JVC Releases Blu-Ray Media

[Gav]

Reported over at CDRinfo

JVC will Japanese JVC announced that its first 25GB BD-R/RE media will be available on the market in December 15.

Both "BV-R130A" and "BV-RE130A" packages of BD-R and BD-RE media have been manufactured according to the "Blu-ray Disc Recordable Format Version 1.1" and "Blu-ray Disc Rewritable Format Version 2.1" specifications.

The new discs feature JVC's "U-HD" hard coating technology and offer scratch resistance and durability. It can be recorded at 2x. JVC said that it has not decided the release of double-layer (50GB) media yet.

[UNESCO]

here's a nice list (with pictures) of the released Blu-Ray media on the market, or soon-to-market:
http://www.blu-ray.com/media/

I'll wait for a little while until pricing comes down, I just don't have any applications that require 25GB of removeable storeage on an optical disc.

the big question in everyone's mind is which of the competing formats (HD-DVD or Blu-ray) will flop, but in my opinion, they both will. The truth of the matter is that for something like a media format to take off, the average Joe consumer has to care about it enough to buy it.

8 Track evolved to cassette tape why?
-Vastly improved audio quality
-smaller storage space
-quickly rewind and fast forward

Cassette tape evolved to compact disc why?
-vastly improved audio quality
-smaller storage space
-no rewinding, instant track skipping

compact disc evolved into DVD audio why?
-vastly improved audio quality

HOW MANY PEOPLE ACTUALLY OWN A DVD AUDIO DISC?

What's really pushing the market forward? Is it audio quality, or is it the HUGE convenience improvements that we used to make with a new media format?

Why do people like DVDs? Most people don't have a TV large enough to take advantage of even the native resolution of a DVD. They're small (can be kept even in CD binders), and don't need to be rewound. 5.1 is nice, but how many people have you actually personally met that don't use the speakers that came built into their TV?

Increased resolution and sound quality matter to a very select few people. They are both going to fail, and all these execs who have 60+" TVs at home with top of the line DVD players and huge audio systems are going to look at each other and go "what the hell happened?". Unless Blu-Ray is significantly cheaper than DVD (like 1/2 the price), then it's doomed. Average Joe won't buy something that is entirely useless to him.

/end rant

[sswilson]

I'll be waiting until we know for sure what kinds of restrictions are placed on recording to the media.

As it stands I backup my music & music video files to dvd so I do have a use for large format disks.... that said, the same price point considerations will come into play as did for the double layer dvds. (When you could get them).