Versatile Multilayer Disc
Encyclopedia
Versatile Multilayer Disc (VMD or HD VMD) is a high-capacity red laser optical disc
technology designed by New Medium Enterprises, Inc.. VMD was intended to compete with the blue laser Blu-ray Disc
format and had an initial capacity of up to 30GB per side.
At CeBIT
in March 2006, NME demonstrated a prototype VMD player and announced that they were expecting to launch the format in the third quarter of 2006. At the Custom Electronic Design & Installation Association trade show in September 2007, NME exhibited two players set for release in October 2007. There were 20 US titles available at launch time, including some from Icon Productions
, Paramount Pictures
, Walt Disney Pictures
, New Line Cinema
, DreamWorks SKG, Lionsgate and Weinstein Co.. They have also signed a deal with Bollywood
production company Eros Group who intended to release 50 Bollywood features on the format.
The two initial players to be released are the ML622S and the ML777S. The ML622S will cost approximately $150 USD. The ML777S costs currently (2008-01) USD 200 and includes USB ports (for connection to external storage devices) and a media-card reader.
A story in the New York Times on 10 March 2008 has NME pushing the format as low cost, because red laser technology is less expensive. NME CEO Michael Jay Solomon sees the advantages as the low cost of producing HD VMD master discs, and he says “We can sell players for $90 and make a profit.” However, New Medium’s price strategy will fail, said Andy Parsons, chairman of the Blu-ray Disc Association, because it relies on a false assumption: Blu-ray technology will always be more expensive. “When you mass produce blue lasers in large quantities, hardware costs will absolutely come down,” Mr. Parsons said. “I’m sure we’ll eventually be able to charge $90 for a Blu-ray player.”
On 13 June 2008 Geoffrey Russell, the Interim Chief Executive Officer of New Medium Enterprises, Inc., notified the US Securities and Exchange Commission that the company would be terminating the registration of the company, a result of which is that NMEN would cease filing reports with the SEC. The date of effect of this action was 90 days after 12 June 2008. In August 2008 three related New Medium companies in the UK, being New Medium Electronics Limited, New Medium Entertainment Limited and New Medium Optics Limited, notified Companies House of their applications for voluntary striking-off. The future of the HD-VMD format is unknown.
In October 2008, it was reported that the technology behind HD-VMD had been revived by three apparently related companies - Royal Digital Media, Anthem Digital and DreamStream, to produce a new 100GB optical disc. Anthem Digital chairman Michael Jay Solomon is the former chairman of New Medium Enterprises.
As of December 2010, Web sites were no longer available at http://www.nmeinc.com/ , http://www.royaldigitalmedia.com/ , http://www.anthemdigital.com/ , and http://www.dreamstream.com/ which implies that all efforts to develop the HD-VMD disc format have ceased.
s. Standard VMDs can use 4 layers, for 20 GB of storage. The rarer 8 and 10 layered discs store 40GB to 50GB, respectively. The manufacturer list up to 20 layers on a disc being possible in the future.
The Blu-ray Disc uses a blue-violet laser, rather than VMD's red laser, which means it can store more information per layer. However, this format has so far only utilized 1 and 2-layered versions. In January 2007, Toshiba announced development on a triple layer HD DVD (TL51) that would have had a capacity of 51GB. Hitachi announced a 4 and 6 layer version of Blu-ray as well, capable of 100 GB and 200 GB respectively. Therefore, a standard 4-layer VMD stores 20 GB which is comparable to a 1-layered HD DVD (15 GB) and 1-layer Blu-ray Disc (25 GB).
resolutions up to 1080p
which is comparable with Blu-ray
and HD DVD
. Video is encoded in MPEG-2
and VC-1
formats at a maximum bitrate of 40 Megabits per second. This falls between the maximum bitrates of HD DVD (36 Mbit/s) and Blu-ray (48 Mbit/s). There is the possibility that VMD discs may be encoded with the H.264 format in the future.
The HD VMD format supports up to 7.1-channel Dolby Digital
, Dolby Digital Plus
, and DTS audio output, though it will not offer Dolby TrueHD
or DTS-HD Master Audio
surround sound
codecs.
