New Affordable HD DVD format poised for release

[Kevin Shaw]

Originally Posted by Jim Boda

Looks like they are about to make a push to sign on the major studios:

I can't imagine any major studio backing this format now that consumers are buying the other two types of players - who wants to be involved in making it a three-way race? A more plausible application would be for independent distribution to corporate clients who buy the player as part of the project, but even there I don't see it. Why mess with multiple layer breaks when Blu-ray holds 25 GB on a single layer, or just play HD files from a computer and skip all these disc-based format entirely?

[Giroud Francois]

quote: "Why mess with multiple layer ..."
money, man, money...
why mess anyway with any of the new format to see what you already got on cheap DVD with a nice quality.
the difference will be made today by writing on the media, not reading it.
today people want to record more than 30 years ago.
even 30 years ago with VHS, the success was based on the fact that you can record TV on a 180min VHS cheap VHS tape, not by the fact you can see a movie.
all read only media were a failure at early stage (except CD , because it started a really new era in audio). and as soon the mp3 started, the CD was dying (people do care for size before quality).

look at the success of Divx, how many people are just happy to look at movies that can fit a 700mb CD-R. and look at DVD, how many commercial DVD are really using the full capacity of DVD. most of them are encoded a 5Mb/s sec to fit a single layer, or a dual layer at best when many features are present.

[Kevin Shaw]

Originally Posted by Giroud Francois

money, man, money...
why mess anyway with any of the new format to see what you already got on cheap DVD with a nice quality.

Right, for any application where money is the primary concern you can just make a standard DVD for a few cents, or encode to one of the compressed HD formats on the same cheap disc and play that on a computer. There simply isn't a need for this new format and it has a type of complexity which is inherently problematic. Good luck to them recruiting "major studios."

[Thomas Smet]

Yeah and we all know how picky dual layer DVD discs are. Can you imagine what would happen to a multi layer disc with even the smallest scratch? How well is this format going to hold up over time?

What is up with the name too? NME = Enemy

This format would have had a chance a year or two ago but not now. If consumers walked into a Store they are going to look at Toshiba or SONY as brandnames and not NME which nobody has ever heard of before. The same arguments that go against HD-DVD for not having more studio or hardware company support will really go against this format. The format really isn't all that much cheaper then HD-DVD anymore and a lot of people have already bought into HD-DVD and Blu-Ray. None of those people are going to jump on some wannabe format.

[Jim Boda]

Originally Posted by Thomas Smet

Yeah and we all know how picky dual layer DVD discs are. Can you imagine what would happen to a multi layer disc with even the smallest scratch? How well is this format going to hold up over time?...

Obviously, they are using different technology for multilayer ability that will also translate to BlueRay in the future. It's forseeable that BlueRay will need multilayers for 1080p source material.

The VMD bit rate blows away the standard DVD --- DVD is 9.8 Mbs as compared to VMD's 45Mbs.

This format would have had a chance a year or two ago but not now. If consumers walked into a Store they are going to look at Toshiba or SONY as brandnames and not NME which nobody has ever heard of before. The same arguments that go against HD-DVD for not having more studio or hardware company support will really go against this format. The format really isn't all that much cheaper then HD-DVD anymore and a lot of people have already bought into HD-DVD and Blu-Ray. None of those people are going to jump on some wannabe format.

Like the article says, 66% of people surveyed are still waiting to make a purchase decision. When consumers walk into a store they will look at the price...and most will scratch their head and walk out empty handed.

Actually, the overall costs between Red Laser technology and BlueRay are dramatic. What does it cost to Author a BlueRay title...50 grand? The smaller independents films will naturally gravitate towards a more affordable format.

How was NME able to beat the other two formats in releasing Peter Jackson's "Lord of the Rings" trilogy? Affordability and a streamlined process built on existing technology.

The Nintendo vs Playstation & Xbox is an interesting analogy.

[Kevin Shaw]

Originally Posted by Jim Boda

Obviously, they are using different technology for multilayer ability that will also translate to BlueRay in the future.

Multi-layer discs are inherently problematic and take more work to set up, which is one of the biggest problems with this format. Blu-ray won't need this many layers for normal purposes.

It's forseeable that BlueRay will need multilayers for 1080p source material.

Blu-ray already has dual-layer discs available with 50 GB capacity, and even the single-layer discs can hold several hours of HD content in VC1 format.

When consumers walk into a store they will look at the price...and most will scratch their head and walk out empty handed.

Sales figures indicate that roughly 2 million people in the US bought either Blu-ray or HD-DVD capable devices in the past year, with ~100,000 HD-DVD players sold last Friday alone. It's too late for a third format with this level of sales for the other too.

