The DVD forum organized the "DVD Forum Japan Conference 2005" on Thursday. Industry sposkmen presented the progrees that had been made in HD DVD standardization, introduced the updated format roadmap and also unveiled that the upcoming HD DVD Video titles may not be regionally restricted as in the case of DVD Video.
According to the DVD Forum, the standardization of the HD DVD-ROM/-R/RW and the HD DVD hybrid disks has been completed, as well as for the 8cm HD DVD-ROM. Note that the HD DVD-R is a write once disc, while the HD DVD-RW is more aligned with DVD-RAM media, since it will be a Random Access medium featuring defect management algorithms in order to offer data storage reliability.
The hybrid disks consist of two layers. The first layer conforms to the HD DVD-ROM standard (15GB), while the second will most likely be a DVD-ROM layer (4.7GB). The disc will be recognized and reproduced by both HD DVD and DVD players. Hybrid discs are claimed to be easily manufactured with current equipment used for dual layer DVD media.
The most interesting announcement, however, is the introduction of a new format that could be considered as the successor of the DVD-RW. Temporarily codenamed "HD-Re-recordable" (HD DVD-RR), the format has been proposed for approval. The format is expected to be finalized in Spring of 2006.
In addition, the Steering Comittee has aproved the HD DVD VR format and also examined the possibility of developing a domestic-oriented HD DVD disk solely for the Chinese market.
News source: CDR Info
According to the DVD Forum, the standardization of the HD DVD-ROM/-R/RW and the HD DVD hybrid disks has been completed, as well as for the 8cm HD DVD-ROM. Note that the HD DVD-R is a write once disc, while the HD DVD-RW is more aligned with DVD-RAM media, since it will be a Random Access medium featuring defect management algorithms in order to offer data storage reliability.
The hybrid disks consist of two layers. The first layer conforms to the HD DVD-ROM standard (15GB), while the second will most likely be a DVD-ROM layer (4.7GB). The disc will be recognized and reproduced by both HD DVD and DVD players. Hybrid discs are claimed to be easily manufactured with current equipment used for dual layer DVD media.
The most interesting announcement, however, is the introduction of a new format that could be considered as the successor of the DVD-RW. Temporarily codenamed "HD-Re-recordable" (HD DVD-RR), the format has been proposed for approval. The format is expected to be finalized in Spring of 2006.
In addition, the Steering Comittee has aproved the HD DVD VR format and also examined the possibility of developing a domestic-oriented HD DVD disk solely for the Chinese market.
News source: CDR Info
Spokesmen from Toshiba also underlined the need to offer video content stored on HD DVD media that will not feature any regional restrictions, as happens with current DVDs. Although final decisions about this matter have not yet been announced, it is possibe that the same HD DVD discs will be reproduced by any HD DVD player worldwide.
Apart from the HD DVD, the DVD Forum announced that it has begun the standardization of the DVD-RW DL which it expects to be finalized by the end of 2005. The new DVD-RW DL discs will not be compatible with current DVD players, since their reflectivity value is not within DVD specifications (8%). The provided DVD-RW DL media are expected to allow recording at 2x, featuring a 2.66GB (8cm) as well as an 8.54GB capacity for 12cm discs.
Another interesting announcement is the possible standardization of the 12x DVD-R DL media in early 2006. Lastly, the 6-16x (CAV) recording speed for DVD-RAM (Class 1) will be available under the newly introduced "DVD-RAM2" logo. The reason for introducing a new logo for the 16x DVD-RAM recorders/media is that there is a need to distinguish it from the current DVD-RAM hardware (Class 0). The 5x DVD-RAM media will not be able to be written with current DVD-RAM recorders.
finally realised regions were a waste oftime and money.
omg, first comment.
Last edited by 116553 on 13 Oct 2005 - 16:11
no body cares
As for this news? Great, more bloody abbreviations to remember.
Also I picked up a few American / Region 1 special editions a few years ago when there wasn't a comparable version over here - Terminator 2 : Ultimate Edition (which didnt see a Europe release for another year or so) and the same with a 2 disc edition of Independence Day!
Oh - and for the record, I don't own any manga porn, weirdy foreign flicks, etc etc - just normal movies, TV shows, and have about 120 DVD's
i also don't know why you like independence day enough to buy a special 2 disc edition of dvds
And I think the DVD region crap is the dumbest thing ever. Although I bought my first DVD player in 1998, it was a region free one from Philips
Hmm... So has Blu-ray released info about their thoughts of region coding yet?
I am getting old with all the diferent formats. :sleep:
As I said in a reply earlier, this has nothing to do with HD-DVD vs. Blu-Ray. This is about HD DVD specs (note the lack of a "-" in that?, there is a difference between HD-DVD and HD DVD).
HD DVD <> HD-DVD
HD DVD == video format (High Definition DVD)
HD-DVD == one of two competing drive formats for next-gen media (High Density DVD)
Last edited by 26908 on 13 Oct 2005 - 20:02
DVD's can be used for both data and movies. We don't have two different formats called DVD.
Where did I ever say that it did?
I'm well aware of that. That is precisely why the original name for DVD (digital video disc) was changed to Digital Versital Disc.
Again, where did I ever say that?
"High Definition DVD"
"High Density DVD"
I was just nitpicking though, I know what you meant.
I was just using that as an example. Since we don't need two DVD formats for both data and movies why would we need two HD DVD (HD-DVD) formats? Again this is the first time I've ever read anything about there being two seperate HD formats.
HD-DVD = how that data is stored on a disc in terms of the way the disc is made and manufactured.
Such as some kind of DRM that prevents the disk being played in Europe before it's European release (But will play fine in an american player).
Wouldn't surprise me if they did something like that.
If HD-DVD takes off and companies starts releasing region-free movies on those, I doubt they'll code them if they'd also distribute movies on Blu-ray. I mean, it would make it so hard to compete with such codings, unless they had some sort of advantage in lack of DRM while HD-DVD didn't.
One thing I don't like is the naming behind HD DVD-RW, which actually isn't re-writable, but more like a DVD-RAM disc. The seperate, re-writable standard is called HD DVD-RR, which is just going to confuse people. They should really rename HD DVD-RR to HD DVD-RW (to keep it in-line with the current CD-RW, DVD-RW, and DVD+RW standards), and then just think up of a completely new name for their current HD DVD-RW disc.
Oh, and the new DVD-RW DL standard has gotta be kind of pointless since it requires a new drive to use. A DVD-RW DL disc will only hold 8.5GB of data, so it would be much better to wait an extra month or two and pick up a drive capable of burning HD DVD-RR (at 15GB).
Uh, DVD-RAM is rewritable. I agree about the naming though.
That "may" could be taken two different ways though:
"may not" could, as you point out, mean that they "may or may not" be region coded, at the discretion of the studio, or, since this is coming from the people setting the standards, "may not" could just as easily mean discs are not allowed (by the standards) to be region coded.
Unfortunately, without hearing the way that this person said it (their intonation would tend to clarify the meaning), it's impossible to tell exactly what they meant. That is one of the bad things about this language.
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