very nice article about bluray, sony and ps3

[trakais]

here:

http://news.designtechnica.com/featured_article35.html

[kaphwan]

Apparently, 90 percent of the CE industry and seven movie studios now back Blu-ray Disc. And most of the IT industry (except Microsoft) also supports Blu-ray Disc.

Very nice, very nice indeed.

It was even shown that a DVD-9 layer can be laid down onto a Blu-ray disc to make a true hybrid disc. On the upper layer, DVD-9 content (DVD-9 layer is the standard definition version of the movie or video) is stored, and on the lower level Blu-ray content is available. It was pointed out that this is all on one side of the Blu-ray disc, and was completely different than what HD DVD has proposed for a hybrid disc, which makes the end user flip the disc over to play a standard definition or high definition version of the same movie

See this is what "next-gen" things are all about... total backwards compatibility. "You buy this disc and you can still read it on your old DVD player... but if you buy this Blu-ray player, you can enjoy the HD-ness! Yay!"

Also, if it were possible to exchange your DVDs for these new hybrid BD-DVD discs for free, then it would cause further pwnage and consumer interest to ensue.

In the beginning of DVD, everyone thought that with the addition of chapters setup, along with additional material in navigation form, made DVD truly cutting-edge. But compared to the “space age” interactivity of the Blu-ray Disc menus, menu systems demonstrated by both 20th Century Fox and Disney, standard DVD menus are static and flat. Most of the studios are using Blu-ray Java for their navigation systems. Disney beats to its own drummer and prefers another scheme called IHD, which has not yet been sanctioned by the BDA.

This greatly took me by surprise. So the menus will be more interactive? This is good because the current menus are rather flat.

Mr. Mike Dunn, President of Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, took over the presentation for the studios. Fox has taken the Charlie’s Angels-Full Throttle title and turned it into a test disc for members of the BDA to troubleshoot. The “works in progress” new menu systems are extremely fluid and offer full HD resolution throughout, including all supplementary material. Instead of simply static thumbnail images of a scene from a chapter, for example, you now have a completely interactive experience. The Blu-ray disc can do several things simultaneously with moving images instead of frozen ones. It was very compelling in making the experience satisfying for the end user.

Oh my god. A reason to like that otherwise awful movie. But good on Fox.


Disney then took the stage. Mr. Bob Chapek, President of Buena Vista Entertainment, demonstrated supplementary material from an interactive game from Aladdin in which the user flies on a carpet. In the standard definition DVD, the user would have to stop and click on an icon to go to the next level. In the Blu-ray disc version, the user simply flies through it in full HD resolution. It was eye-popping. Disney also used material from Pirates of the Caribbean for various uses of additional supplementary material. Disney made it clear that they were not using Blu-ray Java for their menu and navigation systems, but something that they were working on separately. They would not confirm or deny that it was IHD.

As soon as the layman realises that these things are possible, the decision to buy Blu-ray will be so much easier to make.

"Mr. Parsons then returned to the podium and announced that the upcoming CES would be for the launch of Blu-ray Disc

OMG PS3... PS3 people!

Nice find trakais... +rep for you.

[Nerve-Damage]

(+rep) :drunks:

[VG Aficionado]

Most of that information wasn't new to me, but it was a nice read in any case :)

By the way, did you hear that Paramount has bought Dreamworks? And Paramount is a Blu-ray supporter ;)

Paramount agrees to buy DreamWorks
CLAUDIA ELLER & SALLIE HOFMEISTER

Posted online: Tuesday, December 13, 2005 at 0238 hours IST

HOLLYWOOD, DECEMBER 12: Paramount Pictures has said it had reached an agreement to acquire DreamWorks SKG, the studio founded 11 years ago by Steven Spielberg, David Geffen and Jeffrey Katzenberg. But in revealing the terms of the $1.6 billion deal, Paramount included one unforeseen twist. To offset as much as $1 billion of the hit to its balance sheet, the studio plans to sell DreamWorks’ 59-film live-action library, which includes the Academy Award-winning films ‘‘American Beauty’’ and ‘‘Gladiator.’’

The studio said it was in advanced talks with outside investors. But instead of having a stake in the studio itself, those investors would buy control of the library outright. ‘‘I can’t stress how transforming an event this is,’’ Paramount chief Brad Grey said.

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If the deal goes through, then Paramount will pay $775 million in cash and initially assume $840 million in DreamWorks debt. Then, a private equity group, not yet selected, is expected to acquire the library for $850 million to $1 billion, including the assumption of $550 million in DreamWorks debt taken on by Paramount.

That would reduce Paramount’s contribution to $300 million to $400 million in cash, plus the assumption of $275 million in debts owed to such third parties as Technicolor, HBO and NBC Universal. The sale to Paramount would terminate DreamWorks’ distribution contracts with NBC Universal, which currently releases its movies in international markets and its DVDs worldwide.

The studio, owned by General Electric Corp, spent more than six months negotiating to buy DreamWorks. Link: Indian Express (http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=83854)

[kaphwan]

damn... things are really looking up for Blu-ray, and therefore ps3. PS3 has been touted by Sony itself as a subsidised Blu-ray player.

[xbdestroya]

Most of that information wasn't new to me, but it was a nice read in any case :)

Agreed, a lot of the info wasn't new, but a good compilation article.

[Domination]

Agreed, a lot of the info wasn't new, but a good compilation article.

I agree with both of you. Actually, a lot of this information was in the Blu Ray sticky topic way back. It was still a good read, though.

However, that Paramount announment is very new. :cheers:

[Garfunkel]

Blu-ray is kickin' butt and takin' names!

[axia777]

BluRay looks to be a winner. Sony must be so happy about actually getting in a format of theirs that will be the new standard. BetaMax what???

[jaxmkii]

damn... things are really looking up for Blu-ray, and therefore ps3. PS3 has been touted by Sony itself as a subsidised Blu-ray player.
just like its older brother!:wave:

[kaphwan]

Not to mention it's oldest brother which carried the CD.

[VG Aficionado]

Not to mention it's oldest brother which carried the CD.There was a white PS1 model released in Asia. It had an additional feature: it could read VCD discs. The reason behind it was that VCD was a popular format then in Asia. Too bad that model wasn't available anywhere else.

[Z]

There was a white PS1 model released in Asia. It had an additional feature: it could read VCD discs. The reason behind it was that VCD was a popular format then in Asia. Too bad that model wasn't available anywhere else.
there were 3rd part attachments avaialble back in the day to play VCD. I bought one! yup, the good ol times.
I also heard there was a mod chip later on that could let you play VCD.
in any case, I am glad the VCD days are over. those things are a pain.

Not to mention it's oldest brother which carried the CD.
in the same logic, PSOne let you play audio CDs. it wasn't the first but it was a nice feature.
(3DO was the first. I wonder if Saturn played them?)

[VG Aficionado]

in the same logic, PSOne let you play audio CDs. it wasn't the first but it was a nice feature.
(3DO was the first. I wonder if Saturn played them?)If I had to bet on it, I'd say the very first one was either CDi or MegaCD, both released in 1991. However, I'd actually bet on CDi, which I'm 100% sure it played audio CDs plus several other formats; also, MegaCD was released in december, so there are good chances that CDi was released earlier.