Optical disc
In computing and optical disc recording technologies, an optical disc is a flat, usually circular disc which encodes binary data in the form of pits and lands on a special material on one of its flat surfaces...
technology designed by New Medium Enterprises, Inc.. VMD was intended to compete with the blue laser Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc is an optical disc storage medium designed to supersede the DVD format. The plastic disc is 120 mm in diameter and 1.2 mm thick, the same size as DVDs and CDs. Blu-ray Discs contain 25 GB per layer, with dual layer discs being the norm for feature-length video discs...
format and had an initial capacity of up to 30GB per side.
At CeBIT
CeBIT
CeBIT is the world's largest and most international computer expo. CeBIT is held each year on the world's largest fairground in Hanover, Germany, and is a barometer of the state of the art in information technology...
in March 2006, NME demonstrated a prototype VMD player and announced that they were expecting to launch the format in the third quarter of 2006. At the Custom Electronic Design & Installation Association trade show in September 2007, NME exhibited two players set for release in October 2007. There were 20 US titles available at launch time, including some from Icon Productions
Icon Productions
Icon Productions LLC is an American independent production company founded in August 1989 by actor/director Mel Gibson and Australian producing partner Bruce Davey.-History:Icon started when Gibson was having trouble in financing the 1990 film Hamlet...
, Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
, Walt Disney Pictures
Walt Disney Pictures
Walt Disney Pictures is an American film studio owned by The Walt Disney Company. Walt Disney Pictures and Television, a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Studios and the main production company for live-action feature films within the Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group, based at the Walt Disney...
, New Line Cinema
New Line Cinema
New Line Cinema, often simply referred to as New Line, is an American film studio. It was founded in 1967 by Robert Shaye and Michael Lynne as a film distributor, later becoming an independent film studio. It became a subsidiary of Time Warner in 1996 and was merged with larger sister studio Warner...
, DreamWorks SKG, Lionsgate and Weinstein Co.. They have also signed a deal with Bollywood
Bollywood
Bollywood is the informal term popularly used for the Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai , Maharashtra, India. The term is often incorrectly used to refer to the whole of Indian cinema; it is only a part of the total Indian film industry, which includes other production centers producing...
production company Eros Group who intended to release 50 Bollywood features on the format.
The two initial players to be released are the ML622S and the ML777S. The ML622S will cost approximately $150 USD. The ML777S costs currently (2008-01) USD 200 and includes USB ports (for connection to external storage devices) and a media-card reader.
A story in the New York Times on 10 March 2008 has NME pushing the format as low cost, because red laser technology is less expensive. NME CEO Michael Jay Solomon sees the advantages as the low cost of producing HD VMD master discs, and he says “We can sell players for $90 and make a profit.” However, New Medium’s price strategy will fail, said Andy Parsons, chairman of the Blu-ray Disc Association, because it relies on a false assumption: Blu-ray technology will always be more expensive. “When you mass produce blue lasers in large quantities, hardware costs will absolutely come down,” Mr. Parsons said. “I’m sure we’ll eventually be able to charge $90 for a Blu-ray player.”
On 13 June 2008 Geoffrey Russell, the Interim Chief Executive Officer of New Medium Enterprises, Inc., notified the US Securities and Exchange Commission that the company would be terminating the registration of the company, a result of which is that NMEN would cease filing reports with the SEC. The date of effect of this action was 90 days after 12 June 2008. In August 2008 three related New Medium companies in the UK, being New Medium Electronics Limited, New Medium Entertainment Limited and New Medium Optics Limited, notified Companies House of their applications for voluntary striking-off. The future of the HD-VMD format is unknown.
In October 2008, it was reported that the technology behind HD-VMD had been revived by three apparently related companies - Royal Digital Media, Anthem Digital and DreamStream, to produce a new 100GB optical disc. Anthem Digital chairman Michael Jay Solomon is the former chairman of New Medium Enterprises.
As of December 2010, Web sites were no longer available at http://www.nmeinc.com/ , http://www.royaldigitalmedia.com/ , http://www.anthemdigital.com/ , and http://www.dreamstream.com/ which implies that all efforts to develop the HD-VMD disc format have ceased.
