DVD-RAM this year!?
****Tomorrow 21 - Toshiba Demonstrates DVD-RAM System 03/07/97
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1997 MAR 7 (NB) -- By Martyn Williams. Consumers waiting for the first batch of DVD-RAM disks and players don't have long to wait. Toshiba Corporation [TOKYO:6502] was demonstrating the rerecordable version of DVD-ROM at its Tomorrow 21 exhibition and told Newsbytes it could be on the market as early as this year.
The system Toshiba was demonstrating featured two types of disks. A single sided disk can hold 2.6 gigabytes of data while a double sided disk holds 5.2 gigabytes. Physically, the DVD disks are enclosed in a protective case that is identical in size, and almost in detail, to the cartridges used to hold PD disks.
The case, which DVD-ROM and DVD-Video disks do not have, is needed to protect the disk surface from dirt. When recording on the disks, the problem of dirt and contamination is much greater than on prerecorded disks.
To prove the system worked, and worked fast, Toshiba had a video camera connected to a PC. The computer used an internal MPEG-2 encoder to convert the video signal to computer data that was being stored onto the disk in real time. Shortly after, playback was demonstrated by reading data off the disk and running it through an MPEG-2 decoder to reproduce the video picture.
Before the system can be commercialized, the companies of the DVD Consortium must agree a final format for the system. Newsbytes understands that the system exhibited by Toshiba has support from most of the members but Sony and Philips are still supporting a slightly different format.
The exhibition highlighted more than just DVD-RAM however. Toshiba also demonstrated a High Definition DVD system. It offered pictures that the company said were equivalent to 70mm movie-theater pictures. The basic disk could hold 130 minutes of high-definition pictures and was capable of holding 1.6 times the data of a standard DVD-Video disk.
To get extra capacity from the disk, a Toshiba engineer explained, the company used "submicro-pit formation" technology and a shorter wavelength laser.
For many visitors, the exhibition was also the first time they had the chance to see the DVD-ROM and DVD-Video systems working. One application demonstrated was the playback of a DVD-Video disk via a personal computer. The video could be viewed on both a television set and a PC monitor while the drive could also be used as a DVD-ROM data disk on the PC.
Demonstrating the home theater capabilities of the system, the company's standard DVD-Video player was connected to a Dolby digital decoder and an array of seven speakers.
(19970307/Reported By Newsbytes News Network: newsbytes.com /TOSHDVD970307/PHOTO)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Newsbytes Pacifica Headlines
------------------------------------------------------------------------
<Picture: Japanese Language Newsbytes from Newsbytes News Network and InterLandmark> |
