Extraordinary Genius
chapter-1201

Chapter 1201 – HD DVD

After seeing this digital camera, Feng Yu suddenly remember digital camera will evolve to the digital video camera, which can take pictures and videos.

Currently, digital video cameras do exist. Around 1998, Sony had introduced a type of digital camera, but the storage is still using 3.5 inches floppy disk.

That digital video camera can only take short video clips and does not have storage for longer clips. After that, digital video cameras using VCDs as storage appeared, and currently, DVD is used as storage. A few generations of development had passed.

But Feng Yu knew flash drives or hard disks will be used in video cameras in the future, and DVD video cameras will be obsolete.

In Feng Yu’s previous life, companies like Sony, Toshiba, etc., will set the format standards for digital video cameras and HDVD standards. After that, they made high profits from the patent authorization fees.

The domestic produced digital video cameras at that time are not expensive and use Japanese technologies. In a way, this had stopped Chinese companies from developing this technology and forced them to purchase Sony and those companies’ newest technologies, letting them monopolize this industry.

Feng Yu rubbed his chin. Now, there are only digital video camera standards. Should he set the HDVD format first?

If Feng Yu sets the HDVD standards now, he can hold back Japanese firms’ development for a while. It will also prevent them from monopolizing this technology.

Feng Yu needs to discuss with Philips, Jiang Wanmeng, Xu Lihua, and the rest first. He must do it even if this investment is high, as the future returns will be much higher.

Furthermore, this technology can be used on mobile phones. In the future, most phones can take videos. If Wind and Rain Mobile phones can introduce a phone that can take videos, they will shock the world again!

But Feng Yu must upgrade the current DVD format first.

Wind and Rain Electronics had used its DVD forum to develop HD DVD. This is a form of the clearer DVD format and is a by-product after the HD TV is developed.

With HD TV, naked eyes can tell the difference between HD DVD and normal DVD. If possible, who doesn’t want to watch higher resolution movies on their TV?

HD DVDs are more expensive? That’s not a problem. The ones who can afford HD TVs can easily afford HD DVDs!

Also, Feng Yu knew the DVD Alliance Sony and those Japanese companies set up started developing Blu-rays DVD. This is also a type of high definition DVDs, but the formats are different.

Like Panasonic, JVC, Hitachi, Mitsubishi, etc., DVD forums’ Japanese companies switched sides and joined DVD Alliance.

These companies felt the DVD forum is biased against them. After Panasonic got a representative seat, no other Japanese companies got in after that. It was those small Chinese companies that got in. This is too shady!

But these Japanese companies had forgotten that they had shared the DVD forum’s technologies with Sony and other companies and even helped them set up DVD Alliances for benefits.

If it wasn’t for these companies, DVD Forum would have eliminated DVD Alliances with their technologies, funds, and number of members a long time ago.

This Blu-ray DVD Alliance will be setting the format standards for Blu-ray DVDs. Panasonic and the rest of the companies joined without hesitations.

This is backstabbing, but Feng Yu had predicted this will happen a long time ago. Luckily, the companies developing HD DVD, like Philips, Thompson, Tata, Samsung, etc., are still with the forum.

Other than some second and third tier Japanese and European consumer appliances companies, the rest are still with DVD forums.

But Japanese consumer appliances are at the top globally, and their influence cannot be belittled.

Blu-ray DVD and HD DVD have many things in common. For example, both use a 120 mm disk for storage and use a 405 nm “violet” light to read it. (DVD uses 650 nm ‘red’ light, and CD is using 780 nm lights.) But like the format war between DVD and DVD alliances, both sides set different standards for their format.

Feng Yu’s HD DVD has an advantage, which is the production process is the same as traditional DVDs. This means manufacturers do not need to upgrade their machines and only need to change some settings.

As for storage, HD DVD single side storage is 15G, and Sony’s Blu-ray DVD can reach up to 25G on one side. On the surface, Blu-ray DVD has higher storage and should be more popular.

But Sony and those companies do not know this DVD is only a passing phase product because Flash drive is developing rapidly.

That’s right. In theory, DVD can store 16 layers of data, and Feng Yu’s HD DVD maximum capacity is only 180G, while Sony’s Blu-ray can store up to 400G.

Most current equipment can only encode two layers, and very few can encode three layers. Equipment that can encode four layers of data is still not developed!

Sony’s Blu-ray DVD format is different from the traditional encoding. It requires manufacturers to upgrade their production line with new machines. This will increase the production cost.

HD DVD can win at first through pricing. After all, two-hour HD movie in less than 15G and even long movies like Titanic can use two layers of an HD DVD to store it. There’s no need to upgrade the equipment.

But Sony and those Japanese companies felt that their Blu-ray DVD can also store corporates’ data or serve as backups for servers. Most people will store data on a portable hard disk. Still, its major flaw is the portable hard disk is fragile and easily damaged. Blu-ray DVDs are not easily damaged?

In the future, corporate data will be stored in flash drives!

By the time this Blu-ray DVD is developed, the flash drive’s capacity should be more than 128G. With a smaller and more stable flash drive, which will the consumers pick?

Feng Yu had introduced this HD DVD to get fast profits. They dragged those Japanese firms into this high-definition DVD technology race. This will distract them from developing flash drive technologies.

These Japanese companies will regret it in two years!

HD DVD