mrnagy88
May 11th, 2008, 03:38 PM
Toshiba has decided to discontinue its HD DVD business, ending the standards battle. But now the Blu-ray Disc standard faces a new challenge: achieving a seamless fusion of optical discs and network services.
http://techon.nikkeibp.co.jp/article/HONSHI/20080428/151136/fig5s.jpg (http://techon.nikkeibp.co.jp/article/HONSHI/20080428/151136/fig5.jpg)On February 19, 2008, Atsutoshi Nishida, representative executive officer, president and chief executive efficer of Toshiba Corp of Japan announced the closure of the firm's High-Definition Digital Videodisk (HD DVD) business. The Blu-ray Disc standard was announced by Sony Corp of Japan, Matsu****a Electric Industrial Co Ltd of Japan and others on February 19, 2002. Exactly six years later, the next-gen DVD standard has been effectively unified to Blu-ray Disc (Fig 1).
The end of the standards competition, though, merely marks the start of a new challenge for the Blu-ray Disc standard: achieving a seamless fusion of optical disc and network service. Big-league players like Sony, Matsu****a Electric Industrial, Toshiba and Microsoft Corp of the US seem sure to become embroiled in an intense fight for the lead.
Companies like Sony and Matsu****a Electric Industrial originally launched the Blu-ray Disc standard because they were worried about new video storage and distribution technologies, incorporating elements such as hard disk drives (HDD) and distribution over networks. Over the six-year standards war, Blu-ray Disc evolved to incorporate functions such as BD-Live and Managed Copy, thereby supporting HDD, network distribution, etc. BD-Live is a network access function for interactive content, making it possible to implement online games, network distribution and other features. Managed Copy allows content to be copied to an HDD or other device in accordance with billing and other conditions.
For the time being, BD-Live is expected to only implement services such as film preview clip distribution, online games and social networking service (SNS). In the future, though, once high-speed networks, distribution servers and other infrastructural components are in place, consumers will probably be able to use a single Blu-ray Disc player to view new films, access old content distributed via a network, and more.
US$199 Target Price
Attaining this objective, however, involves tackling two main challenges. The first is dropping the cost of Blu-ray Disc systems and replacing existing DVD equipment, and the second is winning out over competing network services.
http://techon.nikkeibp.co.jp/article/HONSHI/20080428/151136/fig6s.jpg (http://techon.nikkeibp.co.jp/article/HONSHI/20080428/151136/fig6.jpg)Interviews with a number of people in the industry show that the total number of Blu-ray Disc player and recorder units shipped in 2008 is expected to be at least four times the 2007 level, ending up somewhere between six and ten million units (Fig 2). These estimates are based on the assumption that the price of a player will drop to US$199 by the end of 2008, putting it in the price range for widespread consumption. In that case, as an engineer at one equipment manufacturer explained, players supporting BD-Live would probably cost US$100 more including development cost, putting the retail price at US$299. Page 2 (http://techon.nikkeibp.co.jp/article/HONSHI/20080428/151136/?P=2) Page 3 (http://techon.nikkeibp.co.jp/article/HONSHI/20080428/151136/?P=3)
http://techon.nikkeibp.co.jp/article/HONSHI/20080428/151136/?P=1
I liked their graphs / charts, and they seem to know their stuff pretty well IMO, still reading it though :-D
http://techon.nikkeibp.co.jp/article/HONSHI/20080428/151136/fig5s.jpg (http://techon.nikkeibp.co.jp/article/HONSHI/20080428/151136/fig5.jpg)On February 19, 2008, Atsutoshi Nishida, representative executive officer, president and chief executive efficer of Toshiba Corp of Japan announced the closure of the firm's High-Definition Digital Videodisk (HD DVD) business. The Blu-ray Disc standard was announced by Sony Corp of Japan, Matsu****a Electric Industrial Co Ltd of Japan and others on February 19, 2002. Exactly six years later, the next-gen DVD standard has been effectively unified to Blu-ray Disc (Fig 1).
The end of the standards competition, though, merely marks the start of a new challenge for the Blu-ray Disc standard: achieving a seamless fusion of optical disc and network service. Big-league players like Sony, Matsu****a Electric Industrial, Toshiba and Microsoft Corp of the US seem sure to become embroiled in an intense fight for the lead.
Companies like Sony and Matsu****a Electric Industrial originally launched the Blu-ray Disc standard because they were worried about new video storage and distribution technologies, incorporating elements such as hard disk drives (HDD) and distribution over networks. Over the six-year standards war, Blu-ray Disc evolved to incorporate functions such as BD-Live and Managed Copy, thereby supporting HDD, network distribution, etc. BD-Live is a network access function for interactive content, making it possible to implement online games, network distribution and other features. Managed Copy allows content to be copied to an HDD or other device in accordance with billing and other conditions.
For the time being, BD-Live is expected to only implement services such as film preview clip distribution, online games and social networking service (SNS). In the future, though, once high-speed networks, distribution servers and other infrastructural components are in place, consumers will probably be able to use a single Blu-ray Disc player to view new films, access old content distributed via a network, and more.
US$199 Target Price
Attaining this objective, however, involves tackling two main challenges. The first is dropping the cost of Blu-ray Disc systems and replacing existing DVD equipment, and the second is winning out over competing network services.
http://techon.nikkeibp.co.jp/article/HONSHI/20080428/151136/fig6s.jpg (http://techon.nikkeibp.co.jp/article/HONSHI/20080428/151136/fig6.jpg)Interviews with a number of people in the industry show that the total number of Blu-ray Disc player and recorder units shipped in 2008 is expected to be at least four times the 2007 level, ending up somewhere between six and ten million units (Fig 2). These estimates are based on the assumption that the price of a player will drop to US$199 by the end of 2008, putting it in the price range for widespread consumption. In that case, as an engineer at one equipment manufacturer explained, players supporting BD-Live would probably cost US$100 more including development cost, putting the retail price at US$299. Page 2 (http://techon.nikkeibp.co.jp/article/HONSHI/20080428/151136/?P=2) Page 3 (http://techon.nikkeibp.co.jp/article/HONSHI/20080428/151136/?P=3)
http://techon.nikkeibp.co.jp/article/HONSHI/20080428/151136/?P=1
I liked their graphs / charts, and they seem to know their stuff pretty well IMO, still reading it though :-D