not remember. I read that article last Friday & jogging back my memory I believe that it was in the UK magazine "Hi-Fi Choice".
Sorry about that!
prpixel
876 posts
 
Stereo TV was introduced about 25 five years ago and still not everything is broadcasted in it yet. We are getting close, but not quite all the way there yet. So, if stereo took 25 years to catch on, I'd say HD is going to take 15-20 years. So, only 10 to 15 more years to wait.

Most people don't really care about it. They say it looks nice when they see it, but don't really care about it. The exception is sports fans. Most people won't think about upgraded until their current TV takes a crap.

As far as HD-DVD/Blue Ray goes, I'll wait until the format war is over. A format war killed DVD-A/SACD; lets see what it does to these new formats. BTW Blue-ray requires that your TV has a HDMI input with copy protection enabled to get the HD signal. That means about 75-80% of us HD TV owners have to go out and buy a new set. I'll wait until my current set takes a crap.
kennyt's avatar
kennyt
1,226 posts
 
Bombaywalla,

It was in the January Absolute Sound (interesting I found it on display @ Barnes and Nobles today, while the February issue is already no the old pile at my house....

Seems the transfer rates for these other formats is... from memory 2.7-11 Mb/s.... so I guess 20 would be a big step up..... until the next generation of media/storage comes out..
jaybo
4,478 posts
 
hddvd has warner and uni lined up. only a matter of time for blue ray to fade into sacd land.
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