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DVD Forum gives three-layer, 51GB HD DVD the thumbs up
By Tony Smith [More by this author]
11th September 2007 09:33 GMT

The DVD Forum, the organisation that oversees DVD and HD DVD technology, has approved Toshiba's proposed triple-layer, 51GB disc structure. The move paves the way to exceed - for now, at least - the 50GB capacity of a two-layer Blu-ray Disc.


Toshiba's 51GB HD DVD

Toshiba revealed the three-layer disc back in January 2007 before formally submitting the medium to the Forum in April.


Standard single- and dual-layer HD DVDs offer 15GB and 30GB of storage, respectively. Adding a third layer would have taken the overall capacity to 45GB, still less than a 50GB BD, so Toshiba's boffins worked to get an extra 2GB onto each layer of the three-tier HD DVD.

What's unclear at this stage is whether today's HD DVD drives and players will be able to read the new disc. However, with such a small number of HD DVD devices out there - relative to DVD players - only a limited number of early adopters are likely to be affected, and these are the kind of folk who are generally happy to upgrade in any case.

The Forum is also investigating a further format, one that fits a standard, single-layer DVD to the back of a two-layer HD DVD in order to allow standard definition content to be included for ordinary DVD players, effectively future-proofing the disc. The format is expected to be approved before the end of the year.

bilateralrope wrote:I view this as another reason to avoid the HD formats until one has clearly won against the others and is looking to be able to defeat DVD's. Not only is it hard to predict which will win, its even harder to predict a new format showing up and stomping the current ones.

Praxis wrote:

bilateralrope wrote:I view this as another reason to avoid the HD formats until one has clearly won against the others and is looking to be able to defeat DVD's. Not only is it hard to predict which will win, its even harder to predict a new format showing up and stomping the current ones.

This isn't a new format, it's just a tri-layer HD-DVD disc. It'll play in all existing HD-DVD players.

The Digital Bits on Monday wrote: Finally, in the "You've Got to Be F-ing Kidding Me!" category, it seems that there's a THIRD high-def disc format on the way. According to this story at Yahoo, a company called New Medium Enterprises is soon to launch HD VMD (Versatile Multilayer Disc) at Amazon and Radio Shack stores. HD VMD discs hold 30GB of data and feature a data rate of 40 mbps using MPEG-2 and VC-1 (AVC may be added later). The main selling point is that the cost to consumers is much lower than either Blu-ray or HD-DVD. Their player will sell for just $150. If I had to guess, I'd guess this will be a non factor. What studio is going to want to sell their movies on a THIRD HD format? It sure doesn't make decisions any easier for consumers. Ugh.

Hawkwings wrote:Yeah. Just plain DVD is good enough for me right now. It's also the most cost-efficient way to backup data.

Praxis wrote:

bilateralrope wrote:I view this as another reason to avoid the HD formats until one has clearly won against the others and is looking to be able to defeat DVD's. Not only is it hard to predict which will win, its even harder to predict a new format showing up and stomping the current ones.

This isn't a new format, it's just a tri-layer HD-DVD disc. It'll play in all existing HD-DVD players.

Hawkwings wrote:When do we get the holographic storage that looks like a floppy disk but holds 1 MILLION GIGABYTES!!!

Yeah. Just plain DVD is good enough for me right now. It's also the most cost-efficient way to backup data.

Spanky The Dolphin wrote: HD VMD, however, is a proposed third new format:

Spanky The Dolphin wrote:New Medium Enterprises seems to be just some no-name Euro tech company, and VMD is literally their only flash-in-the-pan product.

Hawkwings wrote:When do we get the holographic storage that looks like a floppy disk but holds 1 MILLION GIGABYTES!!!

wautd wrote:

Hawkwings wrote:When do we get the holographic storage that looks like a floppy disk but holds 1 MILLION GIGABYTES!!!

That's quite a bit of porn (if one would chose to use it for that )

Davis 51 wrote:

wautd wrote:

Hawkwings wrote:When do we get the holographic storage that looks like a floppy disk but holds 1 MILLION GIGABYTES!!!

That's quite a bit of porn (if one would chose to use it for that )

You know it's going to happen.

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