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Philips DVD Burner to Support Blu-ray

By Ed Oswald, BetaNews

January 4, 2005, 1:56 PM

Philips introduced Monday a new computer DVD recorder that will be able to record and play DVDs in the new Blu-ray format. The unit will be on display this week at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas and is expected to be available by the second half of this year.

Blu-ray discs will be able to store up to 50GB of data through the use of a smaller laser.

The announcement comes as a surprise to many industry analysts, who did not expect a Blu-ray player to hit the market until sometime in 2006. It also puts pressure on the competing high-definition DVD format, HD-DVD, which is not expected to have a player available until the holiday shopping season.

Movie studios remain split between the competing formats. Blu-ray is backed by Disney and Sony Pictures, while Warner Brothers, Paramount and Universal pictures have come out in support of HD-DVD.

However, no studio has come out and given exclusive support to either Blu-ray or HD-DVD, a sign that any of the major studios may jump ship if sales favor one format over the other.

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By DeadFly

posted Jan 5, 2005 - 4:01 PM

I read somewhere (CNet?) that they are proposing HD-DVD be dual layer where the first layer is normal DVD and the deeper layer is HD-DVD so they can put out discs that work on old players too. Also, there was some talk about TDK's technology to scratch proof optical media was tied in with the HD-DVD group. That would be ideal for DVD rentals; personally about 1 out of 5 DVDs I rent is too scratched to watch the whole movie. One standard would be nice, but I could still see a market for a higher density (and faster writing) optical media for backups. As it is, I'm thinking about dumping my DLT changer for inexpensive IDE hard drives (cheaper and faster).

Score: 0

By Comit

posted Jan 4, 2005 - 10:37 PM

Hopefully blu-ray won't have a bunch of formats that'll split the market even more.
I don't see movie studios having a big need for them though. 50 GB for a movie? I'd wager it's more likely to be bought by those who have backup needs.

Score: 0

By seier

posted Jan 5, 2005 - 5:58 AM

Honestly, are you not aware of how enormously much more drive space is necessary for HD-TV quality recording vs. a DVD? 50GB is undoubtedly just right.

DVD 720x480 = 345,600 pixels
HD-TV 1920x1080 = 2,073,600 pixels

In other words HDTV requires 6 times as much disk space as the video provided on today's DVDs. 6*4GB (4 being the size of the average dvd we come to 24GB). Rather than being forced to provide 2 DVDs one for the movie and the other for all the outtakes, interviews, and commentaries, a medium with 4 hours worth of space on it would easily house all the necessary media on one disk. Furthermore this added space should provide the capacity to ship with more audio tracks (languages) than most DVDs currently provide ~3. So in summary 50GB is not only necessary, it's a highly logical amount. Though yes, you are absolutely right it will also kick a** for backups. However, bear in mind that the disks will be far from cheap initially as will the drive. Backing up onto optical formats is also relatively slow. Which brings me back to the best backup medium of all time, hard drives. Try a removable USB HD solution.
Cheers,
Christian Blackburn