What does it cost to Author a BlueRay title...50 grand?

Unless you need some of the fancier menu features it's about $500 for a burner and another $500 or so for software, plus $50 for a few blank discs.

How was NME able to beat the other two formats in releasing Peter Jackson's "Lord of the Rings" trilogy?

Interesting, but how many people actually bought the trilogy in this format?

[Jon Fairhurst]

> "Unless you need some of the fancier menu features it's about $500 for a burner and another $500 or so for software, plus $50 for a few blank discs."

Don't forget AACS licensing for copy protection. http://www.aacsla.com/support/

[Giroud Francois]

hehe, an interesting result from a study shows that only 40% of PS3 owner are aware that their gamebox include a Blu-ray reader.

http://www.youtube.com/v/MFoyp71xw3w

[Heath McKnight]

I was hoping to say "Blu-Ray Strikes Back," but probably not. From IMDb (and yes, the money HD DVD gave to Paramount/DreamWorks helped):

'Is Sony Signaling End of War Over HD Video?
In the first hint that he may be reconsidering whether to continue the battle with Toshiba over high-definition video, Sony chief Howard Stringer said Wednesday that the format battle between the two companies has become "mostly a matter of prestige." In a speech in New York Thursday night, Stringer also suggested that the battle over Sony's Blu-ray system and Toshiba's HD DVD "doesn't mean as much as all that." At one time, he suggested, it might have been possible to unify the two formats, and if time travel were possible he would try to do that now. He decried the decision of Paramount/DreamWorks to sign an exclusive deal (worth a reported $150 million) to release films exclusively in the HD DVD format. "We were trying to win on the merits, which we were doing for a while, until Paramount changed sides," Stringer said.'

heath

[Mike Teutsch]

Maybe we WILL see a compromise. I do think in the long run that would be best.

Mike

[Louis Mostert]

Beyond cost and infrastructure advantages, red-laser discs have a maximum data transfer rate of 40Mbps versus 36 Mbps for HD DVD and Blu-ray, which gives it the potential of sharper, more detailed pictures over the competing Blu-ray and HD DVD formats, the company said.

LOL - Like anybody can actually see that difference.

[David Moody]

They don't even know what the data transfer rate for Blu-ray is.


40Mbps for movies
48Mbps for movie + audio
Higher yet for data

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blu-ray_Disc

[Jim Boda]

Originally Posted by Kevin Shaw

...Unless you need some of the fancier menu features it's about $500 for a burner and another $500 or so for software, plus $50 for a few blank discs...

Obviously, I was referring to the cost to a major movie production studio to author a feature film...not some home or garage operation. It's my understanding that some of the Blue ray authoring software excedes the $200,000. price tag.

While a blue laser solves the capacity problem, it comes with its own (train load) of baggage, including a confusing and costly format war between technology titans Sony and Toshiba and their respective allies. Blue laser has also been fraught with manufacturing delays (primarily blue-laser diode production), multiple cracks in its repressive AACS encryption scheme and cost issues driven by expensive authoring tools that reach up to $50K per film, ballooning the final disc cost to consumers.

http://displaydaily.com/2007/09/17/r...-life-to-dvds/

[Kevin Shaw]

Originally Posted by Jim Boda

Obviously, I was referring to the cost to a major movie production studio to author a feature film...not some home or garage operation. It's my understanding that some of the Blue ray authoring software excedes the $200,000. price tag.

Perhaps, but that's not particularly relevant to most of us. What is relevant is that anyone can make a Blu-ray disc today with a modest initial investment and market that to millions of people buying Blu-ray capable devices. Or you can pay a few hundred dollars to have an HD-DVD title authored and distributed by the company Microsoft is backing to help get that format off the ground. The odds of a third format catching on with consumers and being supported by standard disc authoring programs is slim at best.

[Jim Boda]

Well, to update the release of the product...

HD VMD players finally began to ship after 3 years of development. I believe they became available to the US market just after Christmas (Dec 27) through the PCrush distributor.

10,000 units ordered by the US distributor and 10,000 units ordered by the central Europe distributor.

http://www.nmeinc.com/production.aspx

Now, I'm waiting to read an actual review of the player.

_______________________________________
Notes from the interview w/ the CEO: http://www.wallst.net/superstocks/su...=4216&play=yes

Initial version of HD VMD will be at the 25 gig range.

6 Month target:

1) Mass adoption of the HD VMD format
2) PC Market / release a software & VMD Drive (player) for PC's

9 Month target:

1) Release Recordable VMD & authoring software / target industrial archiving

12 month target:

1) VMD Blue ray (100 gigs)
2) VMD used in GAME machine industry