Gizmodo: Discs

Criterion Collection Going Blu-Ray!

Brian Lam — Thu, 08 May 2008 02:19:09 EDT

When it comes to the fine art of presenting movies on discs, Criterion's treatment of films, in quality and extras, finds itself unparalleled. And that's why it is amazingly good news that they're finally going Blu-ray.

What's even cooler is that they're not going to charge any more for Blu-ray versions of movies, and that's a surprising relief to anyone who's ever coughed up for the often multi-disc sets chock with supplementary content. I have personally paused all Criterion purchases until they went HD. (Black and white samurai films are fine on DVD.) The first 13 titles are:

The Third Man; Bottle Rocket; Chungking Express; The Man Who Fell to Earth; The Last Emperor; El Norte; The 400 Blows; Gimme Shelter; The Complete Monterey Pop; Contempt; Walkabout; For All Mankind; The Wages of Fear

And the Criterion website is giving newsletter subscribers $10 off plus free shipping on orders of $60 or more by using the OFBT code at checkout.
[Thanks Sotirios]

Hitachi Doubles Blu-ray Storage to 100GB

Jason Chen — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 10:17:28 EDT

Although 200GB storage discs for Blu-ray have been out and about for a while, no player can actually read them. However, Hitachi's just raised the bar of practicality (as opposed to the bar of numbers on a spec sheet) to 100GB. These discs will work in existing players without the need to update your firmware. Good news for storage heads, but for most people it just means Blu-ray movies will have 70GB of empty space on them instead of 20GB (most movies don't need 50GB even with extras). [idm.net.au]

CH-DVD Like HD DVD For China

Brian Lam — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 20:23:05 EDT

The masses in China don't have an HD disc format yet to pirate, let alone two that their studios can bicker over. But they will soon with CH-DVD, the HD DVD variant approved by China. I'd guess HD DVD was picked over Blu-Ray because the format's lower cost of production on the player and disc side. While HD DVD and CH-DVD aren't actually compatible (they are just based on the same physical design), a few things could result from this that could benefit everyone: Cheaper players, cheaper discs as more factories go online. That could push adoption up, worldwide for HD DVD, simultaneously driving studios insane with greed and fear. BTW, did I mention HD DVD is a region-less format? More when I find out.

Foundation of China High Definition DVD Industry Association (CHDA) Heralds New Era of High-Definition Entertainment in China Industry Leaders Develop and Promote CH-DVD a New High Definition DVD Standard for Chinese Market Beijing (September 7, 2007) - The Optical Memory National Engineering Research Center (OMNERC), a laboratory dedicated to optical disc research in Tsinghua University, today announced CH-DVD (China High Definition DVD)*1, a new generation high definition DVD format developed in collaboration with research institutes and manufacturing enterprises at home and abroad. The physical format of CH-DVD includes Chinese-owned intellectual property, and is based on HD DVD, the next generation high definition DVD approved by the DVD Forum. The realization of CH-DVD was supported by the Chinese government, and will pave the way for the localization of blue-laser, high-definition DVD in China. On Sept. 7, 2007, OMNERC established CHDA — the China High Definition DVD Industry Association — in cooperation with the DVD Forum and Chinese and international partners. CHDA will play a leadership role in the promotion of CH-DVD, and will make a big push to launch CH-DVD player into the Chinese market in 2008. The emergence of CH-DVD as a high definition format integrating Chinese-owned intellectual property clearly demonstrates that a Chinese optical disc technology is already at the world-class level. In the near future, all related industries in China are expected to make the transition from standard definition DVD to high definition DVD. CH-DVD is designed to play a central role in the sound development of the content industry, and adopts advanced copy protection technology that effectively prevents the spread of pirated copy. Many content holders have confirmed their support for CH-DVD and will launch movie titles in the CH-DVD format. In the next year, China will start broadcasts of high definition TV programs. In combination with HDTV, CH-DVD will provide a wide variety of HD content that will enrich the lives of viewers.

Disc Pod Dispenser Makes Past Methods of Disc Retrieval Painfully Obsolete

Matt Buchanan — Thu, 24 May 2007 11:55:00 EDT

We see a lot of pointless gadgets around here, but sometimes a product comes along that blows us away with its utter lack of utility. The Disc Pod Dispenser is basically a Pez dispenser for discs. Load it up, push a button, and one pops out. Is twisting the plastic case off of a spindle when you want a disc really too much effort to put forward?

If you're in any way interested in dropping about $14 on this and shipping it from England, you might want to check out the Heartbeat Indicator mouse while you're at it, since your cardiologist might give you one in a couple years anyway. – Matt Buchanan

Product Page [via Slashgear]

Blu-ray Porn Update: Not Getting It On

Jason Chen — Fri, 19 Jan 2007 20:00:45 EST

Even though the BDA association (that's Blu-ray) isn't technically against porn, they sure are making it hard for any porn to get produced on Blu-ray. Sony's just announced that it won't allow its subsidiary, Sony DADC Global, from producing any adult film titles. Seeing as Sony DADC is pretty much the largest Blu-ray disc producer, without their support it's near impossible to get any discs out there.

Of course, the adult industry could find another Blu-ray disc manufacturer to step up and make their discs, but they seem to be going the HD DVD route instead. However, HD DVD's not running out into the streets yelling, "Look at us! If you want next-gen porn, come here!" – Jason Chen

Sony says no to porn on Blu-ray Disc [Computerworld via Crunchgear]

HD DVD Turns It Up To 51GB With Triple Layer Goodness

Jason Chen — Mon, 15 Jan 2007 14:30:43 EST

Toshiba's closed the gap between HD DVD and Blu-ray releases with the triple-layer 51GB HD DVD disc. That's one more than currently marketed 50GB Blu-ray movies.

One of the main ticks in the comparison sheet between Blu-ray and HD DVD was the higher storage capacity of BD (50GB discs just debuted a few months ago) compared to HD.

Going up to 51GB, the HD camp can finally say they're equal to BD in storage, even though it takes three layers to do it—which in turn amps up the price to make these discs. However, the 51GB disc doesn't exactly level the playing field, seeing as Blu-ray has discs of up to 200GB (8 layers) coming. – Jason Chen

HD-DVD goes beyond 50GB with new disc [DVDTown]

Best HD Discs of the Year

Brian Lam — Thu, 21 Dec 2006 20:15:00 EST

With the HD Disc war hitting the 6 month mark, it's good to know where we stand on high quality content. Here's a list of top and bottom discs, as rated by High Def Digest. Their criteria includes A/V quality, extras, and replayability. Here are their picks, alphabetically.

•Batman Begins (HD-DVD)
•The Bourne Supremacy (HD-DVD)
•Casablanca (HD-DVD)
•The Devil Wears Prada (Blu-Ray)
•Hulk (HD-DVD)
•Mission: Impossible III (HD-DVD and Blu-ray)
•Ray (HD-DVD)
•Superman Returns (HD-DVD and Blu-ray)
• V for Vendetta (HD-DVD)
•World Trade Center (HD-DVD and Blu-ray)

–Brian Lam

THE BEST (AND WORST) OF 2006 [High Def Digest]

PS3 a Better DVD Player Than Xbox 360?

Louis Ramirez — Tue, 12 Dec 2006 10:14:07 EST

The folks at Ars Technica have made an interesting discovery. Apparently, Sony's PS3 does a better job of playing scratched up DVDs than the Xbox 360, which spits them out the minute it notices any imperfections. I rarely use my console as my DVD player, but I have experienced the "OMG the disc won't play" notification on my Xbox that the Ars guys are talking about. Any of you lucky PS3 owners have problems with the PS3's movie-playing capabilities? – Louis Ramirez

Does the PS3 Have a Higher Tolerance for Scratched Discs [via Ars Technica]

Sony Releases 50GB Dual Layer Blu-ray Discs

Jason Chen — Wed, 16 Aug 2006 21:00:52 EDT

It's been an industry non-secret that manufacturers have had an easier time making dual-layer HD DVD discs than dual layer Blu-ray discs. Hence, 30GB dual-layer HD DVD media have already been on the market, beating the single layer 25GB Blu-ray discs by five whole gigabytes. But now Blu-ray has the last laugh as Sony finally gets the 50GB dual-layer Blu-ray discs onto hands of US consumers.

The 50GB discs can hold four hours of HD content, and transfers at 24Mbps. They've got a built in scratch guard and "archival reliability" to prevent bad burns. Which, at $48 a disc, would be the most expensive coaster you've ever made. – Jason Chen

Press Release [Sony via Wired]