Disc format
The format uses approximately 5 GB per layer, which is similar to standard DVDDVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
s. Standard VMDs can use 4 layers, for 20 GB of storage. The rarer 8 and 10 layered discs store 40GB to 50GB, respectively. The manufacturer list up to 20 layers on a disc being possible in the future.
The Blu-ray Disc uses a blue-violet laser, rather than VMD's red laser, which means it can store more information per layer. However, this format has so far only utilized 1 and 2-layered versions. In January 2007, Toshiba announced development on a triple layer HD DVD (TL51) that would have had a capacity of 51GB. Hitachi announced a 4 and 6 layer version of Blu-ray as well, capable of 100 GB and 200 GB respectively. Therefore, a standard 4-layer VMD stores 20 GB which is comparable to a 1-layered HD DVD (15 GB) and 1-layer Blu-ray Disc (25 GB).
Content format
The HD VMD format is capable of HDHigh-definition video
High-definition video or HD video refers to any video system of higher resolution than standard-definition video, and most commonly involves display resolutions of 1,280×720 pixels or 1,920×1,080 pixels...
resolutions up to 1080p
1080p
1080p is the shorthand identification for a set of HDTV high-definition video modes that are characterized by 1080 horizontal lines of resolution and progressive scan, meaning the image is not interlaced as is the case with the 1080i display standard....
which is comparable with Blu-ray
Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc is an optical disc storage medium designed to supersede the DVD format. The plastic disc is 120 mm in diameter and 1.2 mm thick, the same size as DVDs and CDs. Blu-ray Discs contain 25 GB per layer, with dual layer discs being the norm for feature-length video discs...
and HD DVD
HD DVD
HD DVD is a discontinued high-density optical disc format for storing data and high-definition video.Supported principally by Toshiba, HD DVD was envisioned to be the successor to the standard DVD format...
. Video is encoded in MPEG-2
MPEG-2
MPEG-2 is a standard for "the generic coding of moving pictures and associated audio information". It describes a combination of lossy video compression and lossy audio data compression methods which permit storage and transmission of movies using currently available storage media and transmission...
and VC-1
VC-1
VC-1 is the informal name of the SMPTE 421M video codec standard, which was initially developed as a proprietary video format by Microsoft before it was released as a formal SMPTE standard video format on April 3, 2006...
formats at a maximum bitrate of 40 Megabits per second. This falls between the maximum bitrates of HD DVD (36 Mbit/s) and Blu-ray (48 Mbit/s). There is the possibility that VMD discs may be encoded with the H.264 format in the future.
The HD VMD format supports up to 7.1-channel Dolby Digital
Dolby Digital
Dolby Digital is the name for audio compression technologies developed by Dolby Laboratories. It was originally called Dolby Stereo Digital until 1994. Except for Dolby TrueHD, the audio compression is lossy. The first use of Dolby Digital was to provide digital sound in cinemas from 35mm film prints...
, Dolby Digital Plus
Dolby Digital Plus
Dolby Digital Plus is a digital audio compression scheme. It is an incompatible development of the technologies used in the earlier Dolby Digital system. E-AC-3 has a number of improvements aimed at increasing quality at a given bitrate compared with legacy Dolby Digital...
, and DTS audio output, though it will not offer Dolby TrueHD
Dolby TrueHD
Dolby TrueHD is an advanced lossless multi-channel audio codec developed by Dolby Laboratories which is intended primarily for high-definition home-entertainment equipment such as Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD. It is the successor to the AC-3 Dolby Digital surround sound codec which was used as the...
or DTS-HD Master Audio
DTS-HD Master Audio
DTS-HD Master Audio is a lossless audio codec created by Digital Theater System. It was previously known as DTS++. It is an extension of DTS which, when played back on devices which do not support the Master Audio or High Resolution extension, degrades to a "core" track which is lossy. DTS-HD...
surround sound
Surround sound
Surround sound encompasses a range of techniques such as for enriching the sound reproduction quality of an audio source with audio channels reproduced via additional, discrete speakers. Surround sound is characterized by a listener location or sweet spot where the audio effects work best, and...
codecs.