*Updated* Prototype 3-Layer DVD, HD-DVD disc developed

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Posted by	Dan Bell
Posted on	11/09/06 14:57
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*Updated* Prototype 3-Layer DVD, HD-DVD disc developed

According to a report at CIO, Toshiba and Memory-Tech have developed a single sided, three-layer optical disc, that can be read by both DVD and HD-DVD players.

The two companies previously developed a two-layer optical disc that can store both DVD and HD DVD, and commercial content on such discs is already on sale in Japan. The addition of a third layer means more standard or high-definition content can be recorded on the disc.

Each layer is capable of storing about two hours of standard and four hours of high-definition content, the latter assuming the MPEG4 AVC compression is used. That means about four hours of SD and HD content can be stored if two layers are used for DVD and one layer for HD DVD.

Toshiba hopes to win approval from the DVD Forum by the end of this year, which will be necessary before the hybrid disc can be commercialized.

*Update*

BetaNews has just put up a much more informative report, here is a snippet:

According to Toshiba, the new specification will include one layer devoted to HD DVD, a second to DVD, and a third layer which can be apportioned to either format, enabling dual-layer HD DVD (30 GB) or dual-layer DVD-9 (8.5 GB).

<and>

A small-print notice appearing toward the bottom of the specifications sheet for Toshiba's HD-A1 HD DVD player now conspicuously reads, "Some Twin Format Discs may not be compatible with all players."

Although it may take several more months for the new format to be formally adopted by the DVD Forum, and more months afterwards for manufacturers to retool, some customers may find themselves upgrading their HD DVD player's system firmware to accommodate the dual-layer DVD-9 format. The HD-A1 and HD-XA1 currently support double-sided DVD-RAM, but Toshiba does not list DVD-9 by name for video playback.

Source: Various

Next: Toshiba press release for hybrid single side DVD HD-DVD disc

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Reactions on this item

Posted by intercept on Monday 11 September 2006 16:04

Prototype 3-Layer DVD, HD-DVD disc developed

This is something new. With a dual layer movie you get a 2 second pause while it switches to the next layer (switches transition? layer)?. Will we still the pause with 3-Layer DVD etc.

Greets Intercept

[edited by intercept on 11.09.2006 16:07]

Posted by Dr. Who on Monday 11 September 2006 18:16

This might be the push needed to have HD-DVD get up and running. Who knows?

I am interested in seeing what crabbyappleton has to say on this plus a few other cdfreak gurus'

Posted by FreqNasty on Monday 11 September 2006 18:43

Crabby doesn't care as his plasma can't display high definition :D

Posted by neo1918 on Monday 11 September 2006 18:54

"...2 second pause..."

Only on poorly designed players. With a little bit of buffering, it's easy to get rid of that.

Posted by FidelC on Monday 11 September 2006 19:16

The article (the source) is full of "bologna". "Each layer is capable of storing about two hours of standard and four hours of high-definition content". Which is clearly misleading. Also it is not clear whether all the layers are placed on the same side. Just seems to be a poor Japanese translation..
Crabby : Oppo rulez so we wont be getting a comment..

Posted by Crabbyappleton on Monday 11 September 2006 21:31

There has been an update to the article, in that BetaNews has posted some more information about these discs. One thing I was curious about, as the layers are all on one side, was whther or not firmware could be written to upgrade existing players to read these fancy discs. I am still not sure!

Posted by neo1918 on Monday 11 September 2006 22:08

Absolutely. If the consumer could buy one version of the movie that would play in his DVD player now and later get the benefit of HD from the same disc, it would be a winner.

Posted by Kevin2 on Monday 11 September 2006 22:57

Forget DVD. Flash drive will take over. It's expenive now but so was DVD when it came out. Samsung was showing a 32 gig flash drive notebook. Games will be packeged on flash drives.

Posted by applegodel8 on Tuesday 12 September 2006 00:17

People who know nothing of technology keep saying: "Everything will be on a chip" Not so! An optical disc wills always be able to hold more then a chip or magnetic based drive. So optics are really the future, we do not want to down grade storage size, who will want a 32GB flash drive over a 300GB hard drive or a 1TB hard drive? Basically, not many. I never have enough storage and most others donâ€™t either, basically when it comes to audio and video. That is the future of computers, they have become a consumer electronic, so we need the storage for it, and Flash chip based memory just isnâ€™t it, with the exception of portable stuff, I would love a 120 GB flash drive ipod! My music collection eats about 107GB now, and flash isnâ€™t big enough, and I would love to put all of my DVDs on my computer and use a media player this way I can network my collection to the whole house. But storage needs to get bigger and cheaper for that to happen.

Oh and another point. Optical media is always cheaper! No. 1 Point their! CHEAP!
[edited by applegodel8 on 12.09.2006 00:24]

Posted by intercept on Tuesday 12 September 2006 17:01

How much is a HD DVD Film going to cost when compared to the standard cost for a standard DVD film

Greetz Intercept

[edited by intercept on 12.09.2006 17:02]

Posted by intercept on Thursday 14 September 2006 14:24

I would like a 8gig flash usb drive bootable. Reason Windows XP could be installed and the user can just unplug it things to hot up.

Possibly these may not work, any user comments.

I have seen a external 10gig drive

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