HD DVD and The Blue Laser

[George Bellefontaine]

Apparently Sony, Philips, Samsung, LG, Thomson, Hitachi, Pioneer, Matsushita and Sharp have agreed to a new DVD standard adopting the blue laser. The so-called Blu-laser disc works with a blue laser that operates at a higher frequency than current technology, can store up to 13 hours of film, compared to the current limit of 133 mins per side. It can hold up to 27GB of information. Players that can record and play Blu-ray discs are expected to hit the market between 2003 and 2004.

But will the studios support HD Dvds by making prerecorded films available to the buying public. Methinks not for awhile,anyway. They are just too paranoid about piracy.




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[rlabarge]

I think that the studio will certainly release their titles on HD-DVD in the future, but probably not with the specific technology that was announced as "Blu-Ray". This is a phase change rewritable technology, and as such it is not ideal for mass replicated, low cost products like an HD-DVD release from a studio.

I am sure we will see some additional blue laser technology announcements in the next few months, and hopefully at least one of them can be used for low cost, mass replicated HD-DVD discs.




Ralph LaBarge
Managing Partner, Alpha DVD
Author, "DVD Authoring & Production"
rlabarge@alphadvd.com