Vmedia's cellphone optical disk system is probably not the next big thing

Seeing as cellphones are usually connected to mobile networks, we'd think the problem of content distribution would basically solve itself, but a company called Vmedia Research is at Mobile World Congress with a new type of optical disk designed just for phones. Using a blue laser, a 1GB, 32mm MiniDisc-esque Vmedia cartridge can hold a full DVD-res movie using H.264 compression, as well as limited special features. Vmedia's demoing the tech on an upcoming Spice GSM handset, which has a 2.8-inch screen and a PSP UMD-like door for inserting the disks. The system is going to debut in India and southeast Asia with 40 Bollywood films available at launch for just $5 each, but Vmedia and Spice say they've got 1,000 more content deals in the works. No plans have been announced for the rest of the world as of yet, but we're not holding our breath.

Read - Vmedia press release
Read - Spice Movie Phone

[MaGiXX @ Feb 11th 2008 11:15PM]

1GB SD cards and a reader would be much easier and cheaper to make and mass produce rather than this.

[paul34 @ Feb 11th 2008 11:16PM]

Agreed. Something like this would have been cool....







in 1991

[Asha @ Feb 11th 2008 11:20PM]

I know. You can get a flash card that can hold 32 gigs and is still smaller than that.

[fuelfilter @ Feb 11th 2008 11:54PM]

flash cards dont cost 5 dollars

[Reader @ Feb 12th 2008 12:01AM]

"flash cards dont cost 5 dollars"

Overall it's much cheaper though. They're already standard in many phones and the readers are very cheap to produce compared to what I assume a blue laser reader would cost. Spinning a disc consumes a ton more power too. Also, flash is only going to get cheaper; this attempt at a new/retro storage medium is really a dumb move. Stick with flash.

[MagusDF @ Feb 12th 2008 9:54AM]

You need to concider whos bearing the cost. With this the media is cheap, the cost gets dumped onto the consumer throught the hardware. With SD the cost is a heavier burden onto the the content owner.
one of the things that it comes down to is have the consuper pay 5$ per minidisc thing or well over 5 for an SD card. The second is locking the content down, its a lot harder for someone to make bootlegs of this than anything they can do no sd.

[threefingeredlord @ Feb 12th 2008 12:30PM]

"flash cards dont cost 5 dollars"

Probably will tomorrow.
In fact: http://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-SDSDB-1024-A10-Secure-Digital-Package/dp/B000I5ZC3W/ref=pd_bbs_2?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1202837103&sr=8-2

[kballs @ Feb 12th 2008 4:23PM]

LOL, this huge thing will NEVER see itself on cell phones. After all the effort to shrink from full-size SD to miniSD, then to microSD, all to save just a few square mm of space, they would never give up several square inches (and also a lot more volume than SD). This thing is DOA (the only way they could save it is if it stored 100GB+).

[kballs @ Feb 12th 2008 4:28PM]

Oh, and as far as movies driving adoption of this, just look at the very limited success of Sony UMD. While this COULD be put into more than 1 device (unlike PSP), see my post above as to why that won't happen.

[RapidKiller @ Feb 12th 2008 5:50PM]

Well I picked up a 2 GB micro SD, for $11, so $5 cards aren't that far away.

[Tinu @ Feb 11th 2008 11:17PM]

So you watch films on tiny cellphone screens? Hmm. Doesn't seem to make too much sense to me.

[CB17 @ Feb 11th 2008 11:24PM]

iPhone

[Austin @ Feb 11th 2008 11:36PM]

But don't you see? These are bollywood films! Now we can watch "Kabhi Khushi Kabbie Gham" wherever we go! And with the smaller screen, we see less of it!

[patsy @ Feb 12th 2008 8:32AM]

Yeah, but will the battery last the entire 4 hour length of the movie?!

[rwfu666 @ Feb 11th 2008 11:23PM]

sounds like UMD,
sounds like fail

[holycow @ Feb 11th 2008 11:27PM]

Watching a bollywood movie... lol

[What?! @ Feb 11th 2008 11:33PM]

DataPlay Much?

[-Tj- @ Feb 12th 2008 2:09AM]

That's what it was. I was trying to remember that name. The idea was rad (am I still allowed to use that? showing my age...), but nobody I knew seemed to know anything about it.

I think these guys might be onto something... another dead format.

[Rususeruru @ Feb 11th 2008 11:37PM]

Mini-Disc is that you?... It's been so long. I thought you weren't coming back.

I uh, I've moved on. You see after you let me down in the 90's I decided that optical just wasn't working anymore and I've found a new format, Flash.

It's not you Mini-Disc; it's me... It's just flash is faster and more resilient. I guess I've move on. I hope we can still be friends.

[spacegravity4me @ Feb 12th 2008 12:01AM]

werd!

