New DVD to hold 2000 movies on 1 disc

[Rudyard]

Swinburne University research leads to DVD that will store 2000 movies

From correspondents in Paris

Agence France-Presse

May 20, 2009 10:45pm


DVD
More space ... researchers at Swinburne University in Melbourne have boosted the storage of DVDs 10,000-fold / file

* New DVD technology stores more data
* 2000 movies can be put on a single disc
* Storage boosted nearly 10,000-fold

SCIENTISTS have unveiled new DVD technology that stores data in five dimensions, making it possible to pack more than 2000 movies onto a single disc.

A team of researchers at the Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, Australia, have used nanotechnology to boost the storage potential nearly 10,000-fold compared to standard DVDs, according to a study published in the peer-reviewed journal Nature.

"We were able to show how nanostructured material can be incorporated onto a disc in order to increase data capacity, without increasing the physical size of the disc,'' said Min Gu, who led the team.

Discs currently have three spatial dimensions. By using gold nanorods Gu and colleagues were able to add two additional dimensions, one based on the colour spectrum, and the other on polarisation.

Because nanoparticles react to light depending on their shape, it was possible to record information in a range of different colour's wavelengths at the same physical location on the disc.
Related Coverage

Current DVDs record in a single colour wavelength using a laser.

The fifth dimension was made possible by polarisation. When light waves were projected onto the disc, the direction of the electric field within the waves aligned with the gold nanorods.

"The polarisation can be rotated 360 degrees,'' explained co-author James Chon.

"We were, for example, able to record at zero degree polarisation. Then on top of that, were able to record another layer of information at 90 degrees polarisation, without them interfering with each other,'' he said in a statement.

The researchers are still working out the speed at which the discs can be written on, and say that commercial production is at least five years off.

They have signed an agreement with Korea-based Samsung, one of the world's largest electronics manufacturers.

Last month, US technology giant General Electric said its researchers had developed a holographic disc which can store the equivalent of 100 standard DVDs.

http://www.news.com.au/technology/story/0,28348,25515541-5014239,00.html

Wow a 10,000 fold increase in data storage......wonder if this will ever see the light of day or is just a theoretical possibility.

[Ibseeking]

Article was also published in Nature Magazine

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v459/n7245/full/nature08053.html

Wonder when this will get to production?

[SatStorm]

10 years from now, it's going to be mainstream.

IF the Big Ones won't kill it or put it on hold with their influence.

[T-Fish]

id much rather have a dvd5 thats RELIABLE

[Midzuki]

So... are we closer to the "data crystals" from the B5 universe


\\\\\

[zoobie]

how much is one disc? $1000?
concerned companies usually swoop down and buy this research...then shelve it
there is a 5th dimension...rod serling

[starwarrior29]

It will come out the day after I purchase a 300 disc dvd changer. :P

[usually_quiet]

My personal opinion is that we will never see those improved DVDs. I believe that Within 10 years optical media will be abandoned as the distribution method for movies and TV shows in affluent countries.

Something else will take its place, and I think that one likely candidate is distrubution via download to media players and PVRs that impliment the required level of file encryption and copy protection. The movies will be tied to the device to which they were downloaded, but it might be permissible to move them to another approved device, after which the previous copy will be deleted automatically.

DVDs may be in trouble already. One big retailer in my area, KMart, has already closed its video department and replaced it with bargain bins and a few cardboard displays featuring recent releases.

[fritzi93]

Well, that's one more thing I expect I won't live long enough to see. I suspect it's either impractical, or will shortly be superseded.

[somebodeez]

I wonder how long that would take to make a back up copy?

[Wile_E]

My personal opinion is that we will never see those improved DVDs. I believe that Within 10 years optical media will be abandoned as the distribution method for movies and TV shows in affluent countries.

Yep. I think Blu-Ray will be the last disc based format. These new-fangled holographic discs will never be mainstream. Just look at DVD's and DVD-R. They were touted as supporting more than two layers, yet we never saw it. These new formats will be obsolete before they even make it to consumers. Video will be stored on high capacity memory sticks and be streamed over internet, before this ever sees the light.

