Life After Blu-ray - HVD continued

The way the data is stored on the media is more 3D than anything we have seen today. The best example of how this will work is using a desk of cards. In any media available today, it is similar to putting cards side by side. The closer they are together, the more cards fit on the surface. This is where the idea of Blu-ray comes from; the blue laser allows the cards to be placed closer together without overlapping. The lasers will read the position with respect to the X and Y axis.

HVD does something a little different with the cards. Take a deck of cards, and push them over so that they overlap. This takes up a lot less area than putting them side by side. The HVD has the traditional X and Y coordinate readers. Since the cards are overlapped, a traditional X Y reader wouldn't be able to distinguish the different packets of data. This is where the two-laser requirement comes in. With the two-laser approach, the data can now be read on the Z axis as well, making every card in the desk readable. This is the main reason we can store so much data on the same size media.

At the same time as HVD is being developed, another device utilizing this technology is in the works. Instead of having the traditional discs as we have come to know, they are also working on cards. As far as the laser aspect of HVD, this should be similar to the Holographic Versatile Cards (HVC). The biggest benefit of the card over the disc is that the card won't have moving parts, which cuts down on problems faced with current optical devices. These won't be able to hold as much information, only around 30 GB per card.

As far as next generation media, I don't think this will cut it. Currently Blu-ray discs can hold more data than this. I think that this may take off in the business sector though. The ability to store an entire computer hard drive's worth of data would be amazing. You could carry all your data around with you, even your OS, and also have all your programs and configurations available on any computer you choose to use. An HVC would also posses any data or access codes one would need for identification. You could have a ID tag along with your PC hard drive in a single card.

If you think that the price might be a problem, think again. The cards should be around $1 at launch, and we all know how the price falls on media after launch. Okay, price isn't an issue, but will size be an issue? These cards will be the size of a credit card, the same size as many of our ID cards. 

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