Holographic discs as soon as 2012?

[ahhaa]

I was browsing one of those waiting room Pop mags and there was this description of the new HVD discs, which use holographic techniques to jam up terabytes of data onto a pee-colored optical disc. It said in passing that the units could start arriving as soon as (christmas) 2012. (This could be one reason for the suddenly cheap blu-ray players; China Blue being another.)

(There was this eerie foreshadowing of this in the old 1960 George Pal The Time Machine, when Rod Taylor, after crumbling the few remaining books, plays back a blogish backlit disc.)

I was pondering whether to get into some blurays, but there is one BIG advantage of the coming HVDs...
its not the storage capacity, or the 125 Mb/sec transfer rate;

the data is embedded inside the disc and found holographically- greatly reducing the surface scratching problem (in theory).

However, chances of an early affordable pro or con sumer recorder? fat

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holographic_Versatile_Disc

[lordsmurf]

HVD has been talked about for almost 10 years now.

[rallynavvie]

We often look to current tech and one step beyond so during the HD-DVD and BRD war many in the industry were still watching HVD news. While I doubt it'll knock off BRD as the current HD format anytime soon HVD, or its next step, will look to move into the video industry. My guess is 2015.

You know BluRay is less prone to errors from scratching, right? I decided to try it out with a PS3 game that I instantly despised upon playing it and scratched it up bad. It still played flawlessly, which is more than I can say for the actual gameplay.

[jman98]

Please remember that what is possible to create in a lab does not necessarily translate into mass production for consumers. Just a few years ago manufacturers were swearing to us that we would soon have DVD+/-RW DL discs. A few samples of one of them (don't remember if it was + or -) actually got released, but there was never any mass production. It turned out that the discs were almost impossible to manufacture without errors and the same manufacturers who swore the discs would be released "real soon now" quietly hoped that everyone's memory of their claims would fade into the background. This technology is not new, but who knows whether it will really be practical in 2 years. I wouldn't hold my breath on this one. And if it does come out in 2 years, it's going to be insanely expensive just like all cutting edge technology.

[VegasBud]

Holographic discs as soon as 2012?

While nothing is impossible (or so they say), you're more likely to be attacked by an abominable snowman on Miami beach than ever see (useable) holographic optical media.

InPhase, the holder of the patents needed to ever implement this technology, was unable (after several years of dedicated work) to get it stable enough for real world use. Just a couple of weeks ago, they went more-than-broke.

Of course the patents still exist, so somebody could conceivably acquire those patents, salvage at least some of the now-laid-off research team, and so on, but after InPhase spent a decade, and $100 million (the last I heard), without ever seeing a product, I wouldn't expect a stampede of people looking to pick up where InPhase left off.

In a world where "anything is possible", it's also conceivable that the Holography System Development Forum will fare better than InPhase did, but I'm going to have to have a product physically in my hands before I'll believe it. Like the old saying says, "Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twenty seven times, shame on me.

[VegasBud]

You know BluRay is less prone to errors from scratching, right?

Actually, Blu-Ray is more prone to errors from scratches (or any contamination of the read surface) than CD or DVD (or HD-DVD). By moving the Blu-Ray data layer very near the read surface, and increasing the numerical aperture of the lens, any potential benefit from "defocusing" was lost...which explains the mandatory hard coat (which partially, but not completely, offsets the disadvantage).