As the DVD format gets older more and more people are talking about what is going to take its place. I personally don’t think DVD as a media will be getting “old” anytime soon – but since when did my opinion matter? [Excellent point. -ed.]
Most people involved in the argument feel that one of two next-generation optical media types will replace DVD – either HD DVD (for “High Definition DVD,” or Blu-Ray (which somehow ends up being a “BD-ROM”). Since Sony (among others) has already quietly released Blu-Ray devices to the public, and announced that the Playstation 3 will utilize Blu-Ray, we can easily see that Sony is pioneering the format, and likely the one with the most proverbial ass on the line. I could go into the specifications of each format more, but that’s what Google is for, slack.
All this is to say, when you hear an announcement about Blu-Ray, don’t expect an announcement about HD DVD to be far behind. In fact, today saw both announcements.
First of all, Sony has announced they’ve successfully employed “Phase Transition Mastering” technology in the production of Blu-Ray discs. What does this mean? Long story short, their new PTR-3000 disc production machine pictured here can now produce BD-ROMs in half the time it used to take; and the machine is 20% the size of previous models. Hopefully this will translate into savings somewhere, at least for Sony.
And oh look, an HD DVD announcement far behind. Sanyo Corporation has announced that they’ll be jumping on the HD-DVD bandwagon – a format currently being pushed by NEC and Toshiba. Sanyo has said the company will release HD DVD players in Fall of 2005.
Read – Press Release [Sony]
