History 2002: New DVD Gen Defined, De Facto

All the major DVD players, with the notable exception of Toshiba, have agreed on a new format for up to 27GB: the Blu-ray Disc.

The issue had become urgent. Capacity for current DVDs (4.7GB), which succeeded the CD (650MB) has become too low, particularly for recording high-definition video.

A few projects had already come to light, all allowing both recording and rewriting.

Samsung and LG Electronics (which is working with Hitachi on the matter), like subsidiary Zenith, had exhibited a 23GB drive at the last CES. Philips and Sony both unveiled a product called DVR-Blue ranging from 23.3 to 25GB. Matsushita had succeeded in storing up to 25GB on each layer of a single-sided dual-layer 12cm disc. Pioneer was, for a time, working on a 13.5GB HD-DVD. Meanwhile, also at CES, the Taiwanese Optodisc Technology revealed the prototype of a 25GB phase-change media. More importantly, at the same expo, Toshiba showed off its own unit, at 30GB, indicating that it planned to propose the new disc technology to the DVD Forum.

Of course, in spite of all the saber-rattling, no one is really anticipating another drag-out fight like that of DVD-RW vs. DVD+RW, nor will Toshiba, an eminent member of the DVD Forum, be allowed to impose its own standard, thereby reaping royalties ever after.

An anti-Toshiba cartel? Then, on February 19, came the announcement of a new “large capacity optical disc video recording format Blu-ray disc“. Three capacities are planned: 23.3, 25 and 27GB, with a transfer rate of 4.4MB/s. The 9 supporter companies (a.k.a. the 9C group): Hitachi, LG Electronics, Matsushita Electric Industrial, Pioneer, Philips, Samsung, S harp, Sony and Thomson Multimedia. Basically, the cream of the DVD crop.

If you compare this list to the founding members of the DVD Forum in 1995, the only players absent are Time Warner (not involved in the technology) , JVC (part of the Matsushita group), Mitsubishi (only in media) and . . . Toshiba, chair of the DVD Forum, an now decidedly alone (note also that Ricoh and Sanyo aren’t yet involved) .

Caught short in the play, how can Toshiba avoid joining the new cartel, and paying rather than receiving royalties? With little chance of rallying all these DVD leaders to its cause, its only chance is to convince its major OEMs, not a simple task opposite the offers of the other side. Meanwhile, Toshiba says it is waiting for Blu-ray to be pitched to the DVD Forum, along side its own initiative, and may the best proposal win. What is not clear, however, is why the tightly-knit 9C bloc would bother taking that risk.

What a little blue laser can do blue-violet lasers, with a shorter wavelength (405nm) than red ones (650nm) found in current DVD devices, and which offer the possibility in the short and medium term to finalize and manufacture at potentially affordable prices (even if they are still high at the moment), are behind the nearly 6-fold jump in capacity for the next gen of media, since they allow for smaller dots on the disc, and thus more data. The rest is just detail, technological fine-tuning.

The best known companies working on the topic include Matsushita, NEC, Nichia, Osram, Rohm/Cree, Sharp and Sony. Japanese firm Nichia is probably the furthest ahead, but is somewhat hindered by a lawsuit filed by an ex-employee. Shuji Nakamura is seeking $17 million in compensation and patent rights for blue laser technology. Nakamura is now working for Cree, a direct competitor of Nichia.

The next phase should produce a dual-layer disc, with total capacity close to 50GB. A double-sided disc should follow. 27GB means, eventually, the potential to record 2 hours of digital high-definition video, or roughly 13 hours of standard TV broadcasting at VHS quality.

It also means, thanks to improved transfer rates, the possibility for two parallel video flows, for example one for recording and one for simultaneous playback.

Areal density on the Blu-ray platter ranges from 16.8 to 19.5Gb per square inch, not yet at the level of current magnetic HDDs, which frequently hit 35Gb per square inch. Nevertheless, density is high enough to warrant some kind of protection, most likely a cartridge housing, the dimensions of which are not yet final (in the ballpark of 129x131x7mm).

Royalties
Once blue laser technology has been fully mastered, the difference in the technology specs will be relatively minor (see table page 1 for a comparison of Blu-ray with Toshiba’s offer), but are sufficient to make them completely incompatible with each other. Thus, the Blu-ray camp is settling for a structure in which bits are recorded only on grooves, while Toshiba is utilizing a land and groove technology.

What matters most, however, is timing. The winner will try to impose a de facto standard as quickly as possible, to pave the way for later royalties.

Initial market: broadcast video
The first market to be targeted by the 9C group is broadcast television. This is hardly surprising, since users are willing to pay more for high technology, which means that manufacturers can start out with comfortable margins.

“Adoption in a variety of applications including PC storage and high definition software is being considered,” stated the group’s press release.

But that’s for later.

Unanswered questions
Everything suggests that the Blu-ray disc announcement was a rushed affair. No launch date was announced, although (and perhaps more importantly for the 9C group), “licensing is expected to start around spring 2002.” Unlikely, therefore, that we’ll see a product brought to market before 2003, or even 2004.

The technical specs are also a bit vague, if not incomplete. Why offer 3 capacities (is it just a question of pricing, with lower capacity cheaper)? What’s the expected operating life of a blue laser? Will the UDF format be maintained for computer applications? Why hasn’t the cartridge size been finalized?

No doubt answers will come soon enough, but there can be no question about the heavy stakes involved, and why the group didn’t wait before entering a bid on the future standard.

With that announcement, they have essentially set the standard, and quite possibly initiated a coup d’etat. It will now be up to the DVD Forum to show how it isn’t going to become irrelevant.

This article is an abstract of news published on issue 170 on March 2002 from the former paper version of Computer Data Storage Newsletter.