New Affordable HD DVD format poised for release

[Jim Boda]

http://displaydaily.com/2007/09/17/r...-life-to-dvds/

Built on Red laser multi layer technology, the players will hit the market in the $180.00 dollar range. (Costco, RadioShack, Amazon)

Of course, they need more titles. Supposedly the players will uprez existing DVD's nicely...but, I'd need to see it.

[Heath McKnight]

I can't keep up with the format war, grin. It can only get more and more interesting as the competition heats up further.

heath

[Pat Griffin]

Good. Maybe Apple's new Mac Pros won't have to tack on an extra $600 bucks for the Blu-Ray burner!

[Evan C. King]

Even if this is promising the marketing machine for HD-DVD and Blu-ray are probably way too far ahead for this to ever really get off the ground.

[Zack Birlew]

I say "too late"!

I personally think people have just now gotten used to HD-DVD and Bluray on the sales racks, a new format so soon is just going to confuse people even more, not decrease it. Their advertising will also be playing catchup as well. On top of all of that, they're still missing the point with going to blue laser technology, the storage!!! Granted, 200gb is excessive for most movies, but 30gb is far too little for future HD content (ie. HD behind the scenes, multiple featurettes, DVD-ROM games, ect.). Big movies like "Lord of The Rings" and "Matrix" come to mind, not in the movies themselves, but all of the special features that go with them.

If you could have everything on a single disc, that would be better then sorting through pages of DVD's in big collector's sets. TV shows as well would benefit. Each episode being transferred/remastered to HD alone would eat up that 30gb per disc. Obviously, a 200gb blue laser disc would be better to have for that kind of product. That way people don't have to dedicate shelf after shelf for TV show seasons.

Also, this product will also be competing with newer formats being released, particularly those holographic storage discs that are supposedly a year or two away if I remember correctly.

[Lawrence Bansbach]

Someone will probably release a 1080p Blu-Ray/HD DVD combo player for $250 or less, and then the format war will be over. Frankly, I can't see why the hi-def players cost so much -- upwards of 10 times what a DVD player costs. Are blue lasers that expensive?

[Daniel Ross]

Expensive because they aren't mass produced yet. That'll change.

But it's also supply and demand, and the companies taking advantage of the novelty and unavailability of the products.
Sell for more if they can, right?
Not nice, but smart for profits.

[Tyson Persall]

If a third Hi-Def Disk format comes out and the consumers see the disk prices are cheaper and the consoles are cheaper then that format will rise to the top.

[Xavier Etown]

Wow, it will be on sale in the US in October? Will new DVD authoring software need to become available as well upon its release or will we see patches or updates to the current software tools already in use?

[Greg Boston]

Originally Posted by Lawrence Bansbach

Frankly, I can't see why the hi-def players cost so much -- upwards of 10 times what a DVD player costs. Are blue lasers that expensive?

As with most technology, you are paying a premium for a couple reasons. The main one is usually for the manufacturer or inventor to recoup their R&D costs. But in a free market society such as ours, we, the consumers, are ultimately a big part of the selling price. We either pay it, or we don't.

-gb-

[Pat Griffin]

I'm not technical on the subject but I'm pretty sure I heard that the clean-room standards and machine calibrations it takes to make blue laser Blu-Ray discs are much tougher and more expensive than red laser. So the price is more than mass production, they're also harder to produce.

[Kevin Shaw]

Originally Posted by Tyson Persall

If a third Hi-Def Disk format comes out and the consumers see the disk prices are cheaper and the consoles are cheaper then that format will rise to the top.

Not if there's almost no mainstream movie content. This format is DOA and Blu-ray is winning the format war, at least in the US.

[Jim Boda]

Originally Posted by Kevin Shaw

Not if there's almost no mainstream movie content. This format is DOA and Blu-ray is winning the format war, at least in the US.

Like I said, I want to see the quality of the product before making a judgement...but, the technology of a multi-layer disk that this company has developed will translate to Blu-ray when it becomes more affordable for the masses.

To be able to get high quality HD with the faster red laser at an affordable price could be huge for the whole industry...even if they have to get established in the Asian market first.

I'm more interested in when they develop the DVD writers for this format along w/ their authoring software. You would think that some of the big companies like Microsoft and Apple might want to look into a more affordable high storage disk solution.

[Kevin Shaw]

Originally Posted by Jim Boda

I'm more interested in when they develop the DVD writers for this format along w/ their authoring software. You would think that some of the big companies like Microsoft and Apple might want to look into a more affordable high storage disk solution.

I don't see any reason for anyone to back this format in markets where blue-laser discs are already taking hold. Not only do we not need the further confusion, but using many layers on a single disc isn't particularly desirable because it would be inherently less reliable. If we do use multi-layer technology it will be to get hundreds of gigabytes on a single disc, not to recreate the capacity of current blue-laser discs in a more complex way. Plus the stated price of the players won't offer any meaningful advantage over HD-DVD and only a little over Blu-ray. Definitely DOA.

[Jim Boda]

Well, here's an interesting update on the release...

http://community.tvguide.com/blog-en...epth/800026706

Looks like they are about to make a push to sign on the major studios:

...But the main question for USA and Canadian consumers is, "where are the films?" Solomon notes that they really haven't done a "full court press" with the studios yet, to sign them up for releases on the VMD format, but expects to begin discussions in the next few weeks. Solomon's been in content distribution for 35 years; his relationship with the studio heads is excellent, and he is planning to discuss VMD content with all North American studio heads, both the majors and independents, during the last half of November. He's aware that some studios present themselves as "exclusive" to one of the existing hi-def formats, but he believes that these studios really don't know VMD yet, and when he shows them NME's system, there is a possibility that they will realize that the number of VMD players planned for manufacture will lead to a strong revenue base much faster than with existing HD formats. NME points out that Blu-ray and HD DVD system prices started out hundreds of dollars higher than they are right now, where VMD models started life at an under-$200 consumer cost, and will go down from there. Film titles are expected to cost $19.99 for most, and maybe a few as high as $29.99...compared to a $30-$40 SRP for most HD DVDs and Blu-ray Discs. NME is go to try to get the studios to see the logic of support their system at a fraction of the cost of the existing two systems, and hopefully great things will happen after those meetings occur. No guarantees, they say, but they are very hopeful. If the studios agree with this logic, then they should be able to ramp up on any given VMD release faster than implementing a blue-laser technology disc for the same film...