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Blu-ray players are incompatible

Am I blue?
Wednesday, 14 October 2009, 17:11

BLU-RAY DISCS of 100GB or 200GB are incompatible with available players, according to The Blu-ray Disc Association.

So although producers like Sharp or TDK have announced multi-layer high-capacity media that can store hundreds of gigabytes of data, users will be unable to play them. This is because current players cannot handle more than 50GB.

"Player manufacturers design players to meet published specifications that define maximum media capacity, which in the case of Blu-ray Disc, is 50GB on two-layer media," said Andy Parsons, SVP of corporate communications and new product planning for Pioneer and the chairman of BDA's promotion committee in the US, in an interview with Home Media Magazine.

"I think there will be applications for larger capacity recordable discs, but it would be difficult for [discs larger than 50GB] to achieve compatibility with the installed base of players," he said.

Parsons suggested the higher-capacity Blu-ray discs from companies such as Sharp and TDK should remain in the recordable media realm.

He said future Blu-ray players could support higher capacity Blu-ray discs, "much as how tape formats such as VHS gradually added higher recording capacities that were playback-incompatible with older decks." µ

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Comments
redundent

Here we go, all BR's are not the same. If I want a larger capacity I'll have to get a second job.I can just see it now I'll have not only stacks of BR disks I'll have stacks of players as well.

posted by : Uncle, 14 October 2009 Complain about this comment
Drashek makes sense! ONOZ!!1

Wow! Drashek's comment made sense! And has a touch of poetry!!

Or am I going mad, so young??

posted by : nic, 14 October 2009 Complain about this comment
Blu-ray

Well I'm sure glad I read this. I was planning on picking up a Blu-ray player or PS3 for Christmas but well, I may skip it now.

Guess the big question is, will there be movies released on 100 or 200GB Blu-ray discs or will movies JUST stick to the single and dual layer media?

Last thing I would want is to buy an obsolete format.

Now, where can I buy a HD DVD player from cheap? ;-)

Rob

posted by : Rob Beard, 14 October 2009 Complain about this comment
Firmware update?

Isn't this the sort of thing that could be fixed with a simple firmware update?

posted by : David Macphail, 14 October 2009 Complain about this comment
Firmware update?

@Firmware update?
Not if were to keep the Chinese employed, and our companies flush with cash.You have to quit looking at this from a consumers point of view and more inline with a companies point of view.

posted by : Uncle, 14 October 2009 Complain about this comment
rolls eyes

This is one of the worst "articles" that I have read on the Blu-ray front. The title is sensationalistic, and there is no meat and potatoes. Frankly, it's old news that 100gb or 200gb discs won't play on current machines. You want a real story, how about doing some actual research about the myriad of incompatibilities of older Blu-ray players with newer discs. There is a plethora of well documented problems and real incompatibilities happening RIGHT NOW with current hardware.

100gb and beyond BD discs are a non-issue and anyone reading this should not be making decisions based upon this lousy article. Plenty of Blu-rays still use only 25gb discs, and most movies on dual layer 50gb discs don't come anywhere close to filling up that space. Remember, HD DVD used the same exact compression methods and was able to get away with 15gb discs on short movies. This is completely a non-issue and I expect better from the the Inq.

posted by : jeff e, 14 October 2009 Complain about this comment
Unfinished specification....

...this is why a lot of us liked HD-DVD over BD because it was a finished and signed off standard. You know...professional.

BD just hasnt had that, they just keep tweaking and adding to it.

Leave it alone...we might buy it then.

posted by : jason, 14 October 2009 Complain about this comment
Ok here's a lesson for ya...

technology changes constantly. Surprise!
ok now that that's outta the way. Here are some things to get straight first.

1: By the time 100, 500 or 1000 discs get affordable Bluray machines will cost around 50 bucks. I remember when a good, not great, DVD player cost $400. And it didn't play DVD R or RW. Do you guys remember the microwave? When it came out it was $1000 too.

2: Just because a disc is capable of 200 gigs, what are they going to put on it? The entire Run of 'The Sopranos'? Maybe on 3 200 bluray discs. BTW just because they hold more, should that mean the 500 Gig discs 'The Sopranos' will be cheaper than the current one? No. It'll be the same price.

