NEC demos next-gen DVD drive with one red, blue head

[Julio Franco]

NEC has built the first optical storage drive to support not only today's DVDs but tomorrow's High Definition blue-laser technology-based discs, the company said today.

The machine uses a single optical head that contains one lens fed by two semiconductor lasers: a red one for backward compatibility with current DVD technology and a blue one for HD DVD.

Read more: The Register.

 

[SNGX1275]

Well thats pretty cool, although talk of this has been floating around for some years. I like the push to keep them in a regular disk medium rather than the cartridge based crap sony makes.
Bummer that its not going to be avaiable until 2005.

 

[Vehementi]

I hadn't heard about the blue-laser HD DVDs before now, so that's pretty cool. This is just another step in optical storage - first it was the 600M CD, then all the way up to 830M, and now we have 30G DVDs. That seems so insane, but, this is the tech industry! It is truly amazing how fast things advance along in this industry - truly impossible to keep up with.

This makes me think of a die-hard computer nerd communist. The entire industry he is so infatuated with is only made possible through not having communism. If communism were in place in America and Japan, the tech industry would be nonexistent. We wouldn't have computers, because noone has any motivation to do anything new and exciting in a communist state. Now, with two huge competing corporations, like Intel and AMD, NVIDIA and ATi, we have humongous advances, so incredibly out of this world.

It also makes me wonder, if there are civilizations elsewhere, how advanced they are, both technologically and economically. I wonder if they have advanced as quickly as we have. Where the human race is concerned, I think that the 60 some years from us first taking flight (1903) to launching a human into space (1960s) was fairly amazing, but I really have nothing to compare it to.

$.02

 

[Tarkus]

My concern with this is, buying into this hardware before the standard is firmly set, what happens if they have to modify it before the technology comes to fruition. I remember a few years ago when some CD writers couldn't be made to work correctly with the new standards and the company basically screwed the users when it was discovered they couldn't be upgraded.

 

[SNGX1275]

Tarkus - I think they already have agreed upon a standard.

Two HD DVD format specifications are currently being promoted for standardisation. One is the ROM disc with 15GB of storage capacity on a single layer and 30GB on dual-layer media, and the other is a rewritable disc with 20GB of storage capacity. In November, the DVD Forum's steering committee approved the proposed HD DVD-ROM format in version 0.9. ®

 

[Tarkus]

Well, yes I know they announced a standard but, jumping on it this early has tended to be a mistake, as past examples have shown with CD writers, and you can also see the same problems with early adopters of DVD recorders too. I'd still wait a year after the first drive shows up on the retail market.

 

[poertner_1274]

I typically stay a generation behind for 2 reasons.
1.) Money is always going to be an issue and to stay on top of technology it will cost you a lot of it.
2.) It's always nice to see how these things turn our in systems, and how widely used they will be before buying it.

This ensures me that I won't be broke and I will still have good components, just not the best.

 

[StormBringer]

I pretty much do the same thing Poert, I also wait a bit just to make sure it doesn't end up being an edsel. Its nice to have the newest stuff when it first comes out, but its best to wait till you see that its going to become widely used, and that it doesn't have some fatal flaw that was not noticed before.

 

[SNGX1275]

Originally posted by Tarkus
Well, yes I know they announced a standard but, jumping on it this early has tended to be a mistake, as past examples have shown with CD writers, and you can also see the same problems with early adopters of DVD recorders too. I'd still wait a year after the first drive shows up on the retail market.

I disagree in this case, in the example about DVD recorders they had several "standards" at first +,-R for example. But in this case there is just 1 standard for the recordable version and 1 for the RW version.

 

[poertner_1274]

That is sooooo much better. I can't stand the reasoning behind the current DVD recordables. It just doesn't make sense to me, except for another way for the companies to make money based on the media they support.

It will be nice to get back to the CDR and RW days where everything was the same.

 

[Vehementi]

Originally posted by poertner_1274
That is sooooo much better. I can't stand the reasoning behind the current DVD recordables. It just doesn't make sense to me, except for another way for the companies to make money based on the media they support.

It will be nice to get back to the CDR and RW days where everything was the same.

No kidding. If not simply because those hybrid (+/-) drives are so expensive, but because of compatibility. Having two seperate standards that don't have any pivotal qualities between them can only hurt the consumer. Now with one standard, everyone's happy. It only makes sense, and I don't know why it was ever here in the first place...

 

[poertner_1274]

You won't believe how many people come into work asking for blank dvd's and I ask them what format do you need? And almost every answer is "I have no idea, I thought I juse needed to grab some discs?" It's ridiculous.

