50 GB DVD!

Started by dsanchez, March 09, 2006, 15:39:47

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dsanchez

Source: http://www.theage.com.au/news/breaking/battlelines-drawn-over-next-gen-dvds/2006/03/09/1141701608507.html

Battlelines drawn over next gen DVDs

A model displays a 50 GB Blu-ray disc on the booth of Panasonic at the CeBIT computer fair in Hanover, Germany.

A campaign to boycott high definition DVD systems using new copy control technology has been launched in the US as companies such as Toshiba and Sony prepare to roll out the first generation of products.

The boycott is in protest against the latest DRM (digital rights management) technologies built into the Blu-ray and HD-DVD standards which technology watcher and former Apple executive, Mike Evangelist, believes will greatly curtail consumer freedom when it comes to how they choose to view high definition media content.

He has set up a dedicated site on his writersblocklive weblog calling for the boycott and is seeking donations to help launch a Google advertising campaign to promote the cause.

The boycott targets the Advanced Access Content System (AACS) technology finalised last month for pre-recorded and recordable optical media by an alliance that includes IBM, Microsoft, Intel, Sony, Toshiba, The Walt Disney company and Warner Bros Studios.

Mr Evangelist writes: "Under pressure from Hollywood, they are engineering a complete removal of the concept of fair use. They are setting up systems that will completely control how, when and where you can use content that you buy. Even worse, they can retroactively change the rules."

He believes the media industries are using piracy as a smokescreen in order to roll out a much more sophisticated and pervasive copy control technology than that found in current CDs and DVDs.

"Throughout my life I have embraced just about every new format that comes along, but when it comes to HD-DVD I'm done," he said.

Gaming website, IGN.com, writes: "Next-gen DVD is looking pretty questionable at this point. Not only do we have a format war to deal with, we've got Hollywood's accounting departments in charge of deciding the minutia of how we're able to enjoy the content we pay for."

An additional concern about the AACS is that it may only support monitors with HDTVs with HDMI or DVI connections, locking out the earlier adopters of the technology that bought into it before such connections were available.

Mr Evangelist's call for a boycott comes as governments around the world seek to clarify what might be considered "fair use" of media content such as movies and music that have purchased by a consumer.

In Australia Attorney General Philip Ruddock is planning to reform copyright laws and has suggested these might recognise some everyday forms of private copying such as taping a television show to watch at a later date or downloading music from a CD onto an iPod.

However consumer groups and privacy campaigners fear that in spite of such legislation, media content owners will introduce technologies that prevent the legitimate transfer of media content between devices in the home.

In a related development, the French Government is currently debating whether or not to introduce a small monthly download fee that would legalise peer-to-peer sharing of media over the internet.

Those that oppose such a move are urging the Government to follow the lead of other countries and toughen copyright laws for digital media, making it illegal to download unauthorised content online.
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lostflower4

Really can't wait for something like this to be practical. But until the cost-per-gigabyte becomes reasonable (like DVD-R), I'll wait.

Even dual-layer DVD is still a ripoff! :x

lostflower4

Well, I have to say this sounded A LOT more impressive 2 1/2 years ago. I've been tempted to get into Blu-Ray ever since then, but anymore I just think that using optical discs for everday storage is a bit silly — considering how huge (and cheap) hard drives have become.

Furthermore, the capacity of flash cards is also getting rather massive:

http://www.amazon.com/Kingston-Class-Memory-SD4-32GB/dp/B001C9P5TO/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1246928787&sr=8-2


Granted this is more expensive than a blank Blu-Ray disc, but come back in a year and these will be ultra cheap while 64 GB, 128 GB, 256 GB, and eventually terrabyte flash cards will be the standard. Solid state hard drives are also making some progress (finally).

I personally think Blu-Ray will only succeed enough to stay around for a few more years and make some money for its backers — but I can't see it being the standard 5-10 years down the road.