Sony Vaio Ar21s Laptop Vgn Ar21s

Sony Vaio Ar21s Laptop Vgn Ar21s

The HD Media Future

The Future of HD Media

Everyone knows that media format wars have historical significance in the world of technology. Remember the most famous battle between VHS and Beta Max? The winner of such battles will make millions, even billions. Later we had the upgrade from tape to CD, a revolution in music. In 1980 the Philips / Sony compact disc standard was finalized and nobody has looked behind the past 26 years (until he came along mp3).

Well, as ever there is a new battle, but the media who will win again is still unknown. This forest mass modern technology has produced a new insurgency: THE HIGH DEFINITION WAR. Blu-ray vs. HD-DVD are two formats of competition, finally going to replace DVD's. When you look around the local retail electric can see the changes that occur in the broadcast world, not only we are changing our conventional CRT screens to Flat screen but also HD ready TV. The impact this has on our lives is not as big as the black and white color, but nevertheless a change that will undoubtedly be a benchmark for future media.

Why New formats?

The reason why they have introduced these new formats is that the traditional DVD can hold a maximum of 9.4 GB (Double Layer) of information. This is not sufficient for HD broadcast as the information required is greater, to be a resolution of 1920x1080. Blu-ray discs can store 50 GB (dual layer) and HD-DVD 30 GB (dual layer).

These new discs may not play on normal DVD players but on new HD media players of examples are Samsung BDP 1000 (Blu-Ray), Sony Playstation 3 (Blu-Ray) HDXA1 Toshiba (HD-DVD). This means spending more money for better resolution.

Price

This is always important, especially when new models of media come out in the beginning is always expensive as supply and demand of the strips. The players are expensive, the cheapest is the Playstation 3, allegedly for less than £ 549. Blu-ray is too expensive, similar to DVD's when he left the first (considering inflation), blank media costing from £ 11.99 to £ 24.99.

To play a Blu-ray on the PC has been a concern of prices. The fact that you have to buy a HDCP (High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection), graphics card, along with an HD monitor, not to mention a Blu-ray and media controversy may lead to reduced sales. This is being challenged with new laptops and PCs that are Blu-ray compatible, look at the new VAIO VGN-AR21S.

Players HD need to be up to scratch in the price. The Toshiba HD-DVD at retail in about half the price of Samsung Blu-ray creates more competition between the two media. This could boost sales of HD-DVD over Blu-ray, although it is rumored that Toshiba will make a loss initially.

Prices of movies does not seem as high as expected, the House a Blu-ray 'of Flying Daggers "from amazon.com will set you back $ 19.95 (£ 10.68). This may encourage to sales. Movies on HD-DVD identical in price, however, Blu-ray is a larger disk.

Upscaling

Another problem HD may face is that new DVD players have the technology scaling, ie. DVD plays at 480p, but upscalers improve the image to 720p or 1080i. This produces an image that is high quality to the untrained eye, in fact, even the trained eye has difficulty distinguishing between the two. The difference is seen in a projector high definition of 50 inches and the right look closely. So the question is will 1080p be much different to 1080i? Will people fork out the extra expense when they know that DVD climber cheaper to create more or less the same effect?

Backup

Software and hardware companies have invested heavily money to subsidize the media in high definition. Samsung, Panasonic, Mitsubishi, LG, Sony, TDK, JVC and Sharp support Blu-ray and Toshiba and Microsoft are the HD-DVD. Hollywood movie studios Disney, Paramount, Warner, Sony, Eagle Rock, Fox and MGM and Lions Gate's support Blu-ray too. None of these big companies are taken like a game of chance if he did not know that this is what the consumer wants.

PlayStation 3

Sony love to bring out their own means of communication if your Sony Duo Sticks or Sony Mini Discs. Their hunger to dominate the consumer market has always been there and this is no different. The PlayStation 3 will play discs Blu-Ray still has the ability to play older media like DVDs and CDs. The success of the PS1 and PS2 predecessor will give much anticipation of the publication This new console from Sony and is what they expect to convert people to use Blu-Ray. A Sony spokesman has predicted that Blu-Ray HD dominate the market in 12 months.

The positive side HD-DVD is the name everyone's ears will ring with the name and automatically assume that this is a high definition movie. Ask someone on the street, which 'Blu-ray' is will bring looks of confusion, coupled with the fact that they both produce images of similar quality.

Region Consolidation

Consolidation of the Region with the Blu-Ray may put people off, that may not be able to see a new version of the States or Japan in its regional European player blocked raise eyebrows.

REGION 1 South America, North America, East Asia (excluding China)
REGION 2 Europe Africa
REGION 3 China, Russia, other countries

Multiregional configurations on DVD players has encouraged sales worldwide, especially with Bollywood films worldwide, Japan (manga) and South America.

So far the HD-DVD camp has not yet announced its coding region, and if they do not then this will be very advantageous for consumers.

Future Proof

Realistically you only need about 15-20 GB for a feature film in high definition, but I would have known that the DVD might not be able to hold enough for high definition. Theoretically they can with MPEG-4 Compression. In any case media like Blu-ray is expected to be future proof in the coming years.

Conclusion

Calendar and price are the two main issues here, how fast is universally change to HD and if it is affordable. From a consumer point of view of the need for HD does not seem essential, after all VHS was around 20-odd years twice that of DVD (so far). One could argue that technology is changing exponentially and that changes occur quicker.

As for the battle between the two media there may be compromise ahead. A British company has announced a solution to the war in the media. London-based New Medium Enterprises (NME) has developed a low-cost, multi-layer DVD disc that can store content A Blu-ray and HD DVD layer in another. This would leave the consumer the option of buying any player to play the disc.

The key setback I feel with the change HD is coming is the cheapest alternative to a Blu-Ray or HD-DVD, the DVD scaler. Do people want to get rid of those hundreds of films they have purchased to replace by a costly alternative, especially when not even notice the difference in picture quality?

However I feel that HD is encouraged with consoles such as Playstation 3. Blu-ray is the main form and could revolutionize the gaming industry.

About the Author

Jay Jeetley is a writer for the website Blu-raychoice.com, a resource for Blu-ray News, movies, forums and media

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