 

[{{clewless}}]

Originally posted by Vehementi

This makes me think of a die-hard computer nerd communist. The entire industry he is so infatuated with is only made possible through not having communism. If communism were in place in America and Japan, the tech industry would be nonexistent. We wouldn't have computers, because noone has any motivation to do anything new and exciting in a communist state.


I wonder if they have advanced as quickly as we have. Where the human race is concerned, I think that the 60 some years from us first taking flight (1903) to launching a human into space (1960s) was fairly amazing, but I really have nothing to compare it to.

I find these comments rather hard to swallow. The first is rather narrow minded. The communist countries produced many creative individuals in both the arts and sciences. Creativity is seldom fueled by greed, nor quelled by oppression. And I have worked side by side with 'freedom loving Americans' that sit and do nothing and expect to be paid. The latter part seems rather bigheaded. Who is to say we have advanced quickly. Time is a relative concept. Along with these technological advances, we have progressed from the days of my childhood where we didn't even own a lock for our doors or windows (they were not needed) to the present where our cities are bombed and our schoolchildren are the targets of misguided sociopaths.
But I digress, sorry if I come across too passionately, but ill-conceived (IMO) statements beg to be challenged rather than taken as fact.

Now as to the reason I started browsing this thread, I think this will be a huge improvement to the current state of the DVD market. The dual laser configuration for backward compatability will also be welcomed.

But how about a third green laser? Then maybe the discs could be etched with color holograms rather than labels.
Maybe I should patent that idea...Ain't technology grand?

 

[TS | Thomas]

Originally posted by Vehementi Where the human race is concerned, I think that the 60 some years from us first taking flight (1903) to launching a human into space (1960s) was fairly amazing, but I really have nothing to compare it to.

The first man in space was a communist you know

 

[Krugger]

Originally posted by poertner_1274
You won't believe how many people come into work asking for blank dvd's and I ask them what format do you need? And almost every answer is "I have no idea, I thought I juse needed to grab some discs?" It's ridiculous.

the 2 versions of DVDs was a horrible idea. they need to standardize things completely. this whole blue/red laser thing is an interesting idea, i wonder if it'll become practical.

 

[chuonthis]

It is definitely going to be practical. When the new generation of blue ray DVDs come out, you'll need the blue laser to read those. And the red laser is for reading the current generation of DVDs.

 

[poertner_1274]

The sooner they can get this rolled out an working properly the better. What they have done currently is nothing but a huge mess. As far as practicality goes, I think this is going to be just what we need for the next generation storage devices.

 

[p05ta1]

Now with Sony dropping out of race I hope this will go through. market demand and price seems to be the only way to drive this technology.

 

[Vehementi]

Originally posted by TS | Thomas
The first man in space was a communist you know

Now if only the USSR's space program was corporate-funded and not state-funded I think NASA is a horrid idea, we would get further with two competing space corporations now wouldn't we?

 

[Vehementi]

Originally posted by {{clewless}}
I find these comments rather hard to swallow. The first is rather narrow minded. The communist countries produced many creative individuals in both the arts and sciences. Creativity is seldom fueled by greed, nor quelled by oppression. And I have worked side by side with 'freedom loving Americans' that sit and do nothing and expect to be paid. The latter part seems rather bigheaded. Who is to say we have advanced quickly. Time is a relative concept. Along with these technological advances, we have progressed from the days of my childhood where we didn't even own a lock for our doors or windows (they were not needed) to the present where our cities are bombed and our schoolchildren are the targets of misguided sociopaths.
But I digress, sorry if I come across too passionately, but ill-conceived (IMO) statements beg to be challenged rather than taken as fact.

I didn't say communists didn't produce anything creative in the arts or sciences (or anything else) departments, but, I would think capitalists offer more, because there's more incentive, financial mainly (American Dream).

I'm also saying humanity in general has advanced quickly, perhaps throught the aid of capitalism. Who's to say, I know, but those are my opinions. But, my example of the flight to space travel still seems fairly good.

I didn't mean for my comments to be taken as fact, it's only my opinion and you don't have to listen to me if you don't want to

But my has this thread gone off topic...

 

[Masque]

Sooooo.......wadday think of dem Dodgers, eh? ;-)

 

[SNGX1275]

Originally posted by Vehementi
Now if only the USSR's space program was corporate-funded and not state-funded I think NASA is a horrid idea, we would get further with two competing space corporations now wouldn't we?

Impossible to stay on topic it seems. But anyway I think that statement is wrong. First - aside from commercial travel into space there is nothing a corporation would want, and the costs would be so high nobody would go - at least not enough to have competing corporations - would be extremely hard for corporations to make money anyway cause of the costs. Also NASA runs a crapload of expirments while up there to try and find ways of improving life down here, no corporation would do that.

Anyway, we somehow need to get this tread back on topic or just let it die like all threads should eventually.