Posted by Dan Bell on 01 December 2005 - 21:55 - Source: Investors.com
On Tuesday, backers for Blu-ray held a multimedia presentation for reporters to show the versatility of the next gen disc. The article at the Investors.com website says that they intend to cram a lot of material on these discs, but after reading the report, it does not seem to be that much added value. In fact, how much room is there if we start out with a single layer movie disc? A high definition movie could occupy 15 gigabytes!
Rather than just holding a single version of a movie — as current DVDs do — Blu-ray discs will include versions of films in both wide-screen and standard format, along with two hours of movie-related information. The discs might also include games and multiple movie trailers. And the content will all be in high-definition.
The demonstration helped answer a central question: What is Hollywood going to do with the 50 gigabytes of space planned for Blu-ray discs? After all, a DVD movie in high-definition only takes up about a third of that capacity. Current DVD discs store about 5 gigabytes.
Bob Chapek, president of Buena Vista Entertainment, says Blu-ray's extra room will be well-used. "We'll load in as many consumer benefits as we possible can," he said.
It just may be about time somebody in the Blu-ray group or the studios woke up and smelled the coffee. As I have several DVD movies that I can simply turn over to watch in wide-screen or standard format. There are some films offered in the two versions that come in separate shrink wrap, but this is not a benefit to me to have both on one disc. It is actually a benefit to the content provider as they can save in manufacture and distribution, so we can scratch that one off. Then I just got a DVD that contained two discs, but it included, aside from the movie, 6 hours of bonus content, including a 1 hour documentary, interviews with the stars along with the trailers created for the theater and television.
This additional content is nothing new and neither is a game. The only thing that is, is the high definition and we have to ask ourselves is this going to be enough to get folks to abandon the DVD? Or, do they (meaning the studios) need to come up with something extra, as revolutionary as high definition, to entice people to lay out the bucks for a system to run the Blu-ray disc. What will it take to entice you to make the leap to high definition? What extras would you like to see, what extra functionality would be nice?
Source
On Tuesday, backers for Blu-ray held a multimedia presentation for reporters to show the versatility of the next gen disc. The article at the Investors.com website says that they intend to cram a lot of material on these discs, but after reading the report, it does not seem to be that much added value. In fact, how much room is there if we start out with a single layer movie disc? A high definition movie could occupy 15 gigabytes!
Rather than just holding a single version of a movie — as current DVDs do — Blu-ray discs will include versions of films in both wide-screen and standard format, along with two hours of movie-related information. The discs might also include games and multiple movie trailers. And the content will all be in high-definition.
The demonstration helped answer a central question: What is Hollywood going to do with the 50 gigabytes of space planned for Blu-ray discs? After all, a DVD movie in high-definition only takes up about a third of that capacity. Current DVD discs store about 5 gigabytes.
Bob Chapek, president of Buena Vista Entertainment, says Blu-ray's extra room will be well-used. "We'll load in as many consumer benefits as we possible can," he said.
It just may be about time somebody in the Blu-ray group or the studios woke up and smelled the coffee. As I have several DVD movies that I can simply turn over to watch in wide-screen or standard format. There are some films offered in the two versions that come in separate shrink wrap, but this is not a benefit to me to have both on one disc. It is actually a benefit to the content provider as they can save in manufacture and distribution, so we can scratch that one off. Then I just got a DVD that contained two discs, but it included, aside from the movie, 6 hours of bonus content, including a 1 hour documentary, interviews with the stars along with the trailers created for the theater and television.
This additional content is nothing new and neither is a game. The only thing that is, is the high definition and we have to ask ourselves is this going to be enough to get folks to abandon the DVD? Or, do they (meaning the studios) need to come up with something extra, as revolutionary as high definition, to entice people to lay out the bucks for a system to run the Blu-ray disc. What will it take to entice you to make the leap to high definition? What extras would you like to see, what extra functionality would be nice?
Source
