Media Reports

The Bitter Blu-Ray Battle
By Barry Fox
Multimedia Manufacturer, May/June 2005

From Japan comes the welcome news that Sony and Toshiba are talking about a unified single standard for blue laser recording. This is nice timing because the bitter blue battle has already done its job and pushed the rival factions (Philips, Sony, and Panasonic for Blu-ray; Toshiba and the DVD Forum for HD-DVD) into developing their systems far beyond the target points they would have set if they had begun with a single agreed standard.

Many of the features we got from Beta and VHS were only developed because the system backers were fighting so hard to stay ahead.

Toshiba has been working with Memory-Tech of Japan to develop a dual layer HD-DVD with ordinary DVD data pressed into an upper layer, and HDTV in a lower layer. The 650 nm red laser in a DVD player just reads the top layer; a 405 nm blue laser focuses down to the HD layer.

The downside, which received a lot less publicity than the upside benefit of a disc that plays either on old or new players, is that the DVD capacity of the new HD-DVD is limited to 4.7 GB (while most movie DVDs hold 8.5 GB on a single side), and HD capacity is cut down to 15 GB, from HD-DVDs promised 20 GB. The reduced red DVD capacity will limit the data rates available for sound and vision, and the reduced blue capacity makes the disc far less useful for its original intended purpose—recording high definition TV and higher quality multi-channel surround.

Cinram has now suggested another approach. An HD/DVD9 hybrid will have a traditional 8.5 GB DVD bonded back to back with a 15 GB HD-DVD blue laser disc.

At first it looked as if Blu-ray could not deliver a dual standard (red/blue) disc. Philips then claimed success in the labs. But the system sounded too hideously complicated for affordable manufacture; mould the blue laser layer into a 0.5mm substrate, mould the DVD layer into a 0.6mm substrate, sputter the data layers with reflective layers, glue them back to front, and cover the blue layer with a 0.1mm optical skim.

This prompted JVC to announce a simpler approach. JVC's Blu-ray disc will have three layers; a top layer stores 25 GB of data that is read by a blue laser; underneath there are two layers---just like the two layers on today's DVD music or movie discs---which together hold 8.5GB of data that is read by a red laser. The trick is to separate the Blu-ray and DVD layers with a semi-reflective film, like a two-way spy mirror, that reflects blue light but passes red light through to the DVD layers underneath.

So there is no capacity compromise, as suffered for the HD-DVD system. And Blu-ray's blue laser layer can still be made as a double layer, to hold 50 GB. So the total disc capacity becomes 58.5 GB.

Jean-Paul Eeekhout, Senior Marketing Manager from TDK's European HQ in Germany, has been giving briefings at which he hands round 12 cm discs, with a wire wool kitchen scourer and some felt tip pens. "Try and mark the discs," he challenges.

The wire wool leaves no marks and pen ink wipes off. So do fingerprints. The only person who has so far hurt the discs was a Dutch journalist who used a Swiss Army knife.

The demonstration was staged to support the claim now made by Sony, Philips, Panasonic, and other members of the Blu-ray group that their blue laser recording discs no longer need to be housed in the awkward protective caddies previously thought essential to prevent data loss from surface marks.

TDK refused to give any details of the coating but the company's patents reveal it is made from two separately applied very thin layers of silica and fluorine-containing chemicals, hardened and bonded by intense ultraviolet light.

The silica particles are less than 50 micrometers in diameter, so do not affect transparency; the fluorine acts as a lubricant which makes oil from fingers or solvent from a pen roll into droplets which are much smaller than the laser spot used to read the disc, and so cause no data loss.

TDK in Japan says the new hard coating will probably not be cost-effective for music CDs and video DVDs, because consumers now expect them to be so cheap. But it could spawn a new market for Special Edition CDs that really do last forever.

Although the Fox studios have not yet committed to either system, Disney, Columbia-Sony, and MGM are backing Blu-Ray, while Paramount, Universal, and Warner are behind HD-DVD.

These allegiances are not exclusive, and Panasonic still has close ties with Universal. So unless the standard is unified a VHS/Betamax situation seems likely, with the studios hedging bets by issuing entertainment on both formats until one or the other emerges as a commercial winner and de-facto standard.

Unless there is unification, shops will probably need to offer three versions of each movie disc—in HD-DVD, Blu-Ray, and ordinary full-capacity DVD.

In addition, Warner is releasing titles on Mini DVDs, 8cm standard red laser discs with a maximum capacity of 2.7 GB per side, for portable playback.
All these formats are in addition to CD, DVD-Audio, and SACD for audio only content.

So the sooner blue laser is unified, the better.

QUALITY
The "perfect sound forever" promise for CD was dropped soon after the 1983 launch. "CD quality sound" then became a phony benchmark which morphed into "near CD quality" after legal complaints.

All this of course means nothing to the IT companies that now have their sights set on hi-fi as a chance to boost flagging sales of flaky computers and fashion phones. History for them is what they did before lunch.

When Vodafone launched its third-generation 3G videophones across 12 European countries, and Japan, with a party in East London, it was a lavish affair. Models Jodie Kidd, Sophie Anderton, and Eva Herzigova mingled with the guests, before being interviewed from a mock TV studio by Jonathan Ross; new star Jamelia sang live to pre-recorded backing tracks. Nothing wrong with that. It's what the hi-fi companies used to do when they still had the money.

The real shock was a "News of the Day" mock TV program hosted by ITV's news and current affairs anchor Sir Trevor McDonald. Appearing live in the mock studio and on large screens around the venue, McDonald "interviewed" Bill Morrow, CEO of Vodafone UK, feeding him soft questions such as "will it not be too expensive?"

On at least three occasions during this "interview," Morrow promised that 3G would deliver "CD quality music." Sir Mac of course let it pass. Phones on demonstration around the room were playing downloaded pop and rock tracks through headphones and sounded acceptable. I checked the file description for three tracks (from Robbie Williams, Prince, and Jamelia). The music was stored as MP4 on a Memory stick with a data rate of 60 Kbps. True CD data streams nearly 25 times faster, at 1.4 Mbps.

The consumer advertising complaints bodies will sure be busy if the 3G companies slide into promising CD quality from 60 kbps.

BLUETOOTH SLOWDOWN?
I previously reported on Motorola's plan for a new hi-fi system which uses the Bluetooth wireless computer system to connect audio components around the home. All has gone silent on the promised launch. In the meantime, I had sent Motorola a detailed analysis of the technical problems I found after testing some of Motorola's current Bluetooth audio devices. My questions were put to the company's appointed press spokespeople, so they should have got the best possible answers, fast.

After a full month of reminders, all I had got were short muddled answers which largely ignored the issues I had raised. Is this the "help" we can expect when we try to use Moto Bluetooth to connect our audio components?

"For MPT (Mobile Phone Tools), if you click on the Menu button (on the phone displayed on the PC), select Help, then Update, it'll take you to a web page where you will see "Learn more about Windows XP Service Pack 2 . . ." Follow instructions to get the software to all work together."

Barry Fox reports on the audio industry as columnist for the British publication Hi-Fi News. His commentary also appears in every issue of Multi Media Manufacturer

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