Blu-Ray Gets Bigger

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John Funk

U.N. Owen Was Him?
Dec 20, 2005
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Blu-Ray Gets Bigger



Now PS3 games can cram even more uncompressed data onto one CD, as Sony and Panasonic voodoo masters have worked technological wizardry to beef up the capacity of a Blu-Ray disc.

Sony's PS3 and Microsoft's Xbox 360 have their strengths and disadvantages in the console war, but one area where Microsoft is clearly at a loss is its choice of media: Sony's proprietary Blu-Ray format can hold 25 GB of data on a single layer (and can be dual-layered), where Microsoft's DVD-9s can barely stomach a third of that. Now, the disparity is going to get even wider, reports Nikkei Electronics Asia [http://techon.nikkeibp.co.jp/article/HONSHI/20091222/178809/].

Sony and Panasonic have tag-teamed to create a method with which the storage capacity of the Blu-Ray can be increased from 25 GB to 33.4 GB using existing Blu-Ray reader diodes. There's some really complicated technology at work here that depends on reading infinitesimally small amounts of jitter, and that's way, way over my head, so instead of the actual technobabble I'll just explain it as this: Sony and Panasonic unholy priests performed a dark voodoo ritual to give their media disc even more power. That's all you need to know, right?

Apparently, it won't even require a hardware update - it can be accomplished with firmware and work on your existing Blu-Ray players, too.

Now, the Sony and Panasonic technicians should work on getting the data actually read at a decent speed so that we don't have to sit through crazy loading screens or install times.

(Via Blu-Ray.com [http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=230794])

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thenumberthirteen

Unlucky for some
Dec 19, 2007
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With existing Hardware? Holy Shit these guys are good. Will the PS3 be able to include it in an update? Maybe just in time for MGS5 with 24 hours of full HD cutscenes.
 

Kross

World Breaker
Sep 27, 2004
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You know the difference between Legal and College ruled paper [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruled_paper]? It seems like they essentially moved the lines closer together on the discs, because they got a steadier needle (algorithm to account for jitter rather then a new physical read head) to read it (less jitter == less shakiness during a read == tighter data tracks)

At least that's what it sounds like from the terminology used. Either way, this should be pretty sweet. More high res textures for my PS3 games!
 

Amnestic

High Priest of Haruhi
Aug 22, 2008
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Getting an extra eight plus some gigs storage space without changing your hardware? That is impressive.
 

300lb. Samoan

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Mar 25, 2009
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CantFaketheFunk said:
Now, the Sony and Panasonic technicians should work on getting the data actually read at a decent speed so that we don't have to sit through crazy loading screens or install times.
Back to your stations, people, nothing good to see here... Blu-Ray is still massive and a pain in the ass.
 

Jared

The British Paladin
Jul 14, 2009
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Amnestic said:
Getting an extra eight plus some gigs storage space without changing your hardware? That is impressive.
Ill say...wonder whatelse they can cram in!
 

ThrobbingEgo

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Nov 17, 2008
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DirtyCommie said:
Certainly some GREAT potential for the future....

But for now - sorry to say this - PS3 has no games.
I almost wish that were true, because I'm nearing the end of Indigo Prophecy, and I'd really like Heavy Rain to come out for PC. If you made that statement two years ago, you would have been right, but it's no longer the case. What exclusives does the Xbox currently over the PS3, aside from Halo, Fable, and Viva Pinata? PS3's got Killzone, Uncharted, Infamous, God of War, and Little Big Planet. The 360, meanwhile, has been losing exclusives.

And the PC gets some of the multiplats, indie games, and whatever PC ports of Xbox "exclusives" Microsoft decides not scrap. Aside from Valve, my platform of choice isn't getting any love.
 

Tzekelkan

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Dec 27, 2009
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Impressive! What does it mean though, better graphics? Can the PS3 hardware handle it? Won't it become too expensive to make animations and stuff?
 

ThrobbingEgo

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Nov 17, 2008
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Tzekelkan said:
Impressive! What does it mean though, better graphics? Can the PS3 hardware handle it? Won't it become too expensive to make animations and stuff?
It just means they have more memory to work with, should they want to use it.
 

tk1989

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May 20, 2008
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DirtyCommie said:
Certainly some GREAT potential for the future....

But for now - sorry to say this - PS3 has no games.
Im sorry, but are you really wanting to start a flame war? I would have agreed with your comment say a year ago, but not so anymore. Last year was pretty good for PS3 owners.
 

Sentox6

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Jun 30, 2008
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Kross said:
More high res textures for my PS3 games!
That's probably not so likely though, given RAM limitations. How many PS3 games need more than 25gb on account of textures? None that I know of.

More likely it will mean higher quality FMVs/audio in some games; and the option for less discs in items like TV box sets and such.
 

Danzaivar

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Jul 13, 2004
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DirtyCommie said:
Certainly some GREAT potential for the future....

But for now - sorry to say this - PS3 has no games.
Michael Jackson dies and Rage Against the Machine get a christmas number 1 in the UK in 2009. Bet on these things and you'll be rich beyond your wildest dreams!

(We may as well take advantage of this temporal wormhole that lets us speak to someone from 2 years ago...)
 

Melon Hunter

Chief Procrastinator
May 18, 2009
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ThrobbingEgo said:
DirtyCommie said:
Certainly some GREAT potential for the future....

But for now - sorry to say this - PS3 has no games.
I almost wish that were true, because I'm nearing the end of Indigo Prophecy, and I'd really like Heavy Rain to come out for PC. If you made that statement two years ago, you would have been right, but it's no longer the case. What exclusives does the Xbox currently over the PS3, aside from Halo, Fable, and Viva Pinata? PS3's got Killzone, Uncharted, Infamous, God of War, and Little Big Planet. The 360, meanwhile, has been losing exclusives.

And the PC gets some of the multiplats, indie games, and whatever PC ports of Xbox "exclusives" Microsoft decides not scrap. Aside from Valve, my platform of choice isn't getting any love.
Mass Effect? That's a pretty huge Microsoft exclusive (at least for now).

I don't know whether this was just a rumor, but apparently some scientists were working on a disc that used nanoscopic gold rods and could hold 10TB of data. Which would be insane.
 

TsunamiWombat

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Sep 6, 2008
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That IS impressive, and a very good peice of work from Sony, so applause are due.

Would you kindly improve your programming architecture now so the games can use that memory in a more efficient manner and actually blow the 360 out of the water in processing now, though?
 

similar.squirrel

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Mar 28, 2009
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I read about terabyte Blu-Ray discs coming soon a while back. Apparently not that soon. Must say, though, I don't feel entirely comfortable with the idea of 1000gigabytes that you can accidentally scratch.