The Hindu Business Line : A fresh tug-of-war

BUYING a DVD player must be high up in priority in your shopping list, if you haven't got one yet. The price of the DVD player has fallen drastically, the discs are available everywhere, and the neighbourhood video library stacks the latest releases only in DVD. So you've got to buy one at the earliest.

The DVD revolution that has made our evening entertainment crystal-clear is about to move on to its next stage.

Super DVDs that can store three or four films in one disc with storage capacity 15-27 gigabytes as compared with today's 4.7-gigabyte DVD — they offer better video and voice quality too — are getting ready to flood the stores.

But there is a face-off in the digital world. Two different formats for these next-generation DVDs have emerged, both backed by heavyweights in technology and media industries. You will have to wait a while to know which format - the Blu-Ray or the HD-DVD - emerges the winner.

Both the Blu-Ray and HD-DVD use blue-violet laser that has a wavelength of 405 nanometer, unlike today's conventional DVD which uses red laser of 650 nanometer.

Because of the shorter wavelength, the blue laser can focus on a smaller area, allowing more data to be stored in that space. The Blu-Ray disc can store 23 to 27 gigabytes while the HD-DVD has a storage of 15 to 20 gigabytes.

Electronics companies such as Sony, Panasonic, LG Electronics, Hitachi-Maxell, Hewlett-Packard, Pioneer, Philips, Samsung and Sharp champion the Blu-Ray format.

Sony Pictures, Disney and its home video division, Buena Vista Home Entertainment, as well as MGM (now owned by a consortium led by Sony) also support Blu-Ray.

On the other hand, NEC and Toshiba back the HD-DVD format. Hollywood studios Paramount Pictures, Universal Studios, Warner Bros and New Line Cinema have announced that they will go for the HD-DVD to bring out their titles.

Supporters of this format, which also includes software giant Microsoft, argue that HD-DVD is cheaper to produce since it has similarities to the existing DVD technologies.

Moreover, the DVD Forum, an international organisation that lays down DVD standards, has supported the HD-DVD format. Thomson, another leading consumer electronic company, has said it will manufacture both the discs.

Adding a new dimension to the issue of who supports what, China has its own `Enhanced Versatile Disc' and Taiwan its `Forward Versatile Disc' standards.

Given the huge potential of the Chinese market and the electronic prowess of Taiwan, it may not be possible to circumvent these two formats in the future.

The DVD itself was a result of a format war of yore, and it is perhaps ironical that such a war should have broken out in the evolution of DVD. In the 1990s, Philips and Sony supported an optical storage standard called Multimedia Compact Disc (MMCD) while eight other companies, including Toshiba, voiced support for the Super Disc (SD).

To avoid a tussle like the one between VHS and Betamax in the 1980s, the DVD format was announced in September 1995, and the Version 1.0 of the specification came out a year after.

Such a merger of the two standards may not be possible this time. The Blu-Ray disc is single-sided whereas the HD-DVD format is double-sided.

Also, the Blu-Ray uses a 0.1 millimetre transparent plastic layer to cover the data layer while the HD-DVD uses a 0.6 millimetre one.

This is the reason why the Blu-Ray can hold more data than its rival. Blu-Ray supporters also say that the thinner layer would minimise the occurrence of errors due to laser-beam splitting etc.

Even as this format fight continues, there is a view that these voluminous discs may not be all that in great demand. These discs would be required mainly to store the HDTV content.

Currently HDTV accounts for only a small percentage of total television, and is largely confined to the US and Japan. There is also the view that when video-on-demand really takes off, why should one collect films in DVDs.

Bill Gates has reportedly made the prediction that DVDs will become obsolete in 10 years with the blend of television with the Internet. That's not much of time for the format war to play itself out.

Picture by A. Shaikmohideen

vipin@thehindu.co.in

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