Problem is, these damn researchers take too damn long to decide on a new format. You know why? They keep getting paid BIG SALARIES for their non-sense research!

[greymalkin]

oh this is laughable..all these stories are the same...they use a catchy title to make you think there's a physical product that can actually do this..then you read about how they show how it can do it in theory...and then the phrase that's always somewhere in the article about it being ready in 5-10 years, which , statistically speaking with these sorts of articles means never.

booo!

[T-Fish]

Something else will take its place, and I think that one likely candidate is distrubution via download to media players and PVRs that impliment the required level of file encryption and copy protection..

forget it...

no physical media, no money from me (and pretty much everyone i know).
the ONLY reason i dont download is because i want a dvd with a cover!
if they try to charge me for a download and i dont even have a way of using it in multiple devices in my home, guess what im going to do?

[usually_quiet]

I like using physical discs too, but that does not seem to be the way the market is heading. Some people don't want to have to clean, store and organize more posessions, and many of the posts in these forums fall under the heading of converting DVD collections to another format to use with media players or mobile devices.

As far as what you would do without physical media... Popular acceptance of warez could reach the point where a few of the current means of distrbution are no longer viable. If a business does not make enough money selling or renting physical media, it stops ordering them. If too few stores are ordering, production stops. If too few people subscribe to premium movie channels or order video on demand, those services will go out of business too.

If the studios can't make money on video streaming/downloads, we could go back to the days of watching movies at a cinema, or waiting a few years for them to show up on TV. At that point, I guess the warez crowd would have to make do with material shot with a camera smuggled into a cinema, until it becomes available on TV, featuring edits, channel logos, streaming banners and pop-up advertising.

[Number Six]

I like converting my DVDs for use on my media player only for portability convenience, but I prefer to own and watch them in disc form on a real large screen TV. I would not mind if media was available in the form of a permanent ROM chip in the future, but I will not own it in a locked and limited downloadable form with it being married to 1 piece of equipment.

This technology would be great if it ever became available.

[usually_quiet]

I like converting my DVDs for use on my media player only for portability convenience, but I prefer to own and watch them in disc form on a real large screen TV. I would not mind if media was available in the form of a permanent ROM chip in the future, but I will not own it in a locked and limited downloadable form with it being married to 1 piece of equipment.

This technology would be great if it ever became available.

Do you only buy software on a physical disc? I sometimes downloaded from the publisher to save money, or to get a program that isn't sold any other way. Either way, it's tied to one computer, if I want to obey the terms of the license I paid for. I can move it to another computer, but I'm supposed to delete it from the previous one to comply with the license. I expect movie downloads could work the same way, but if the media player/PVR is on a network serving the entire home, as is frequently the case even today, portability within the home is less of an issue.

[T-Fish]

Do you only buy software on a physical disc? I sometimes downloaded from the publisher to save money, or to get a program that isn't sold any other way.

i did purchase a tool for 40 bucks in 1999. do you think i still have it? hell no.
lost in hdd failures over the years. so i tried that approach and didn't like it
and will never do it again. be it a movie or application or w/e. i wont pay for
digital content, period.

[bn00]

Better have scratch protection otherwise byebye 2000 movies. I wouldn't put all my movies in it. Well 10 yrs from now 1 movie could take about 1-10TB who knows....

[Number Six]

I like converting my DVDs for use on my media player only for portability convenience, but I prefer to own and watch them in disc form on a real large screen TV. I would not mind if media was available in the form of a permanent ROM chip in the future, but I will not own it in a locked and limited downloadable form with it being married to 1 piece of equipment.

This technology would be great if it ever became available.

Do you only buy software on a physical disc? I sometimes downloaded from the publisher to save money, or to get a program that isn't sold any other way. Either way, it's tied to one computer, if I want to obey the terms of the license I paid for. I can move it to another computer, but I'm supposed to delete it from the previous one to comply with the license. I expect movie downloads could work the same way, but if the media player/PVR is on a network serving the entire home, as is frequently the case even today, portability within the home is less of an issue.

