Forum - View topicNEWS: Anime on Blu-Ray
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Raoh
 Posts: 357 Location: Florence, OR |
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I personally am backing Blu-ray, and here is why (This also contains my opinions on the matter).
At the recent Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Microsoft announced that HD-DVD would only be able to be used in Xbox 360 with the purchase of an add-on. Not only this, but that it would only be used for Movies, NOT games. In this way, if Sony where to use BD discs as a standard for PS3 games, they're games would look a heck of alot better due to the ability to use larger files in their games. As it stands, I am pretty sure Sony does plan to use BD as its PS3 standard, however, PS3 will still play PS1 and PS2 games, aswell as DVDs. Unless Microsoft changes its plans, and plans to use the 25GB HD-DVD disc for games, aswell as movies, the Xbox is going to die. Because Sony is planning to use BD for games. As nice as the Xbox 360 games look now, they're still only using DVD's for it. Sony will have alot more space to work with, and thus higher quality graphics will come out from this. I think when all is said and done, HD-DVD will have lost to Blu-ray, and Xbox 360 will be out of the picture if PS3 makes the BD its standard format. We'll have to wait and see, though. |
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Kazuki-san
 Posts: 2251 Location: Houston, TX |
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Except CDs and DVDs have not much in common except that they are both optical storage mediums and they have the same physical disc size. When DVD first hit the market, CD reading capability was not a common item. Multiread devices will be around so long as it is practical, and possible to support them. In this case it means making sure there is an optical pickup on the drive that can produce the proper wavelength to read whatever media you have in the drive. Assuming that the next "major" development to hit the market is simply a further move down the spectrum toward ultraviolet, allowing a further decrease in the pit size and length, it will be less advantageous to continue to offer multiread support for older, legacy media. Another issue is the location of the data layer on the disc. CD, DVD & HD-DVD, as well as Blu-ray all have different substrate sizes which changes the point where the laser must focus to read the disc. (For anyone who is interested, for CD it's 1.2mm, DVD & HD .6mm, and Blu-Ray .1) Beyond all that, is the simple fact that we will eventually move beyond the current optical storage (at least in the same vein) system that we currently have. The only reason current devices support older formats is that it's really a simple matter to do so at this point, and there's hasn't been a format change that moves almost all applications of a certain medium to a newer product. (i.e. music and software from CDs to new format) While you can certainly enjoy playing your CD on your DVD player now, you can't play your tape on your cd player, your laserdisc in your dvd player, or your beta in your vcr. 
That's exactly what xstylus doesn't want (I believe), in a manner of speaking at least. It's true current implentations of content protection are not that hard to crack. There are any number of free programs that are happy to do so for you in a matter of seconds. What is on the horizon now though, has the potential to be very scary indeed. I'll touch only on the DRM system slated to be used on HD/BR which is AACS. This system has the capability to intercede itself in your attempt to excercise your fair use rights in a completely legal manner. It has the capability to revoke the encryption keys of an entire make/model of player so that no discs work on it, essentially making a revoked player an expensive decorative item. (This to prevent hacking of specific models, etc). It has the capability to revoke permission to play a specific title or an entire company's library. It does enable what is known as Managed Copy. Managed Copy allows you to make a DRM protected copy of the disc for various purposes (streaming, portable player, etc.) For HD-DVD it is mandatory and for Blu-ray it is voluntary. That means every HD-DVD must provide one managed copy of the title, although it's up to the studio to decide if that copy is free or not, and how much you would have to pay for it if they wanted to charge. For Blu-ray, Managed Copy will either be enabled or not on each idividual title by the studio. That being said, nothing much can be said on what will happen with AACS until it's out in the open for awhile. But one thing is farily certain, there is a large, builtin from the start ability, to misuse the system.
Since when did I say anything about a consumer product? There are uses for these formats in various industries that can have a fairly direct influence on a consumer's life and experiences without being a product directly available to, or popular with, consumers. Aside from that, Sony has already announced that the 100 gig discs are going to be commercialized, and the 200 gig discs have been demonstrated in the test labs. The future of the 200 gig discs has not been decided yet, but it has been shown that in our current digitally fueled lifestyle, no amount of space will ever be enough. I remember specifically one of the many times in my life I went to purchase a computer (well, just parts now and for the past several years, except for work). I was buying a Packard Bell computer with the smoking fast Cyrix-333 processor (which ran at 250mhz) that the salesperson told my father I would never (he was being serious) be able to fill this drive.. that I would have to buy thousands upon thousands of dollars of software to fill it up. What happened? Not long after that MP3s started getting thrown up on FTP sites in limited numbers. Me and several friends leeched like mad, and I was in line when the first $350 13 gigs hit the market.
