DailyTech - Blu-ray and HD-DVD Alternative; VCDHD

Submit News

Hardware Blu-ray and HD-DVD Alternative; VCDHD
Sven Olsen (Blog) - March 30, 2006 3:00 PM

21 comment(s) - last by VirtualName.. on Mar 31 at 3:52 PM

Do we really need another media standard to worry about?

Last week three distinct entities from different parts of the world, Sprout CD of Ukraine, Russia-based Antrop-Studio, and the Dutch firm VDL ODMS, came together to introduce a new high definition format media called VCDHD, or Versatile Compact Disc High Density, which is said to compete with the current DVD standards.

VCDHD holds just as much data as curent single sided DVDs at about 4.7GB, but what the format leaves out is licensing requirements that our good old DVDs hold. According to VCDHD.com the VCDHD media is half the thickness of regular DVDs but are backwards compatible with current DVD players.

Other upsides to VCDHD over DVD, according to VCDHD.com, are the "reduction of errors in the beginning of the information zone" which is possible by an improved manufacturing process and overall improvements in the geometry of the disc. The materials used in manufcturing these discs are also said to not only make the media more reliable, but also to reduce the production time from 6-9 seconds it takes to manufacture a DVD to about 2 seconds to make a VCDHD disc. The rejection level is also decreased to about 1% compared to current processes.

Blu-ray and HD-DVD players and movies are set to launch within the next few months and many are already sick of the format war between them. Since these two formats are the top dogs in the media wars it will be impossible for any other formats to be adopted, let alone make make an entrance onto the playing field.

Comments

Threshold

Username
Password
remember me

This article is over a month old, voting and posting comments is disabled

Gotta support this one

By lemonadesoda on 3/30/2006 5:45:47 PM , Rating: 5

In a world of opensource and linux, I vote for licence-free VCDHD.

Blue-ray and HD-DVD got here too late. If it had arrived 18 months ago, I would have bought one for backing up my PC and servers.

As it happens, the new formats are not large enough to span even one HDD drive. Backing up becomes a real pain. Multiple DVD (whatever format) need to be installed. Multiple blanks of the new format are also expensive.

And in the meantime, HDD prices have dropped and densities have got higher.

RESULT: I have now bought a network storage device dedicated to BACKUPs only. No need for tapes, CDs, DVD, HDDVD etc. Just run the backup software and it quietly runs in the background without the need for a user to insert disk blanks etc. No need for labelling or additional shelving.

Since we have all got used to watching DivX movies, and one DVD can fit onto one CD... I'm sure one high-def 1080 movie could fit onto a single DVD when DivX'ed.

So therefore, I want faster cheaper more reliable DVD. And if it can do 15GB then great. VCDHD seems to fit the bill.

RE: Gotta support this one

By logan77 on 3/31/2006 3:38:05 AM , Rating: 2

Exactly! If it's capable of delivering DVD amount of information with red laser tech. -> license fee free <- than it's all I need ... apart maybe from 15 GB on a blue laser, but HD-DVD/Blue Ray Disc ? - thank's but not (they already divided cake between themselves). And since both formats have recently delayed it's respective market debuts than maybe there is time for VCDHD to gain momentum ?

Parent

RE: Gotta support this one

By masher2

(blog) on 3/31/2006 8:32:43 AM , Rating: 2

> "RESULT: I have now bought a network storage device dedicated to BACKUPs only. No need for tapes, CDs, DVD, HDDVD etc"

Near-line storage isn't a backup. What happens when your site burns down or gets hit by a tornado? Without a tape or disc to take offsite, you're still vulnerable.

Parent

RE: Gotta support this one

By Zoomer on 3/31/2006 9:20:03 AM , Rating: 2

Sorry, Blu-Ray and HDDVD are alerady using h.264, which is superior to divx, about a 25% difference, too.

Parent

"If you can find a PS3 anywhere in North America that's been on shelves for more than five minutes, I'll give you 1,200 bucks for it." -- SCEA President Jack Tretton