I mean the look is futuristic and everything but rususeruru is right, it's mini disk and flash, oh boy, flash is my shizzle now boi!!!! So yea, in review, futuristic looking, but about one 90's scifi movie too late and it's friggin minidisc... so yea..

[torqueo @ Feb 11th 2008 11:39PM]

Vmedia missed the boat.

http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/20/1gb-write-once-sandisk-memory-cards-to-cost-5-99

[skulldriveshaft @ Feb 11th 2008 11:49PM]

Like we didn't have enough shit to carry around with our phones already.

I suppose this is for content distribution to skip the whole DRM and delivery infrastructure required to do so on every network, for every phone.

I guess making read only memory cards was out of the question? it's not like every phone already comes with an expansion slot for memory. But no, lets make a clunky add on for a disc that can spin a motor, power a laser, and suck up more of my precious battery life.

[Optimist @ Feb 11th 2008 11:58PM]

I think you have to look at the market, in India Bollywood Movies are big on top of which mobile phones have penetrated down to nearly every man, woman and child (in the cities anyways) where as DVD players have not. What we're seeing here, assuming the price of the disks comes down as ($5 = approx 200 Rs) is still to much for one movie, might be a very profitable idea. However as some have commented may be SD cards would have been a better idea, I'm not sure if their production is cheaper yet, for that kind of capacity anyways, but in time it will be.

[Jesse S @ Feb 12th 2008 12:00AM]

This reminds me of UMD.

I have a PSP, and I have to say that UMD failed, hard.

So will this.

[John @ Feb 12th 2008 12:04AM]

+1

I have a PSP, I enjoy it, but I hate the fact that everything is geared towards UMD.

I just bought large memory sticks and load everything I want on them. So much better.

[Alexander @ Feb 12th 2008 12:12AM]

I have a PSP, and I have yet to use it for any UMD anything. I bought it to play all my NES, SNES, and Genesis games on.

Which is does, quite well.

UMD just seemed like failure to me when the demo unit at the store kept breaking and the disc had to be replaced. Not to mention that a flash stick was so much smaller, and faster.

Nope. Fail. Bye bye.

[Abuzar @ Feb 12th 2008 9:59PM]

I like your avatar. I miss Dexter's Lab.

[erhan @ Feb 12th 2008 12:06AM]

Solid State Media = Pwnage.


This could be the biggest thing since sliced bread. ;)

[DT @ Feb 12th 2008 12:20AM]

Iomega Clik! That's where you've been all these years!

[Geoff @ Feb 12th 2008 12:32AM]

Ditto on Clik! drive and Data-Play comments ... have we learned nothing?

[w00t @ Feb 12th 2008 12:34AM]

Is this actually serious?
Please tell me it's just a joke, right?

So instead of using a tiny flash card like MicroSD, or even better just stream it over the air on a 3G network, they want to incorporate a drive complete with caddy, motor and laser in my cellphone?

Whatever these guys are smoking, Just don't smoke it at work, ey? :)
By the way... can anyone else smell UMD's remains?

[GaryZ @ Feb 12th 2008 1:55AM]

So to run this, we have to drain battery by powering both motor AND laser? talk about sense...

[Moe Abe @ Feb 12th 2008 1:57AM]

When it just may become popular in India. We can never tell, and it would not be the first time that this has happened.

[Iceseven @ Feb 12th 2008 2:21AM]

If Sony would have priced their UMDs $5 from the beginning (instead of, what, like $20?) it probably would've been more of a success.

History's repeating again.

[Arbee26 @ Feb 12th 2008 2:21AM]

Talk about a solution looking for a problem. What's the point when you would have to carry around little disks. What's wrong with flash cards?

[Sam Winter @ Feb 12th 2008 5:38AM]

Blu laser diode and 2" spinning optical disc in a phone?
Are these people ***** serious? hahhaa. Stupidest thing I've seen in years...

[kal326 @ Feb 12th 2008 9:36AM]

Finally somebody has taken care of my one simple request, a frick'n cell phone with a frick'n laaaser beam.

[The_Steven @ Feb 12th 2008 10:08AM]

And the iomega fanboys are saying "See, I told you so!"

Sorry, But Ive seen too many vaporware microdrives than I can count, almost invested in one too, damn glad I didn't. I could wallpaper my bathroom with the stock certificates if I did.

Maybe the engineers should stop drinking from the water fountain in the marketing department and remember that spinning disks, no mater how small kill battery life.

[Joel @ Feb 12th 2008 11:34AM]

Mini Disc Redux

[Joey @ Feb 12th 2008 11:22PM]

umd deja vu.

it sounds cool, but in practice, it's stupid.

also, i want MORE battery life on my phone please.


wrong time, wrong market