I do buy downloadable software, and back it up if the computer crashes, or is replaced by another computer - I do not need purchased programs on more than 1 computer.

I do not have a HTPC, or Network Server - all my computers and laptops are standalone. I also do not watch movies on my computer. I was talking about my Zune, and older Netbook style mini notebook computer that I use when traveling, or when I'm not going to be home - very convenient, not the best quality or viewing experience, but it it is good enough to keep me occupied and entertained. Over the years I carried cassettes, then CDs, then a portable DVD player with a pack of discs - now I usually carry the Zune because it is so small. When I am home and want to relax and enjoy my media - I watch the physical disc on a real TV.

[usually_quiet]

Cableco or satco PVRs are linked with TVs to form a simple wired network now to watch recordings in any room. I believe we may someday be able to do the same with media players, over a simple wired or wireless network, no computer needed.

It could be possible to include more than one format in your purchase, a couple for portable devices and one for home use.

As far as backups... To be competative, a supplier could choose track your purchases, as Amazon does with Kindle books, and provide you with a backup copy if you need one.

As far as computers... I have a feeling that at some point, playing commercial movies (on a memory stick or disc) using a computer or legally downloading movies to a computer will no longer be possible. If one can do that, copy protection and encryption can be negated more easily.

[dvd33]

Looks like great technology to use for data storage. I would love to be able to store native mp4 material and to archive video production from my xdcam ex1 on these disks.
Does anyone know if this is possible?

dvd33
www.bluechilli.co.za

[DereX888]

10 years from now, it's going to be mainstream.

IF the Big Ones won't kill it or put it on hold with their influence.

Probably.
Except that it will still hold only ONE movie as usual, just at higher resolution and with more "extras" junk.

[x2x3x2]

Seriously, 47TB worth of storage? Can't even imagine what these could be used for other than backup.

[Supreme2k]

On the other hand, I remember when one gig was astronomical. "Who could possibly ever need THAT much space?!?!"

[stiltman]

Seriously, 47TB worth of storage? Can't even imagine what these could be used for other than backup.

We could burn through that in a day if we wanted to. 200TB is 3 days max.... RAW video that is

[RabidDog]

Will this work in a Philips 5982?

[mh2360]

The media companies don't want you to buy 2000 movies on one disc, they want you to buy 2000 movies on 2000 discs.

It could be useful in the future if they manage to perfect a true 3D display, you'll probably need some serious storage capacity for that...

[Karel Bata]

I think it's all going to go the same way as the music industry.

And why not? It's just more data.

Virtually everything can play music files now - even your phone. Would you have guessed that 10 years ago? Video's not far behind. I was given a promotional video by the Irish Tourist Board the other day - on a USB stick! The shock of the new...

What all this will do is break down the quaint notion of 'owning' a film - in the same way that owning a music album is now looking a bit old school. Look at what the kids are doing today. They're increasingly listening to music streaming from sites like Spotify (and for free!) rather than bothering with the hassle of downloading or ripping it, let alone buying it! Why bother possessing a hard copy when it's always there on-line? And actually quicker to get to than finding and loading a CD. So you own the latest CD by Amy Junkhead? So what?

One day wi-fi will be everywhere (at least in the cities) and you will be able to listen to what you want, where and when you want it. In a world like that, why own a CD? For the cover art..?

That's the future. You don't like it? You must be over 25!

I must say I don't like it either. How will films make money? It will further erode quality and dumb down what we have - like we've seen happen with music. But I'm over 25 too...

So any talk about developing some new DVD format is daft. On the other hand maybe some part of that research is easy to implement and we may see its application in specialist areas. But in the same way that I'm happy to put my mountain of VHSs on a hard drive (and with 2 back-ups!) I look forward to being able to access albums instantly on a wi-fi player and not have to remember where I put them.

And we'll see much the same with films.

[themaster1]

Nano technology means "organic" if i'm not mistaken.
Your dvd will store ten thousands movies and will self destruct in what 5 years at best.
I wouldn't be the joe who stored all his movies on such dvd.

[pepegot1]

You had better hope it does not get damaged!!