Koss 76 manual Cinema, Future High-Res Discs, Movie studio support, What about audiophiles?

FEEDBACKCINEMA

CINEMA

A	FUTURE HIGH-RES DISCS
	s we write this (and probably	and therefore more data density. Making	The industry got badly burned with
	as you read this), the format	Blu-Ray discs will require retooling	the DVD, whose CSS encryption was
	battle for the next silver audio/	factories, but that is of course only a	supposed to make copying impossible.
	video disc is still on. Yes, it will	transitional drawback.	Breaking CSS turned out to be trivial,
affect audio as well as video.			and there are plenty of shareware
Let’s recapitulate.			and even freeware programs
On one side are			for defeating it. Hol-
Toshiba, NEC, and —			lywood doesn’t want
perhaps more impor-			t hat to happen
tant — the DVD Forum,			with a much better
the consortium that set			resolution disc. Are
the standard for the existing			the anti-copying
DVD. Their project is HD			systems of HD DVD and
DVD, the “HD” of course			Blu-Ray done? And will they really be
standing for “high definition.”		As in a shooting	more robust? We believe they are not
It is read with a blue laser, which		war, the two camps have scrambled	finalized, and if that is true no usable
has a shorter wavelength than the red		to gather allies. Toshiba has powerful	player can truly be launched.
laser used in existing DVD and CD		partners, such as Microsoft and Intel,	We might add that it seems unlikely a
players. In other respects the disc itself is		and more importantly Hollywood	more robust anti-copy system can resist
similar to the existing DVD, and can be		studios: Warner, Universal and Disney.	reverse engineering. That’s because
produced in existing plants (though pre-		The Blu-Ray camp has the support of	anyone who makes a player needs to have
sumably with a lower yield of flaw-free		Hewlett-Packard, Dell and Apple, as	the keys. Someone is going to forget the
discs). The advantages of this DVD-like		well as Sony Pictures (of course), MGM	key on a store counter somewhere. Lest
format are obvious. The discs will be		(which belongs to Sony) and 20th Cen-	we forget, that was how CSS first got
cheaper to produce and the saving can		tury Fox.	breached.
be passed on to consumers (hey, we’re		The first Blu-Ray player was due	Come to think of it, are the studios
just reporting the official line). And the		for launch about now too, and one was	ready to abandon DVD’s zone system,
system can be brought to market faster.		shown by Samsung at the Montreal show	which prevents discs from one part of
Target launch: Fall of 2005.		in late March, but it has been…(surprise!)	the world from being played in another?
Wait a minute…2005?		delayed (to May 23rd, but keep your eyes	Of course that system was compromised
In fact Toshiba’s first HD DVD		open for more news). If and when they	years ago, but is Hollywood ready to go
player, the HD-XA1 (shown at lower		are released, Blu-Ray players will be	with worldwide release of a single disc?
right), was launched on March 31, 2006,		about double the price of the Toshiba	Or is this one more thing that needs to
and only in Japan. Its eventual US		player. Take those prices with a grain of	be straightened out before the first player
price was listed as $799 (the HD-A1,		salt, however, because with no available	is sold to the public?
announced earlier, which was supposed		software neither player will be available	Though the studios have chosen
to be cheaper, was not mentioned). The		for sale in any store.	sides, no one is interested in making
price is mostly theoretical, since at			films for a player no one buys…nor
launch time there was not a single film			in having productions absent from a
available in the format. So much for			system that becomes popular. Beyond
coming to market faster. It did, however,			the posturing, the studios are hedging
beat its competitor to market.		Movie studio support	their bets. They will release films for
The competitor is Blu-Ray, backed			whichever is the winning system. And
by Sony and Matsushita (Panasonic),		On the face of it, having the studios	the winner will be decided by large store
but not the DVD Forum. The Blu-Ray		on side is vital, because only they can	chains, not by consumers.
disc also uses a blue laser, as its name		supply software. But if it’s possible for	What about audiophiles?
implies, but its structure is different.		the studios to help, it’s just as possible
The polycarbonate layer covering data		that they can choose to stop the devel-	Whichever system wins out, the
side of the disc is ten times thinner than		opment of tomorrow’s discs dead in its	vast space on the disc might make it
that of the DVD, allowing a better view		tracks.	possible to make more space for sound.

50 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine