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[onQ123]

My guess is they will probably try try push Vue 4K , Vue VR , 3D Audio or 4K/8K /360 VR Blu-ray

 

[Breakfast at Noon]

A fully evolved PSNOW.

 

[Zephir]

High quality UMD discs

 

[JordanN]

Vinyls make a comeback.

 

[Mistershine.]

Vinyls make a comeback.

I would love a vinyl collection of spectrum games.

 

[Spukc]

Laserdisc sized blurays bby

 

[mejin]

A fully evolved PSNOW.

next step clearly

 

[Shin]

BD-XL / 100Gb, in some cases maybe 2 discs with a new compression method.
If we're being technical wouldn't Vue be a service instead of a media/medium?
Either way probably 4K streams (if it's not the case already), we don't have a cheaper alternative than discs.

 

[protonion]

Optical media were necessary for their massive capacity. Now bring back cartridges I'd say.

PS5 should use 50-100 gb cartridges.
This would make HDD optional plus more simple hardware with no moving parts. These savings could go for a cheaper or more powerful console.

And for the overkill. The console should be able to write on the cartridge so games are patched directly there for preservation.

I dont even know how feasible this is now.
But it is my dream for the future. Discs should be replaced sooner or later.

 

[Dontero]

Honestly i think physical media drives are done.
They will keep current bluray but expect most of game in shops coming with keys instead of physical discs.

 

[onQ123]

BD-XL / 100Gb, in some cases maybe 2 discs with a new compression method.
If we're being technical wouldn't Vue be a service instead of a media/medium?
Either way probably 4K streams (if it's not the case already), we don't have a cheaper alternative than discs.

The common ground is using PlayStation consoles to Trojan Horse other Sony endeavors.

 

[Elios83]

Nothing?
All future endeavours will go towards network services like PSNow.
As the physical media they will use the current 100GB (or 125GB?) Blu Rays used for 4K movies to give more space to developers but without any particular fanfare. Physical media era is dead. Sony didn't even believe (and rightfully) in the current 4K discs.

 

[Shin]

Nothing?
All future endeavours will go towards network services like PSNow.

About that, I'm honestly surprised that Sony has not released a TV with build-in PSNow capabilities.

 

[JordanN]

Honestly i think physical media drives are done.
They will keep current bluray but expect most of game in shops coming with keys instead of physical discs.

That's terrible for the environment.

 

[Tumle]

ROOMSCALE VR LIVE BROADCASTS!

 

[Caayn]

About that, I'm honestly surprised that Sony has not released a TV with build-in PSNow capabilities.

They actually supported their own Bravia and some Samsung TVs in the past. But they pulled the plug on PSNow support for TVs in 2017.

 

[onQ123]

Nothing?
All future endeavours will go towards network services like PSNow.
As the physical media they will use the current 100GB (or 125GB?) Blu Rays used for 4K movies to give more space to developers but without any particular fanfare. Physical media era is dead. Sony didn't even believe (and rightfully) in the current 4K discs.

I think what really happened with Sony & UHD Blu-ray is that Sony wanted to use their own 4K Blu-ray format that was going to be playable on all Blu-ray players but the Blu-ray Disc Association went with UHD Blu-ray that could only be played in new players.


Sony was going to release a 4K Blu-ray that could play in all Blu-ray players but would need a firmware update to read the larger disc format

Also there is this patent for down-sampling 4K to 1080P while keeping 4K data to use for up-sampling with enhancements so that Blu-rays can be made to play in 1080P in older Blu-ray players but 4K in new devices


https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=WO2018005845

[0001] Aspects of the present disclosure are related to encoding and decoding of digital data for streaming applications. In particular, the present disclosure is related to encoding the same video content at multiple resolutions.

BACKGROUND

[0002] Digital signal compression (sometimes referred to as video coding or video encoding) is widely used in many multimedia applications and devices. Digital signal compression using a coder/decoder (codec) allows streaming media, such as audio or video signals to be transmitted over the Internet or stored on compact discs. A number of different standards of digital video compression have emerged, including H.261, H.263; DV; MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, VC1; AVC (H.264), and HEVC (H.265). These standards, as well as other video compression technologies, seek to efficiently represent a video frame picture by eliminating the spatial and temporal redundancies in the picture and among successive pictures. Through the use of such compression standards, video contents can be carried in highly compressed video bit streams, and thus efficiently stored in disks or transmitted over networks.

[0003] Encoding the same video content at multiple resolutions is often necessary for video streaming over the network and for targeting different decoding hardware with different computational capabilities. For example, it is sometimes necessary to encode video with multiple resolutions due to bandwidth limitations and due to recent advances in the capabilities of video encoding and decoding hardware. With the growing popularity of 4K displays (picture width of 3840 to 4096 pixels), the demand for higher resolution video content has increased. The storage required for 4K video is much higher than for 1080p HD video. In some cases, storing both lower and higher resolution versions of the same video content might be necessary, e.g., for display on different hardware. Having both HD and 4K resolution video streams on a Blu-Ray disc could allow a lower powered video player to display the HD content and a more powerful video player to display the 4K content. However, due to storage limits on physical discs, it might not be possible to fit both resolutions on a single disc. One approach to addressing this issue is to produce both low resolution and high resolution discs for the same content. For video streaming over a network, the higher resolution video could be displayed when the bandwidth is high and the lower resolution could be displayed during network congestion. Fewer bits are needed to transmit lower resolution encoded video (e.g., 1080p HD video) than higher resolution (e.g., 4K) video.

[0004] Another approach is to encode the low resolution video and to up-sample it when presenting it on the higher resolution hardware. However, the video quality suffers when the up-sampled low resolution video is played on the high resolution hardware. Yet another approach is to store just the high resolution encoded video on disk. Unfortunately, low powered hardware might have to skip frames because it's not powerful enough to maintain the desired frame rate for the higher resolution video.

[0005] Having multiple discs increases the production costs, while storing only one resolution of the video on the disc does not allow the best experience for either the lower powered or the higher powered player. If only the lower resolution video is stored on the disc, the displayed picture will require up-sampling on higher resolution displays. The picture quality of up-sampled video content will be lower than that of content that is originally of higher resolution. If only the higher resolution video is stored on the disc, lower powered devices may not be able to display the content at the original frame rate, and may have to drop frames or lower the frame rate. This too results in a reduced user enjoyment.

[0006] While an extension to the Advanced Video Coding (AVC) standard known as Scalable Video Coding (SVC) allows efficient compression for multiple resolutions, the number of devices that support this extension is much lower compared to those that do not. As a result, the common approach to handling multiple resolutions is to resize the video content to multiple resolutions before encoding, and generating separate bitstreams for each resolution that could be decoded independently of each other.

[0007] It is within this context that aspects of the present disclosure arise.

Introduction

[0022] FIG. 1B illustrates an example of conventional encoding multi-resolution video 121. An encoder 122 encodes the high resolution video to generate a high resolution stream 124 of bits representing encoded high resolution video frames. To accommodate older hardware not configured for high resolution video or to reduce bandwidth required for transmission during bandwidth congestion, the high resolution video is down-sampled, as indicated at 123 and the resulting down-sampled video 121' is encoded, e.g., by another encoder 122' to generate a stream of bits 124' representing encoded down-sampled video frames.

[0023] On the decoder side, illustrated in FIG. 1C, a decoder 132 receives the high resolution stream 124 and decodes it to generate high resolution output 126 in the form of decoded high resolution video frames. Devices not equipped to decode the high resolution stream may ignore the high resolution stream and receive and decode the down-sampled stream 124', e.g., using a different decoder 132'.

[0024] Aspects of the present disclosure allow for efficient video compression without utilizing extensions to a video coding standard. The approach described herein allows for high picture quality with lower bit usage compared to the existing method of encoding multiple resolutions of the same content as separate bitstreams. Instead of creating a separate bitstream at a higher resolution, the encoder creates an enhancement stream that uses fewer bits. The decoder creates output video for display by combining a lower resolution base stream and the enhancement stream. The extra processing required to generate the output video could be performed efficiently on a graphics processor unit (GPU). The proposed approach is particularly advantageous if the average time needed to generate a high-resolution frame using the proposed is not higher than the time needed to decode a frame using a separate high-resolution bitstream.

[0025] According to aspects of the present disclosure, the proposed approach uses a combination of up-sampling of low resolution video and enhancement information. When low resolution video is up-sampled to high resolution some sharpness is lost. As a result, the video looks blurred. "enhancement information" can be combined with up-sampled low resolution video to produce a high quality image for display. The edge enhancement data captures information that is lost when up-sampling low resolution video to high resolution. The edge enhancement information is related to pixel values that correspond to edges within an image. The combination of up-sampling with edge enhancement eliminates the need to store a separate higher resolution video bitstream, and instead only an enhancement stream needs to be stored, which requires fewer bits and therefore much less storage space. This approach is particularly advantageous if the amount of data required for the low resolution video plus edge enhancement information before encoding is less than or equal to the amount of data required for the high resolution video before encoding. Such situations may arise in embodiments wherein high resolution video is down-sampled to low resolution video, and edge enhancement data is created from the high resolution video data before down-sampling. In certain implementations, down-sampling may involve an integer down-sample, e.g., eliminating alternate pixels. An example of an integer down-sample may be down-sampling from 4K (2160P) to 1080P.

[0026] In some implementations, the enhancement information may be encoded in an existing video format that a decoder would recognize and an existing encoder would know how to encode. By way of example and not by way of limitation, the enhancement information may be encoded using existing AVC or High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) decoders found commonly in devices that support video playback and does not require devices to add support for extensions to the standard. This solution could also be used to reduce the CPU and GPU load for decoding high resolution video bitstreams in devices that include multiple decoders (e.g., both hardware and software-based decoders).

[0027] The enhancement stream need not be stored in a video format; however, doing so works quite well with existing hardware. In alternative implementations the edge enhancement information could be encoded, e.g., using JPEG compression or any other arithmetic coding standard.

[0028] Up-sampling in conjunction with enhancement information as described herein could also be applied to still images, e.g., where JPEG encoding or some other image compression standard is used to compress both the base and the enhancement information.

[0029] Raw video is represented by luminance (intensity) and chrominance (color) values. Many encoders use fewer bits to store the chrominance data so that more bits may be spent on luminance data, as the human eye is more sensitive to differences in luminance than chrominance.

[0030] In certain implementations, an enhancement information generation algorithm may analyze the images in video data to find edges within the image. Edge enhancement data may be determined by analyzing the result of comparing an up-sampled version of a low resolution base image to the corresponding original high resolution image and determining the difference between the images. Up-sampling the low resolution image may use a standard algorithm, e.g. bilinear (fastest and lowest quality) or bicubic (better quality but slower). In certain embodiments, this comparison may be performed by the GPU. In alternative embodiments, this comparison may be performed by a CPU. In some cases, there is no edge enhancement information for a frame because there is not a significant difference between the high resolution video and the up-sampled low resolution video. When such a scenario occurs in situations involving high resolution streaming, those frames for which there is not a significant difference could be encoded as original high resolution frames without edge enhancement information. In alternative embodiments, edge enhancement information may be determined as provided below and subsequently compared to a threshold; the result of such a comparison can then be used to determine whether or not to down-sample the frame before encoding.

[0031] By way of example, and not by way of limitation , the enhancement information may be generated by determining a difference in pixel values (e.g., chroma values or luma values or both) between the up-sampled low resolution image and the original high resolution image and adding a midpoint for pixel value (e.g., 128 for 8-bit). According to certain aspects of the present disclosure, the enhancement information may be created in such a way as to minimize the arithmetic difference between the input frame and an up-sampled version of the down-sampled frame. As used herein the term `difference` refers to a difference in the mathematical sense, including but not limited to arithmetic difference (i.e., the result of a subtraction). Determining the difference may include other mathematical operations on the pixel values prior to subtraction, such as squaring, taking a square root, multiplying by a scaling factor. Determining the difference may also include mathematical operations on the result of a subtraction. For example, in some implementations negative values resulting from a subtraction may be set to zero, and any values that exceed the maximum value for the number of bits may be set to the maximum value (e.g., for 8-bit pixels, values greater than 255 would be set to 255). Additionally, the same number of bits could be utilized to represent each lower resolution pixel, but fewer bits could be used to represent the edge enhancement data, as a large number of bits might not be needed to represent a small difference. By way of example, and not by way of limitation, a calculated 16-bit difference may have a value reduced to an 8-bit representation. Other examples of generating edge enhancement information include feature and edge detection methods such as using the Sobel operator or Roberts cross operator.

[0032] In certain implementations, the difference in the luminance values may be determined without regard for chrominance information that is lost when the up-sampling of the low resolution video is carried out. This frees up computational and memory resources, as no additional chrominance data is saved during the utilization of such a process. This process also increases the efficiency of the encoding process, as computing the differences for the chrominance values is no longer required. By way of example, and not by way of limitation, the luminance information may be stored in the chrominance information in order to manipulate an encoder into encoding some of the luminance information as chrominance information while the rest of the luminance information remains luminance information. On the decoder side, the luminance information stored as chrominance information is moved back to the luminance information and the chrominance information is ignored. Alternatively embodiments allow for the encoding of the chrominance as a flat grey.

[0033] In certain alternative embodiments, a filtering stage is added to make the edge enhancement information more suitable for video compression, e.g., by removing noisy pixels. Noisy pixels are, for example, isolated pixels that are of a much different value than surrounding pixels.

[0034] In certain implementations, decoding performed on low resolution hardware may involve decoding the low resolution video and taking no action with the enhancement data. In alternative embodiments of the present invention, decoding performed on high resolution hardware may involve decoding the low resolution video and the enhancement data and performing the inverse of the comparison that generated the enhancement data to result in reconstituted high resolution video. The inverse comparison may be performed on either the GPU or the CPU. Up-sampling the data may use bilinear or bicubic according to the algorithm that was used to generate the edge enhancement information.

[0035] In alternative embodiments of the present invention, two decoders are utilized. A first decoder may decode low resolution video, and a second decoder may decode the edge enhancement data. In certain embodiments, a hardware decoder may be used for the video and a software decoder may be used for the enhancement data. In alternative embodiments, two instances of a software decoder or two hardware decoders may optionally be utilized. Furthermore, certain alternative embodiments may apply the encoding/decoding processes, methods, and devices described above with respect to audio data.

[0036] In other alternative implementations, only one decoder might be utilized. In such cases encoding may be implemented with only one encoder, and the enhancement data may be encoded into the same bitstream as the encoded base video data. The encoded base video data does not reference any frames containing the enhancement data, and can be decoded independently without decoding the enhancement data completely. By way of example, the slice headers could be used to determine if data being decoded corresponds to the base video or the enhancement video, and if the enhancement data is not required, the rest of decoding may be skipped for that frame. In lower powered hardware, only the base video pictures are decoded. In higher powered hardware, all frames are decoded, and the final high resolution frame is reconstructed from the decoded base video and enhancement data.

[0037] The above-described processes, methods, and devices may alternatively be used to compress high resolution video for storage, as down-sampling high resolution video and storing the down-sampled video with corresponding edge enhancement data may require less storage space than simply storing the high resolution video.

[0038] In certain implementations, the edge enhancement algorithm may be used to determine if any frame has enough detail to be sent at high resolution (e.g., 4K resolution) and, if so, the frame may be encoded at high resolution without down-sampling. By way of example, and not by way of limitation, determining whether a frame has enough detail to be sent at high resolution may use metrics such as variance or a count of the total number of pixels that are not equal to some reference value, e.g., 128, and use thresholds established from empirical data to determine if the enhancement information is significant. If it is determined that the frame does not have enough detail to be sent at 4Kresolution, the frame may be down-scaled to a lower resolution (e.g., 1080P), and encoded as a restructured frame containing low resolution pixels surrounded by pixels of uniform chroma and luma values, e.g., flat grey, along with parameters to indicate the section of the frame that contains the lower resolution data. On the decoder side, these restructured frames may be decoded by using the parameters to extract the down-scaled frame and then up-sampling the extracted down-scaled frame. Alternatively, if it is determined that sending the frame at high resolution (e.g., 4K resolution) is inefficient, the frame may be down-scaled to a lower resolution (e.g., 1080P), followed by generation of enhancement information and encoding of base frames and enhancement information. In such implementations, a decoder can up-sample the low resolution frames and combine them with enhancement information and handle the 4Kframes normally. By selectively sending some frames as low resolution, these embodiments are capable of reducing the bit stream size.

 

[onQ123]

About that, I'm honestly surprised that Sony has not released a TV with build-in PSNow capabilities.

They did have TVs with PSNow but they removed it , Samsung also had TVs with PSNow

 

[Musky_Cheese]

And Blu Ray

 

[Frank Spencer]

Vinyls make a comeback.

 

[Ramzy]

Retail boxes with a slip of paper inside of them that has a redeem code printed on it.

 

[Mr Hyde]

Good fucking games is the only thing they should be concerned about selling to us customers.

 

[FStubbs]

They also pushed UMD with PSP and ... nothing with Vita. And Vita failed.

So they'll definitely push some new media thing. It may be why we haven't seen the PS5 yet.

Sony using videogame consoles to push services and other things that aren't videogame related is what sucked Microsoft into the console business.

 

[YoshiMax]

I mean they couldn’t even be arsed doing 4K Blu-rays this gen so maybe it’s time to bring back HD-DVD.

 

[onQ123]

Good fucking games is the only thing they should be concerned about selling to us customers.

And what console has sold over 100 million by just selling good games?


Sony broke through the ceiling by adding the media element to consoles .

 

[onQ123]

I mean they couldn’t even be arsed doing 4K Blu-rays this gen so maybe it’s time to bring back HD-DVD.

See my post from above

 

[captainraincoat]

Ps vita memory cartridges

 

[Mistershine.]

That's terrible for the environment.

Is how it's currently done, I see no reason to stop.

 

[Ar¢tos]

HVDs? I think the format was canned, haven't heard any news about it in years.
Sony already has high capacity Bluray discs, but they are used for storage mainly, I doubt the reading speeds would be good for gaming (very long installs)

 

[DeepEnigma]

They will probably use both BR and UHD for growing game sizes, and they will still install to the internal storage of the system.

Format wars are not what they used to be for video/music medium to be pushed. Streaming/VOD elements are the future for publishers now, where the physical medium is now an option.

 

[onQ123]

They will probably use both BR and UHD for growing game sizes, and they will still install to the internal storage of the system.

Format wars are not what they used to be for video/music medium to be pushed. Streaming/VOD elements are the future for publishers now, where the physical medium is now an option.

UHD Blu-ray is Blu-ray it's not a different format it's just using a better codec & up to 3 layers

 

[Shin]

media

This is such a broad term and means different things to different people, it's not one size fit all.
The above line is just to throw it out there as a reminder and not directed to you personally.

The chances that we might see a UHD drive is very slim looking at the current market, companies will try and sell you a 4K or 8K TV.
But 4K BD can probably be counted on one hand and for the mass Netflix/Amazon is sufficient so the need is thus removed (which can be seen why Samsung stopped selling BD players in the US+EU).
Factoring the added costs that comes to it I would say a normal BD drive, UHD might be unlikely as it raises the BoM with very little to gain - this generation has proven that stat already also.

So what will be the additional selling point of a new shiny box, improved Vue (4K if it's not the case already), but other than that I wouldn't count on past entries to be an example for the upcoming gen.
The format war is currently dead/hit a dead end as the winner BluRay isn't setting the world on fire in UHD, 8K or whatever is still the same (don't quote me on that, but just new lasers that can read more layers I think?)
Nothing in the form of recruitment have indicated that there will be such a driving force as we're talking about here, so 1+1 it will most likely be a very very boring fucking generation but in glorious 4K and I'll love it.

As for the Samsung/Sony PSNow TV shit I wonder if they did a half baked job because now we're revisiting that old friend, it's not an easy thing to re-sell something that has "failed" in the past.
Did those TV have additional hard and software build-in that could potentially enhance the streaming experience or was it a quick cash grab that wasn't thought out well...I'm curious as to what the community think.

 

[DeepEnigma]

UHD Blu-ray is Blu-ray it's not a different format it's just using a better codec & up to 3 layers

I know that, what I mean is developers will have the option like they did on the PS2 when it started out as CD (dirt cheap format) and they moved over to DVD when the price of the discs came down and games grew in size.

Currently I believe, UHD still has a larger cost than standard BR discs, so devs can still have that option if their game is under 50GB, etc., and not be forced to jump into the more expensive disc to distribute their games. Over time the price will come down to standard BR levels, which can cause a replacement universally.

 

[nkarafo]

Hopefully something without mechanisms and moving parts.

It's not the 90's anymore.

 

[Shin]

Hopefully something without mechanisms and moving parts.

When you think about it disc drives really are outdated, take up too much damn space and produces too much heat.
Fast track: CD > DVD > BD but the growth is out even with standard BD (I think), yet with all our infinite wisdom we can't get a cartridge system that's cheap and secure enough to replace a optical drive.

 

[deriks]

The Matrix

 

[Gamernyc78]

Psnow on steroids, maybe part of platinum tier ps plus membership which I would bite for at the right price (75 to 85 a year)

 

[Tarin02543]

Yes, please bring back the cartridge.

BTW, is there a service that lets you legally download high bitrate x265 files? I mean, what's the digital alternative to 4K blu ray?

 

[onQ123]

This is such a broad term and means different things to different people, it's not one size fit all.
The above line is just to throw it out there as a reminder and not directed to you personally.

The chances that we might see a UHD drive is very slim looking at the current market, companies will try and sell you a 4K or 8K TV.
But 4K BD can probably be counted on one hand and for the mass Netflix/Amazon is sufficient so the need is thus removed (which can be seen why Samsung stopped selling BD players in the US+EU).
Factoring the added costs that comes to it I would say a normal BD drive, UHD might be unlikely as it raises the BoM with very little to gain - this generation has proven that stat already also.

So what will be the additional selling point of a new shiny box, improved Vue (4K if it's not the case already), but other than that I wouldn't count on past entries to be an example for the upcoming gen.
The format war is currently dead/hit a dead end as the winner BluRay isn't setting the world on fire in UHD, 8K or whatever is still the same (don't quote me on that, but just new lasers that can read more layers I think?)
Nothing in the form of recruitment have indicated that there will be such a driving force as we're talking about here, so 1+1 it will most likely be a very very boring fucking generation but in glorious 4K and I'll love it.

As for the Samsung/Sony PSNow TV shit I wonder if they did a half baked job because now we're revisiting that old friend, it's not an easy thing to re-sell something that has "failed" in the past.
Did those TV have additional hard and software build-in that could potentially enhance the streaming experience or was it a quick cash grab that wasn't thought out well...I'm curious as to what the community think.

I think Sony could make a push for 180 & 360 video through Vue /other apps & Blu-ray they would just need for some big events to push the tech , Like if they was to connect with the NBA , NFL & other sports leagues to broadcast games in VR though PS Vue or have some of the biggest movies released in VR around the same time as PS5 & release them on 360 Blu-ray that's playable on PS5 & come with a code to add to your digit library to be used on your phone & other devices .

 

[onQ123]

Yes, please bring back the cartridge.

BTW, is there a service that lets you legally download high bitrate x265 files? I mean, what's the digital alternative to 4K blu ray?

Vudu & others let you download HD videos but 4K isn't allowed to be downloaded yet

 

[Great Hair]

 

[N00bWarrior]

Cartridge.

 

[onQ123]

I know that, what I mean is developers will have the option like they did on the PS2 when it started out as CD (dirt cheap format) and they moved over to DVD when the price of the discs came down and games grew in size.

Currently I believe, UHD still has a larger cost than standard BR discs, so devs can still have that option if their game is under 50GB, etc., and not be forced to jump into the more expensive disc to distribute their games. Over time the price will come down to standard BR levels, which can cause a replacement universally.

What I'm saying is that UHD Blu-ray is only called UHD Blu-ray because the movies on them are encoded better so that 4K movies can fit on the Blu-ray , yes they change some standards & some of the UHD Blu-rays use 3 layers but in a situation like using them for games it wouldn't be called UHD Blu-ray it would just be triple layer Blu-ray XL


Sony & Panasonic pushed the layers from 25GB to 33GB a while ago & UHD Blu-rays use that standard plus better encoding to fit 4K movies on them & now they have Blu-rays up to 300GB & Archival Discs over 1TB

https://newatlas.com/sony-panasonic-66gb-blu-ray-discs/13745/

Sony and Panasonic propose 66.8GB Blu-ray discs
HOME ENTERTAINMENT
Tim Hanlon
January 7th, 2010

Sony and Panasonic have announced a new technology that would increase the capacity of a single-layer Blu-ray disc from 25GB to 33.4GB. The new technology, dubbed i-MLSE (Maximum Likelihood Sequence Estimation) evaluation index, is achievable using existing Blu-ray laser diodes, and can subsequently be added to existing Blu-ray players with a firmware upgrade.

The larger capacity would ensure room for longer 3D movies with all the pre-requisite special features on a single disc. Perhaps more importantly, many existing Blu-ray titles weigh roughly 30GB, which requires a dual-layer 50GB disc, meaning the proposed increase to 33.4GB per layer could lead to cheaper Blu-ray movies for the consumer.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archival_Disc

Archival Disc (AD) is the name of a trademark owned by Sony Corporation and Panasonic Corporation describing an optical disc storage medium designed for long-term digital storage. First announced on 10 March 2014 and planned to be introduced in the second quarter of 2015, the discs are intended to be able to withstand changes in temperature and humidity, in addition to dust and water, ensuring that the disc is readable for at least 50 years.[2] The agreement between Sony and Panasonic to jointly develop the upcoming generation optical media standard was first announced on 29 July 2013.[3]


Specifications[edit]
The discs are designed to hold 300 gigabytes of data in their first release, then a second version of the discs will hold up to 500 gigabytes, and eventually a third version of the discs will be able to store up to one terabyte of data, based on the roadmap plans of both companies.[1][2][4][5]

The Archival Disc standard jointly developed by Sony and Panasonic will utilise signal processing technologies such as narrow track pitchcrosstalk cancellation, high linear density inter-symbol interference cancellation and multi-level recording. The disc structure will feature dual sides, with three layers on each side, and a land and groove format. The track pitch is 0.225 μm, the data bit length is 79.5 nm, and the standard will utilise the method of Reed-Solomon Code error detection.

Roadmap[edit]
Sony has released a roadmap plan[6] to increase Archival Disc capacity from 300GB to 1TB per disc. The 300GB disc was scheduled for release in the summer of 2015, release timescales of the larger discs are currently unknown.

Use[edit]
Sony expects the new standard to see usage in the film industry (such as storage of 4K resolution audiovisual data[7]), archival services, andcloud data centres handling big data.[1] The disc format is not intended as a consumer storage medium as of 2014, but is intended by the two companies as a solution for professional-level data archival.[2] In order to reach a larger capacity whilst ensuring higher playback signal quality, the standard will employ crosstalk cancellation and partial response maximum likelihood (PRML) signal processing.[1] Both companies will market the optical format under their respective brands.

Sony will be using Archival Disc in within the Optical Disc Archive professional archival product range. Sony's aim is to create at least a 6TB storage medium.

An emerging use case for Archival Disc has been projected for cold data storage within the datacenter. [8]

 

[Shifty]

The heck is a Vue in the context of optical storage?

That's the name of a cinema franchise in my country.

 

[Ancient Dragon]

Bundled VR?

 

[levyjl1988]

https://www.pocket-lint.com/tv/news...-ray-is-dead-before-it-really-started.amphtml

Well Samsung isn’t producing any more 4K Bluray players. Sony doesn’t have a 4K Bluray player on its PS4 Pro. 8k tvs are focused on streaming.

The future unfortunately as it is will be through services and digital distribution.

Look at HMV, they sold CD’s and are now gone. Best Buy does not sell CD’s or MP3 players now as people have smart phones.

Physical media is dying. Everything will be account based and through services. Despite there is a minority of those who want uncompressed picture quality and fidelity it seems that companies are appealing to the majority. They already killed 3D in North America only being supported in Europe. No more 3D TV’s are being manufactured. 2017 was the last year for 3D with the Sony Z9D.

So yeah digital everything from now on.
There is gonna be more of that FOMO on timed exclusive digital content or license added to ones account which can be bullshit for completionists who wants to own all the content but arrives late. Fuck those developers and publishers.

 

[onQ123]

The heck is a Vue in the context of optical storage?

That's the name of a cinema franchise in my country.

Because this isn't about optical storage it's about what Sony will be using PlayStation 5 as a Trojan Horse for like PS1 was for CDs , PS2 was for DVDs , PS3 with Blu-ray & PS4 with PlayStation Vue.

I think it will be 360 Vue , 360 Blu-ray , 3D audio & things like that

 

[Caayn]

The heck is a Vue in the context of optical storage?

That's the name of a cinema franchise in my country.

Here as well. In fact your post made me curious so I decided to look up just how large Vue is, apparantly they operate about 8 European countries and Taiwan where it apparently is the largest cinema operator.

It'll be interesting to see if Sony can use the Vue name for their VOD service in countries where Vue Cinemas is already active. As far as I know Playstation Vue is currently only available in the USA.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

PS Vue with games added to it.

Signed up for streaming cable tv content and also get streamed games in one package.

 

[UltimaKilo]

I really hope flash cartridges. Loading times are terrible on disc. However, they should also have flash internal storage as well.