51GB HD DVD's Now A Reality

[ShotgunSteven]

SOURCE

Toshiba touts 51GB HD DVD
By Tony Smith
15th January 2007 12:20 GMT

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. That's plenty, say the format's supporters, for a movie encoded in 1080p HD resolution and a stack of extras.

But Blu-ray backers have long touted their favoured format's higher capacity. In May 2005, Toshiba said it was hoping to eliminate that advantage, and initially touted a three-layer disc capable of holding 45GB. The new disc's higher capacity arises from an increase in the storage space on each layer, to 17GB.

The snag, of course, is that today's HD DVD players will be incapable of reading the new disc, which is something of a problem for early adopters, who will presumably have to buy new kit. Toshiba last week positioned the new disc as an "extended capacity, high-end option".

The war continues to heat up...

 

[destrekor]

that would be bullsh!t to disregard early adopters in that way.
hopefully the Blu Ray Association comes up with a triple-layer, 75gb disc that fits inside of the BD spec. And hopefully early players could be firmware updated to handle the 3rd layer.

 

[ShotgunSteven]

Originally posted by: destrekor
that would be bullsh!t to disregard early adopters in that way.
hopefully the Blu Ray Association comes up with a triple-layer, 75gb disc that fits inside of the BD spec. And hopefully early players could be firmware updated to handle the 3rd layer.

Considering the trouble they had with just the dual-layer Blu-Ray, I have my doubts on that.

 

[loup garou]

Originally posted by: destrekor
that would be bullsh!t to disregard early adopters in that way.
hopefully the Blu Ray Association comes up with a triple-layer, 75gb disc that fits inside of the BD spec. And hopefully early players could be firmware updated to handle the 3rd layer.

BDA has been working on an 8-layer 200GB disc. I wouldn't hold your breath for it, nor its compatibility with current players.

 

[j00fek]

:thumbsup:

 

[chambersc]

Originally posted by: destrekor
that would be bullsh!t to disregard early adopters in that way.
hopefully the Blu Ray Association comes up with a triple-layer, 75gb disc that fits inside of the BD spec. And hopefully early players could be firmware updated to handle the 3rd layer.

You hint your bias.

 

[theprodigalrebel]

This format war is retarded. They are using the same video codecs now (and the same audio technologies too. Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TruHD etc. ) and from the few head-to-head comparison reviews I've seen of titles available on both formats, there doesn't appear to be any real difference.

Hell, when HDTV was coming out, most people claimed they couldn't tell the difference between 480p and 720p/1080i. Now they expect people to tell the difference between (say) 20 Mbps and 25 Mbps video.

/End Mindless Rant

 

[randomlinh]

Originally posted by: theprodigalrebel
Hell, when HDTV was coming out, most people claimed they couldn't tell the difference between 480p and 720p/1080i.

I presume you mean the difference between 480p content upscaled properly to 720p vs true 720p....

but yes, this format war is retarded.

 

[ShotgunSteven]

Supposedly the higher capacity was the primary reason for Disney's interest in Blu-Ray, though I imagine they like the idea of the copy protection as well. Perhaps this higher capacity disc will sway some of the movie studios into releasing their films on both formats.

 

[secretanchitman]

51GB as opposed to blu-rays 50GB.

stupid imo.

 

[destrekor]

Originally posted by: chambersc

Originally posted by: destrekor
that would be bullsh!t to disregard early adopters in that way.
hopefully the Blu Ray Association comes up with a triple-layer, 75gb disc that fits inside of the BD spec. And hopefully early players could be firmware updated to handle the 3rd layer.

You hint your bias.

so?

either way, who cares if I have a bias towards BD or not... it would be good because that would provide even more space for less compression, but also room to allow bonus content to be in HD as well. I don't want the movie to be in HD, and all the bonus content to still look blurry and crappy on my tv.

its just like I hope BD wins as a format, because I have money invested in it.
besides, its the better format option
software and studios choice of codecs aside (like some studios releasing in VC-1 for HD-DVD, yet still using MPEG2 for BD), I see no reason how HD-DVD is better. this is not blind bias either. I chose my format (although it also came with my PS3), based on its specs and on the studio support. and with disney recently supporting BD only at the moment, its the superior format. the only thing people complained about was manufacturing (companies say its equal or better now because of no longer fusing two pieces together, rather making single pieces for the media), and the data being stored so close to the surface (of which that is no longer a complaint either because of the protective coating, which actually works wonders).

but I didn't want to get into a format debate. I was simply stating my hopeful wishes.

Originally posted by: secretanchitman
51GB as opposed to blu-rays 50GB.

stupid imo.

agreed. plus they are proposing changing spec just to do so, thus screwing over all early adopters.
Go Toshiba! :roll:

 

[d3n]

This is pretty interesting. I have read that with some of the improved versions of the VC1 codec you can have pretty much lossless HD-DVDs at 15GB. Not sure if the audio tracks are included.