“Sony and Panasonic intend releasing Blu-ray disks capable of storing 300GB or more by the end of 2015; meanwhile Apple [AAPL] seems set to maintain its focus on online distribution of 4K content,” Jonny Evans writes for Computerworld.
“In Tokyo, Sony and Panasonic revealed a deal to jointly develop a standard for larger capacity optical disks. The partners aren’t solely focused on DVD/Blu-ray disk replacement, but on data. They hope to jointly develop an optical disc with recording capacity of at least 300GB by the end of 2015 — but is physical media of this kind still going to be relevant by then?” Evans writes. “Reading through the announcement it seems neither partner is especially focused on use of optical drives within the consumer-facing entertainment industry. While they discuss their achievements within this space, it appears the target outcome is to develop inexpensive yet reliable high-capacity optical disks to serve the need of data centers and the video production/broadcast industries. It’s questionable if the sheer quantity of data that’s expected to be in daily production by 2015 will be best served by the firm’s offering up of this kind of optical disk.”
Evans writes, “I don’t think optical disks will be the future means of 4K content. Movies, TV shows and other video assets may well be made available in 4K, but the transportation and delivery mechanism will be electronic… When it comes to consumer-focused video delivery services it seems inevitable Apple will eventually enable UltraHD content acquisition via iTunes. This matches industry trends, of course, though I consider it likely Apple hopes to secure a first mover advantage in terms of implementing such video delivery services in conjunction with or shortly subsequent to the debut of the Apple television.”
Much more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: As we wrote mid-month:
4K Ultra HD (UHD) television plus High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC), aka h.265, delivered via cable, satellite, and/or high-speed internet (20+ Mbits/sec) is where the future lies.
Related articles:
RUMOR: Apple in talks with LG, Sharp about 55- and 65-inch 4K Ultra HD TV panels – July 18, 2013
Sony sets stage for Apple to dominate the 4K Ultra HDTV market – May 13, 2013
Apple’s 4K television opportunity – May 10, 2013
Apple iTV may launch for Christmas ’13 with Ultra HD 4K resolution – March 29, 2013
Analyst: 60-inch Apple iTV to launch this year – April 3, 2013