3. I'm sure the future bluray players will play the current bluray movies. Just like bluray players play DVD.

posted by : NYstate, 15 October 2009 Complain about this comment
PS4

200 gig image for games?

posted by : Sean, 15 October 2009 Complain about this comment
@Jeff E

"I expect better from the the Inq."

Well, there's your first mistake...

posted by : PeriSoft, 15 October 2009 Complain about this comment
How about Backward Compatibility?

Will drives that can read 100GB or 200GB disks also be able to read existing 50GB disks? That is, will new drives be backward compatible?

It is a non-trivial challenge for hardware to be _forward_ compatible. The article confirms this to be the case here, but I suspect we all knew this to be the case.

posted by : Mike Bentley, 15 October 2009 Complain about this comment
Green, I'd say...but it may be the light.

Interesting. With 4x the capacity you increase the data density and the speed potential. Too bad this joke started at 4x REGULAR DVD speeds and it's STILL slower then regular DVD,even at 4x. I guess that's part of the collusion, fixing the price points. Don't worry, the greedy EU fat cats will be getting their cut. Why give the consumer anything when you can bait them along endlessly? Is that a tennis racket?

I'd like to see RAID 0 regular DVD, using several regular DVD players to increase speed and platter size. That would put pressure on this new technology to actually do something. Even at 25 GB data density this media has a potential to be 6x faster then regular DVD. Where's the beef?

Be real, be sober.

WSmart

posted by : WSmart, 15 October 2009 Complain about this comment
Bag of hurt

as someone in Cupertino said.

posted by : Dave Barnes, 15 October 2009 Complain about this comment
BD-R media costs more than HDs

Even if they gave you Blu-Ray burners for free, the media costs more than new HDs.

And BD is allot slower.

posted by : Ugly American, 15 October 2009 Complain about this comment
supid ps3

oh nooooss@!!!!

my ps3 wont read blu-rays with 200GB of porns?

or it might not play 4k movies?

what a waste.

posted by : hefty, 15 October 2009 Complain about this comment
Absolutely nothing new here

Putting up this kind of nonsense just brings out the dumbest commenters ever. Blu-Ray has only one or two layers according to the specs.

All the talk of 100 or 200 GB discs is just some companies playing loose with their marketing. If such discs emerge, there will be a new standard needed. This has always been clear.

I know commenting this is just a waste of my time, but: WSmart:
The key density here is not data per surface area, but data density in a scan line. If a disc capacity is increased by a factor of about five, the density in a scan line only increases by a little more than 2. And as the fastest DVD players spin nearly as fast as is possible without breaking the discs, don't expect the absolute maximum data rate from a Blu-ray player to ever be more than a little over two times what is achievable with DVD players. Adding more layers does not change this, unless you start adding separate optics in the player. Which you could also do in a DVD player.

posted by : Another dumb commenter, 15 October 2009 Complain about this comment
Drashek makes sense! ONOZ!!1

Since when does dras not made sence?

posted by : missingxtension, 15 October 2009 Complain about this comment
PS3 will be ok

Guys yes the ps3 won recognise the discs but we can use to 50gb discs to make a full game... when one disc gets full switch it to another disk. Sony is aware of this and would have changed the Blu-Ray players in the slim. But we don’t need that we can use two separate 50gb discs

posted by : Sony, 15 October 2009 Complain about this comment
Doesn't the author know there's 320gbs created now!?

I can't believe how many morons commented on this article... it's like the blind leading the blind... no friggin' clue whatsoever and these are the type of news that HD-DVD fans just love to hear.. seriously you guys are the most pathetic losers on the planet. I can't believe you guys are still trying to justify your buy with HD-DVD!!! LOLOLOL

posted by : Steve, 15 October 2009 Complain about this comment
ONOZ!! Someone has removed Drashek's sense!

This day has gone and done it!

posted by : copisha, 15 October 2009 Complain about this comment
old news

Did you know that this problem is from the early stages of BD development. Many BD manufacturers have already stated that a firmware update on all BD players can run 100g and above capacities.
I suggest that you do more research and not rely on this article alone. What I'm trying to say, this is a terribly old news revived.

posted by : tarbis, 16 October 2009 Complain about this comment
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