Rich Fiscus
8 Sep 2007 13:58
New Media Enterprises (NME) is betting on the cost effectiveness of red laser video players to beat both HD DVD and Blu-ray in the next-generation format wars, and they're backing it up with a format called Versatile Multilayer Disc. At the CEDIA show this week in Denver, Colorado they showed off HD VMD, which puts high definition video on a VMD disc.
Unlike HD DVD and Blu-ray, which rely on the blue lasers to put more data on each layer of an optical disc, VMD simply adds more layers to reach up to 30GB on a single sided disc. That's the same capacity as a dual layer HD DVD disc, and HD VMD's 40Mbps maximum bitrate falls in between HD DVD and Blu-ray.
By choosing to push current generation technology further instead of leaving it behind, NME has come up with a format that's much cheaper to produce, and therefore for consumers to buy. In fact, the first generation players are expected to retail for as low as $150, or half what the lowest priced blue laser players cost right now.
At that price, HD VMD has another big advantage. The players should be priced reasonably enough for people who aren't going to take advantage of the format for a while, and will primarily use it for watching standard DVDs.
With enough market penetration for the players, which should be available from Amazon.com and brick and mortar stores like Radio Shack and Costco, will only have around 20 major studio releases available for them, with more expected internationally, including Bollywood titles.
While it's nice to see a hi-def format that keeps cost down by re-using existing DVD technology, some features that A/V enthusiasts consider important from HD DVD and Blu-ray are conspicuously missing. Support for lossless audio compression from either Dolby Labs or DTS isn't in the standard, and neither is MPEG-4's AVC (H.264) high compression video codec. Instead, VC-1 and MPEG-2, of which the latter isn't generally considered efficient enough to for stoinrg hi-def video, are supported, as is audio with up to 7.1 channels encoded in Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, or DTS formats. Other casualties of HD VMD's discount price are the advanced programming features of HD DVD and Blu-ray. It doesn't support web based content, or the generally improved interactivity of the other formats.
All the players will include ethernet ports to allow the addition of more features, like possible support for AVC, in the future. More advanced models will also have media card readers to view photos and USB ports that can be used to play video from external sources like hard drives.
It would be surprising to see movie studios that have already chosen sides between the blue laser formats immediately get behind HD VMD, but the longer the current format war rages without a clear victor, and especially the longer average consumers wait to adopt either, the easier it should be to obtain studio support for HD VMD.
Source: PC World