GE shows off 1TB holographic discs but Wolf Blitzer remains skeptical
By Richard Lawler 
posted Oct 1st 2009 11:04PM
posted Oct 1st 2009 11:04PM
We're confused as to how technology that was supposed to be available in 2006 can still be featured at an Emerging Tech conference in 2009, but so it is for General Electric's attempt at holographic storage. Predicting drives for archival purposes in two or three years with consumer products around two years after that, manager Peter Lorraine claims Blu-ray has "two to four years of life to go" and expects licensees to clean up with speedy 3ms access time, 1TB+ storing (up from a mere 200GB), backwards compatible hardware. The latter portion, plus other breakthroughs in cost and reliability are listed as reasons to believe the market will catch HVD anytime soon, but right now it's about as likely returning to a matching 2006-era MySpace page or believing Wolf was staring at anything other than a mark on the floor on Election Night.[Via Physorg]
1TB WOOHOO......
Wow, that's a pretty good hologram. The disk on the left looks completely real.
2-4 years GTFO of here
Exactly what I was thinking
2-4 years seems about right to me..
Four years seems possible. Two... well, lets put it this way: VHS tapes are still sold (and purchased) blank in most big-name stores :T
Don't forgot blank VHS tapes are still even sold in grocery stores much less stores that sell media.
More like 5-6 years... Do you know how quickly blu-ray players are selling? Not to mention that ps3 sold over 1 million slims worldwide just this past month.
Just like DVD hasn't disappeared yet, even if HVD comes, blu-ray will be around.
I see HVD only being utilized by big companies or something that need to do tons of archiving. Otherwise blu-rays will stay for a long time. Especially since hdtv is only now becoming the majority. And also, isn't there a 100 gb or 200 gb blu-ray coming soon?
Everything they seem to be "predicting" sounds so contradicting to me. Look at the size of that disk...its bigger than DVD's and even bigger than the slightly bigger BluRay's, which means that manufacturers will have to toss out their current systems to create these new disks, which ultimately means at least 4 years before manufacturing could start, and then another 2 years before the price of things are anywhere near what anyone can afford(This should really start sounding familiar)
I remember, back when the PS3 was first speculated, they were talking about BluRay, which was the new big "upcoming tech" back then, they stated "BluRay's are about 1/10 the material cost of a DVD"(not perfectly quoted, but its relatively close), which I thought meant that it would be cheaper for both games and BluRay movies...5 years later and BluRays and games are still more expensive than DVDs, so how do they expect this to even start to take off...In my opinion, its just going to confuse the consumers, and in that case everyone loses.
Do you think Professor Moriarty would like this as a new home?
It sure holds allot of DATA.
wakka wakka wakka
I read that in my head with a Fozzie the Bear voice. I wasn't disappointed.
We already have a 50GB disc for storage and perfect HD quality. We could put much greater than 1080p on Blu-ray.
All I care about for now is, one STANDARD we dont need many formats, but these guys are already showing off 1TB
One Standard por favor
Well, the the truth is i am sure most people want something very simplified out there or a defacto standard. I suppose the next best thing to it is blu ray. But on the down side is if this product exist, why shouldn't it go into production? Just because we don't utilize the benefits of the current technology why should we stop and focus on current technology? Because of this, Blu ray could go down dramatically. For those who need to use a 1TB disc, then at least there is something available to them. Who knows, if this thing is cheap, blu ray could become the next hddvd format.
This isn't intended to be a video disc technology, at least not at first. These discs are intended for data storage in high volumes. I for one would love to have the ability to store that much data on a single disc.
@total i'm pretty sure blue ray will be able to hold 1 tb sometime soon at least wiki thinks so.
I agree, I'd like to be able to just "burn" (or however the holographic storage process works) a single disc with all of my data on it, instead of needing external hard drives.
But then again, by the time these supposedly come out, we'll probably have 20-25 TB hard drives.
The problem with Blu-ray is exactly what you stated: it supports 1080p. A two-hour (or even 3-4 hour depending on the bitrate) video can fit into 50GB using the compression that Blu-ray uses. So why does it matter (for entertainment purposes anyway) if Blu-ray can hold 50GB, 100GB, or 1000GB of data? That just means more length of movie (and potentially a higher bitrate), but not a higher resolution. The limiting factor there is the processing chip on the Blu-ray player, which can only decode 1080p video. What about when TVs start support 2160p? Perhaps these discs will be designed to work with players that can support that resolution, something that Blu-ray players won't be able to do without completely breaking backwards compatibility.
This is of course the problem with all physical media destined for playback on a dedicated device. It's also the reason why people should use HTPCs rather than dedicated standalone players.
