Next generation of DVD unveiled

[Wendelius]

Don't know if this will be news to you as it was to me but I just noticed this article on the BBC's web site:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/entertainment/new_media/newsid_1829000/1829241.stm


The new discs will be able to hold 27 gigabytes of information - compared with the current limit of 4.7 gigabytes.


No more 2 discs edition. DTS full rate and Superbit image quality for all movies. Yeah! ;)

Wendelius

[Sima]

Great!

Looks like another excuse for George Lucas not to do The Original Star Wars DVDs

:rolleyes:

[Idle Child]

hope we dont need new players to play them!!! could be expensive...

[Toothy]

The use a new laser, so yes....new hardware is needed.

[john316]

Originally posted by Sima
Great!

Looks like another excuse for George Lucas not to do The Original Star Wars DVDs

:rolleyes:

What do you mean - it will make it more likely because he can release it on the current DVD format and then re-release the same product on the next gen DVD! :D

[John Nelson]

Any opinions on enhancements to this 2nd-generation DVD format?

Here's my two:

1. Support for 21:9 anamorphic enhancement. Encodes a 2.35:1 film using (almost) all the available scan lines, and the player can squeeze it down to the correct proportion, depending on whether you are using a 4:3 or 16:9 TV.

2. Proper hardware and software support for 4:3 pan&scan mode. All discs would come encoded with 4:3 "centre of interest" data, and the player would be able to output a full-resolution 4:3 picture, for both 16:9 and 2.35:1 films (working in conjunction with my idea above). Would immediately put an end to the big W/S vs. P&S debate, and save the studios money on releasing separate P&S versions or dual-sided discs.


-- J.

[Wendelius]

Originally posted by Toothy
They use a new laser, so yes....new hardware is needed.

That's pretty much how I understand it, yes.

It will be interesting to see how they will try to market a new DVD format so soon after the initial one became successful.

It's obvious the new players (whenever those come out) will be compatible with the previous format but what will be the advertised incentive to switch?

Wendelius

[den]

http://thedvdforums.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=56934 :)

[MarcusUK]

4.7 gigs? I was under the impression that a dual sided, dual layered disk could go up to 18 gigs? Wasn't this used for the first release of T2 Judgement Day (R1)?
It will be interesting to see how much will fit on a layer. Might get rid of those pesky layer changes
:)

[Chris]

Originally posted by MarcusUK
4.7 gigs? I was under the impression that a dual sided, dual layered disk could go up to 18 gigs? Wasn't this used for the first release of T2 Judgement Day (R1)?
It will be interesting to see how much will fit on a layer. Might get rid of those pesky layer changes
:)

Loads of news sites reporting on this new format are giving incorrect details on DVD (ie. maximam disc space of 4.7GB and the myth that dvd can only hold 133 minutes of video)

This new format can have 27GB per side (should be enough for just over 2 hours of HDTV quality video). Dual sided should be possible.

DVD supports just under 9GB per side.

Currently the lasers for the new technology are not compatable with current dvds (they companies say that it should technically be possible to make them compatable).

The new format does not currenty support mulitple layers, but Matsu****a is working on dual layer technology for it to create a 50GB disc.

Blue laser technology is not mass produced yet and is very expensive (and takes up a lot of space)

[xtrmntr]

using different frequencies of light and different layering systems it's possible to get much more even than that on a standard sized optical disk. imo when dvd started they should have been using higher capacity disks, or used mpeg4 streams at high bitrate giving better compression (ie no more annoying flipper disks etc) but clearly the constraints on dvd decoding hardware were such that dvd would not have become affordable for longer.