News and Reviews....

    Next Generation DVD Rival  December 2002

    The next generation optical disk system may split into two formats. NEC and Toshiba agreed in September 2002 to jointly propose to the DVD Forum, a format that uses a 405 nanometer blue-violet laser based on a 0.6mm substrate, the same as in today's' DVDs. This proposal stands in sharp opposition to the Blu-ray Disc format proposed by the nine DVD forum members companies we wrote about in February (Blue Laser DVD Feb 2002).

Since the Blue-ray announcement (Feb 2002), Toshiba, the chair company of the DVD Forum has insisted that the next generation disk should be discussed within the forum. The Blu-ray Disc founders with Sony leading the way do not believe in following that procedure.  The Toshiba-NEC blue laser system uses much of the current system, with the lens at 0.65 and the disc consisting of two back to back 0.6mm platters.

The Blu-ray format by contrast, has no compatibility with current DVD systems, and whether a particular Blu-ray Disc can play and record standard DVD disks is left to each companies arbitrary product design decision. The new (Toshiba/NEC) proposed format includes both re-writable and read-only discs whereas the Blu-ray format has not yet defined read-only discs.

The new (Toshiba/NEC) format has a disc capacity of 15 Gigabytes for single sided, single layer and 30 Gigabytes for a single sided, dual layer. The re-writable disc will holds 20 Gbytes single sided, single layer and 40 Gigabytes single sided, dual layer. Sticking to the current DVD specs puts the format at a capacity disadvantage compared with the Blu-ray system which boast 27 Gbytes single layer, single sided but the compatibility issue is a major factor in acceptability.

Sony, meanwhile, is expected to introduce the first Blu-ray products sometime next year. Sounds like something we have heard before .....(Beta-Max / VHS)