Do they use 1TB holographic discs in The Situation Room?
go big or go home
Do you realize how much pron you can put on these???? OMGOMGOMGOMG!
And for the price of 1 disk (about $100) you will probably be able to buy a 2TB hard drive by the time this reaches the market.
no one's got a cooler name that him.
For archiving, I really want something solid and long lasting.
I've grown more and more nervous about storing important data long term on any disc format.
One scratch, or a bit of degradation of the surface, and that's a terabyte of data lost.
Agree, for archiving data, I think solid state storage will win out. Maybe not the current generation of technology, which is rated for 10-50 years typically, but a longer lasting type of storage. Discs are only used for mass production and distribution of media, something I think will go away in the next few years as more and more media and software is available through the internet.
I'm in your disk, eattin your dataz.
Anyone else remember that weird trippy video they (GE or IBM, I forget) produced back in like '02 or thereabouts that explained 3D holographic storage? It was a cartoon, and sang about the technology. I remember thinking the people who made it were using hallucinogenic drugs.
I can't for the life of me remember exactly what it was or find it in the 'borg.
Are you sure it wasn't the Hitachi video about perpendicular storage?
That was just the Postal Service video for Such Great Heights... X_x
@ryan
OH YEAH, that was what I was thinking of! I knew it had some 3D component to it. Man, good memory. Mine has been systematically destroyed, by me.
So I searched around, and the oldest reference is from April 2005, so I guess it wasn't that long ago after all (my sense of time is a bit skewed as well I guess).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xPvD0Z9kz8
Classic.
Check out the sequel, The Dawn of the Tera Era.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vsp8oHKZzfo
Doesn't seem like alot now days does it. 1TB on a Disc.. Blu-Ray at 36GB is so small now days.
With the way storage is going in the Hard Drive and Flash arena, I don't see these Optical Discs being the future, not with storage demands going the way they are.
Imagine going to Blockbuster and getting a movie on a Flash Drive instead. It's very possible. This very day you can walk down the street and buy a cheap 64GB Flash Key, that can fit more that a Blu-Ray can fill it.
No, unless optical storage jumps leaps years ahead I don't see this as being enough. But then what is enough.. 4K Raw source?
Blu-ray is 50GB. HD-DVD was 30GB. Where did you get 36GB from?
Imagine when you can download 4-8GB (a full 720p HD movie) in an hour or so. Oh wait, that day is already here, and it is delivered by the Internet.
Physical mediums are dead, the industry just refuses to recognize it because they love the windfall profits of selling and re-selling you a movie many times over. The sad part is, if they moved to a subscription-based downloadble/streaming model, they'd probably make ten times as much money (especially if they had new releases like a month after they were released in theaters).
The ultimate porn collection!
haha, best title of the month, so far
Hey, I'd rather get behind that "red ray" format that uses DVD-R's that Red demo'ed a while back.... 4k cinema on a 25 cent DVD-R disc? I'd sign up for that in a heartbeat!
I agree. Same reason I supported HD DVD, the discs may not have been DVD, but they were stampted out in existing DVD factories, keeping costs down. Blu-ray is glass coated if I recall correctly, and more expensive to produce.
"Red Ray" still sounds awesome to me.
No, BDs are not glass coated.
The production costs of optical discs is not much of an issue in the product cost to the end customer, not even for BD.
@LS2LS7
oh, good to know everyone at sony was just being a dick about it still.
Well, he's right about the glass, but it IS coated with some kinda "scratch resistant Hard Coat" which I mistook for glass. They ARE coated in a different fashion than other optical discs, because scratches on BD have a much hgiher chance of screwing up the reading of data (IIRC).
Hopefully in 2-4 years we all carry USB3-Sticks with a storage of more than a terabyte. Let's get rid of these damn optical discs, they're creapy.
I'm ready for holographic disc, but it just isn't real. We've been told how holographic storage is on the way for the better part of two decades now.
Two decades ago we were told the price of cable television would drop if deregulation was to happen. Basic in 1989-$20....Basic in 2009-$50
I wonder how fast the transfer speed is.
why do they still make discs, i mean beside movies and games no one uses disk, its all streaming, external hdds or usb drives
Movies and games aren't important?
I refuse to purchase Blue-Ray of any sort,(mostly never ending problems with the dozen Sony products I own, and the fact that HD-DVD players were more reliable) in any case, I welcome this, and wish it soon. I just hope it is more durable than my GE Blender was!
Engadget reader challenge:
How much space is needed for a movie length of 4K video?
Where's my EMH? (Emergency Medical Hologram)
I don't see a very bright future for this stuff if they don't make it affordable enough.