Not many. Now ask the reason(s) why. 1. The stores want to make money and not stock something that will sit on their shelf and collect dust. Why will HDTV VCRs collect dust? Because the format is no longer a viable first-line money-maker. Sure, you can still make some money on people who are either too poor or too cheap to lose the VCRs, but the number of consumers who are going to shell out the big bucks for HDTV VCRs are a niche in a niche. A D-VHS tape is large, bulky, takes up a large amount of storage space, is not nearly as portable as CD/DVD, cannot be used for different applications such as data and music on a computer, and are fairly expensive per unit. I'll admit I didn't research prices in depth, but it appears about $6-7 per blank tape, and Amazon is selling Man on Fire for $34. I can't imagine that there is a large or widely available selection of D-VHS movies available. That makes it less likely a typical consumer would own one, given they would not be able to play DVDs, which have a substantially higher quality then the standard VHS that are most likely what a D-VCR owner would find available to them. HDTV is itself still not in most households, which would be the first precursor to wanting to buy one of these things. And yet still, as a consumer, if I wanted to, I could buy a HDTV D-VCR and obtain whatever selection of D-VHS video releases are available.
Well, 50gig Blu-ray disks have been running off the test production line for awhile now. Given increases in various formats of media, I find it hard to believe that the first or second generation of "next-gen" media will hit the "realized capactiy" limit for the whole line.
EDIT: Will be reworked later to remove sleep deprived fun with math. Also, even though 200 gigs has been reached in the test lab, nobody said it was a first gen offering. When DVD-5 first hit the market, most people couldn't even fathom the thought of DVD-18. You must also take into account that these are all different storage formats, and also mediums in some instances. You can't compare BR or HD to DVD because they simply are not the same. Like I already said, they are the same size, shape, and are optical in nature, but just about everything other then that is different about them.
This is where Managed Copying allows "legal" copying, but the file is under DRM, and can be limited with restrictions of use by the studios.
See my very first response up top. MS has delved head first into all things media content related, so now they must have the product which all the fancy new stuff they made can have a use (i.e. sell).
Yup, for several reasons. The manufacture of DVD-18 discs is more complicated then DVD-9 and costs more. As a result, not many replicators are equipped to stamp them. I remember reading somewhere that there was a high error rate in production, resulting in low usable batch yields. In addition, DVD-18 requires a person to physically get up and flip the disc over, that's something most people would rather not do. Dual-sided means twice as much space that has the potential to be damaged. Even dealing with DVD say DVD-5 when DVD-9 could be used.. some players, especially older ones have trouble when switching between layers on DVD-9 DVDs. Pumping out DVD-5s give them the most universally compatible, cost-effective (much larger stock requirement), least hassle DVD out there. Then there's the problem with perceived value tied to tangibility, or how much the actual physical DVD has a generally accepted value on it irregardless of content. Would I perceive a better value in paying $40 for one 8 ep DVD or $20 each for two 4 ep DVDs? Would I pay $40 for an 8 ep DVD and then pay $20 for the final 4 eps on a second and not feel I was being cheated in some manner? While I make enough profit, per volume to pay all costs associated with that volume? These are all the types that are weighed heavily when deciding such things. There are many more that I probably will never even think of, but are factors as well. Last edited by Kazuki-san on Sun Jan 08, 2006 1:50 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Nionel
 Posts: 357 Location: Nebraska |
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Not to get too off topic, but I honestly don't think that MS will ever switch over to using HD DVD for their 360 games. If they were to do that then it would be unfair to force people to buy an add on or wait for a new version of the system to release with an HD Drive in it, remeber here that this isn't cheap technology and to force people to buy something that they don't want too is a good way to kill your self in the market. Besides that even, graphics and disc space aren't every thing and there is nothing wrong with MS having to eventually release multi-disc games, I mean we did multi disc games all the time pack on the PS1 and it's not that hard to swap the disc out at a certain point. Anyway, on the whole new format thing. I don't like it. I don't want to have to go out and spend $500+ for a Blue-Ray player or $30+ that I've heard movies could cost on them. I mean, I buy a lot of anime and some of that is already more expensive that DVD movies, and I'd have to have to start paying $30-$40 for a disc with anywhere from 3-5 episodes on it, becasue honestly...why should I have to pay for a disc with more space on it if that extra space isn't being taken advantage of? |
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Pyoko
Posts: 56 |
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Nice going, try 45000%. |
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Kazuki-san
Posts: 2251 Location: Houston, TX |
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Yeah, by the time I started on that part, I was waaaayy past the point of sleeping, and those numbers actually looked perfectly correct at the time.. hehe. That's what being up for a straight 48 hours does to you. In fact, I'm going to sleep the rest of the day now, I fix that later. |
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FlamingPinecone
 Posts: 131 |
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Reading on the Blu Ray, they can hold alot more stuff than the DVD which means that you could get Season 1&2 of Ren and Stimpy on ONE Blue Ray disc instead of 3 DVDs.
Thats the only advantage I see so far and i'll dig it once it becomes affordable. |
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FlamingPinecone
Posts: 131 |
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Most games (current gen) use roughly half of the DVD space, bottlenecked by the processor speeds. While i am not fan of any particular console, using BD in a perfect world does mean more game room, it doesn't necessarly mean better looking games. It's up in the air and i'm merely speculating. |
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LordRobin
Posts: 354 Location: Akron, OH |
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Actually no. Microsoft is in the HD-DVD camp because Blu-Ray uses Java as the scripting language for its menu system. Microsoft sees Java as a threat to its Windows dominance, and would prefer HD-DVD, which uses a Microsoft scripting language, to win. Not being an anti-DRM crusader, I'd prefer Blu-Ray. It seems to be a better technology with a longer potential lifespan, and will be supported by the PS3 and Macintosh computers. ------RM |
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