LIVE FROM CES - CESdate 01.08.06 - DVDJ @ CES 2006

 as reported by Bruce Apar > dvdj@dvdj.info

Visitors to this site could be among the first to order Pioneer’s forthcoming Blu-ray disc recorder, BDR-101A, due in late March for under $1000. Watch this blog the next couple days and we’ll post the contact information for Sandra Benedetto of Pioneer, who told me to direct DVD Association members and site guests to her directly if they are interested in owning the pioneering product. When her contact info is posted, we’ll provide more details on the product specs and other features.

In addition to content developers, Sandy told me the model is aimed at high-end duplication markets, but that as of this writing, there is no distribution channel that has been identified, hence the personal touch she is offering prospective professional customers. She did say there’s a possibility Pioneer ultimately will decide to sell direct anyhow.

Ms. Benedetto appeared on a panel at the Storage Visions conference co-located with CES. Also presenting were holographic recording proponents InPhase and Optware. Another journalist had told me here in Vegas that Toshiba, which has a small financial stake in Optware, told him it is keeping its options open on which holographic technology it supports, which would appear to be a minor victory for InPhase.

Both holographic companies said the two primary applications are for content archiving and content distribution. InPhase presenter Kevin Curtis emphasized the no-spin advantage holographic recording enables, talking about credit card and chip formats. He said mastering and replication prototypes have been developed. Addressing security, he said replicated holographic media can not act as masters for further copies.

Mr. Curtis also spoke of low-cost, lens-less readers and of mobile applications, with high-density volume recording enabling HD video on postage stamp-size form factors.

He said there’s a content holder interested in distribution and that “two to three major tape OEMs will sell InPhase holographic products this year.” He would not identify any of the above companies when I buttonholed him afterwards, and he did acknowledge that a content distribution deal will not be announced “anytime soon.”

As for Terry Loseke, president of Optware Corp. he played things a bit more fast and loose, referring at one point to WORM as “write-only memory.” After the session, DVD Association founder and chairman emeritus Jim Taylor, of Sonic Solutions, and I had a good laugh over that gaffe, with Jim cracking, “That would be extreme media security – it will record but won’t play back.”

Mr. Loseke also remarked, gratuitously, “I’m not sure what all the fuss is on Blu-ray and HD DVD, where there’s only a 10 gigabyte difference.” I don’t know, it’s just a guess, but one difference, for example, might be the number and size of the companies behind those two formats as compared with two companies named InPhase and Optware touting holographic recording. Like I say, it’s just a guess.

OK, so I’m being as much as wiseacre as he was, but it is undeniably fascinating to learn, as Mr. Loseke Power Pointed out, that with selectable track pitch, from 13 micrometers to 3 micrometers, holographic recording capacity can range from 200 gigabytes to almost 4 terabytes, respectively. Not too shabby.

I also learned, thanks to my tete-a-tete with Sandy and Jim Taylor, a lot more about the status of managed copy and the AACS (Advanced Access Content System) encryption technology being used for both Blu-ray and HD DVD. 

Managed copy is not mandatory in the player but is mandatory on titles, in the form of  “an identifier,” as Jim explained it. In the event of a copy session by the user, which only can be managed with an Ethernet-connected player, the identifier is recognized by a central server, which must authorize the copy based on protocols set by the rights holder. It could be a straight pay-per-transaction, or it could be used by movie studios as a marketing wedge, where the user can make a backup copy in exchange for opting in to receive ads or providing personal information, as one example.

However, managed copy will not be available in the first generation of hardware because, according to Jim Taylor, “We just got a draft of the spec two weeks ago.” He thinks it will be a push for electronics companies to offer the managed copy function in any players sold this year. Besides, he added, “CE companies see managed copy as PC functionality.”

Jim also said blank high-def media will sell during the launch phase for about $1 per gigabyte. He noted Verbatim is showing dual-layer media at 50Gbytes and TDK is showing four-layer at 100Gbytes.

At the Blu-ray booth, a board displayed samples of BD recordable media from several suppliers, including Fuji, JVC, LG, Maxell Memorex, and Optodisc. The most typical configuration shown was 25Gbytes BD-R (write-once) and BD-RE (rewritable). Maxell was the only brand to show both BD-R and BD-RE available in 50Gbyte dual-layer, at 1-2X recording speed, for 270 minutes in MPEG 2 HD.

The coda to my CES travels – and travails – is that, try as I might, that hybrid DVD/HD DVD demo disc given to press attendees at the HD DVD Promotion Group event January 5 – what seems like ages ago in CES time – would not play in HD DVD mode at the HD DVD booth.

First, several gentleman from Toshiba headquarters demurred, telling me, through a translator, that the machine on display was “an early prototype.” Then I found a cooperative HP representative who gamely inserted the disc into an HP desktop machine, labeled a “conceptual product,” outfitted with an internal HD DVD drive.

Alas, a Windows application software error message popped up, and my new HP friend theorized that the InterVideo software player’s firmware, programmed to recognize either a red or blue  laser, was “confused” by seeing both a blue- and red-layer on this disc, and would require a firmware upgrade to read this type of new-fangled hybrid media. I’ll buy that, ‘cause I sure don’t have any better explanation.

Now what remains to be seen is who out there will buy HD DVD and Blu-ray technology.

This is my last report live from Las Vegas, but I’ll be filing post-show reports this coming week.
Thanks for reading and keep visiting DVDA.ORG!