What Next-Gen DVD Will Survive the Next Three Years? - But I’m Here to Talk About HVD…
(Page 3 of 4 )
Actually, Sony and Toshiba may both become irrelevant in this storage media war, thanks to Fujifilm and (at last count) ten other companies. You see, while we’re on the current generation of DVDs, and Sony and Toshiba are arguing over the next generation of electronic storage media, this group of companies, members of HVD Alliance, has already come up with the generation after that. It’s called a Holographic Versatile Disc.
A firm called Optware successfully demonstrated the recording and play back of digital movies using its own patented Collinear Technologies. Details about this technology are available at http://www.optware.co.jp/english/index_tech.htm. While it is a little beyond my understanding, certain points stand out.
First, the technology is intended to utilize existing manufacturing processes. This factor could give it an advantage over Blu-ray, and put it on a par with HD-DVD. In fact, in a press release talking about a demonstration of the media at National Association of Broadcasters Show in Las Vegas, Fujifilm explicitly states that the HVD technology features a “smaller system design that is compatible with today’s DVD media.” It might also help explain why Sony is so eager for a compromise – another competing format is breathing down both Sony’s and Toshiba’s necks.
Second, this storage format will blow away almost everything that has come before. You like the idea of dual layer Blu-rays storing 50GBs? How about a read-only disc that stores twice that much data? And a recordable disc that stores 200GB? That’s only the beginning, though. Can you imagine up to 3.9 terabytes of data on one disc? According to Fujifilm, that is the potential for this technology.
Third, transfer speed will not be the stumbling block you might expect when dealing with that much data. This technology is capable of 40 times the transfer speed of modern DVD media. Now that might not seem like much when you look at the difference in the quantity of data stored (over 200 times as much on an HVD as opposed to a DVD), but how many people are going to want or need to transfer 3.9 TB of data all at once?
Next: Open Standards for the Future >>
More Storage Devices Articles
More By Terri Wells
