Yet Another High-Def DVD Format Arrives... Groan
Mon Jun 25, 2007 11:01PM EDT
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You've barely had time to grow to hate Blu-ray and HD-DVD, but here comes yet another high-definition DVD format: HD Versatile Multilayer Disc, or HD VMD.
The story of HD VMD reads like a farce, maybe Don Quixote updated for the internet age. The technology is the brainchild of a UK company you've never heard of called New Medium Enterprises. New Medium has one independent studio lined up to provide content in the U.S., and one online retailer you've never heard of to sell HD VMD players. Outside the U.S., HD VMD may have better luck: a handful of films from Mel Gibson's Icon Film Distribution will appear on the format in Australia and New Zealand. A purported 5,000 films are slated for various European country releases.
What's the catch with VMD? It's a red-laser technology, which means it uses the same basic manufacturing, mastering, and playback system as DVDs and audio CDs. This means everything involved with the technology should be cheaper than with blue-laser tech, eliminating a major complaint with next-gen DVD formats. New Medium's goal is to offer players at less than $200 in the U.S., cheaper than even the cheapest high-def player by quite a big margin, but at least twice the price of a good standard DVD player.
But so many questions remain, mainly what VMD actually looks like on screen, what the audio sounds like, what the special features might look like, and more. We won't see VMD in the U.S. until September, and frankly I'm doubtful if many people will see it at all. The one thing I do know: VMD discs will hold 40GB, max, and discs can have up to 20 layers of data on them (hence the big storage capability and the name).
Ultimately I'm reminded of attempts to reinvent the floppy disk after it was nearing the end of its life. Anyone remember LS-120? You'd have to be a major geek to recall this floppy enhancer, which tried to muscle into the market after CD-R was on the rise.
But why not market VMD as a successor and enhancement to regular DVD-R drives? While I can name no one who's interested in yet another high-def movie format, consumers would kill to have affordable ways to burn 40GB data discs at home. Imagine burning an 8,000-song music collection onto a single disc for safe keeping. Now that's something I'd pay 200 bucks for.
Comments on Yet Another High-Def DVD Format Arrives... Groan
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2 Posted by isadkovich on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:25PM EDT Report Abuse
HD VMD is nothing new. The technology has been in development for years. The thing that may give it the advantage over HD and Blu-ray is that, with a firmware update, standard DVD drives can read HD VMD discs.
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3 Posted by commorancy on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:28PM EDT Report Abuse
Can we say DiVX or UMD all over again? 20 layers? Just wait until that red laser has to try to read data from the 19th layer. Good luck with that. As far as home users backing up their home computers, that's about the best application for it or for making home movies. As for blockbuster movie adoption, this technology is very likely DOA without major Hollywood action. That's not likely without some heavy hitting DRM/Copy protection features.
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4 Posted by zahogues4@sbcglobal.net on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:58PM EDT Report Abuse
WE SHOULD BOYCOTT THEM ALL.....There should be a rule...every company can only put a specific item (for example: DVD PLAYER) on the market one time every 5 years. This would make these companies give us the best product at the best price....easing our life of having to get ripped off after buying one already over-priced item and then having to buy another over-priced item a month later that does the same thing but has one little extra punk-___ feature they know that we wanted in the first place. ALL IN FAVOR SAY "I".
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5 Posted by emailrayt on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:54PM EDT Report Abuse
I won't necessarily boycott the technology. In fact I love it. But certainly am not picking up any (just 1) player in the store anytime soon unless I'm sure it can play any of my movie collection in any format -- standard and hi-def. Of course the price has to be extremely reasonable for an average working class. So you makers and creators better wake up and smell the coffee. If you want our business now, you act now. To you tech fans like me, let us wait.
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6 Posted by thekclyon on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:04PM EDT Report Abuse
"Groan" to say the least. Thank god for the XviD codec. I don't buy ANY form of removable media therefore have no use for any sort of DVD / HD players. Bittorrents forever.
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7 Posted by romrag on Thu Sep 3, 2009 8:49PM EDT Report Abuse
As a graphic artist, this would be of great help for storge to our digital works, and it is very compact so I can bring it with me anywhere. Digital film making would be made at ease in storing and carrying it over, I don't have to bring 2 kilos or more hard disks! 8=) I like the features this VMD has, but the player would be limited to using VMD disks only which can cause users trouble looking for one since the availability is not vast. And the price would be too expensive for the mass to afford for both the player and the disk. -Romano Gerald C. Rago UE Caloocan College of Fine Arts student
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8 Posted by scaruffi on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:07PM EDT Report Abuse
I still have my LS-120 external drive (USB). Since it is backwards compatible, it makes a great external floppy drive in a pinch. However, I dare not claim the title of "major geek."
1 Posted by rogueist on Thu Sep 3, 2009 8:49PM EDT Report Abuse
Cool - I like this alternative! And a 40Gb disc - if they can get the cost of that down close to what CDs cost, I can throw out hard drives now and back it all up on disc.