| For many years the evolution of storage devices has | | | | double layer discs (more than 50GB), but also new |
| been continuously improving their quality. | | | | more sophisticated codec, such as MPEG-4. |
| The market is in permanent competition and all the | | | | In July 2008, have also been announced 400GB 16 |
| companies are always trying to be at the leading | | | | layers Blu-ray discs, but they haven’t been |
| edge. The use of CD format, created in 1979, | | | | commercialized yet. |
| already supplanted the floppy-disc format for some | | | | Today the fight has surely been won by BD, because |
| time. The more common CD-ROM format can store | | | | in February 2008, Toshiba, owner of the rights on |
| 80minutes/700 MB. | | | | opponent format, announced that it would no longer |
| Then the DVD format has become very popular, this | | | | develop, manufacture, or market HD DVD players |
| is able to store much more data, in the more | | | | and recorders, effectively ending the format war. |
| common single layer DVD you can store 4,7 GB, | | | | Sony's PlayStation 3 acted as a catalyst for Blu-ray |
| but double level double layer DVD can store 17 GB. | | | | Disc, as the PlayStation 3 used a Blu-ray Disc drive as |
| Another very useful device is USB pen-drive, that | | | | its primary information storage medium, without the |
| now are largely spread worldwide. This kind of device | | | | console, consumers should buy a specific BD player |
| has a very variable storage capacity, now USB | | | | and probably also a new TV screen that works in |
| pen-drive can store even 16GB but there are also | | | | high definition to be able to see this kind of discs. |
| some that can store 128 Gb. On the market you can | | | | This is no doubts an obstacle for the mass spreading |
| find pen drive with a lot of shapes and colors, they | | | | of this new technology, at least for the first years. |
| are less cumbersome than CD disc and they work | | | | Although every movie production company already |
| faster in the data transfer process. | | | | announced that they support the BD format and |
| The latest news on storage devices is the creation | | | | they already started releasing film using this format. |
| of a new kind of DVD, called high definition DVD | | | | A big doubt about this format is if it will be able to |
| (HD DVD) but especially of their direct competitor, | | | | keep production costs low and so to keep also selling |
| Blu-ray disc or BD. | | | | prices low for final consumers. |
| These two new formats guarantee to make video | | | | Until now it seems that discs’ costs will be |
| and audio quality more and more defined and | | | | more or less the same than usual DVD. The real |
| detailed, to make the public live an even more | | | | problem is that until now selling of BD players are |
| realistic experience. | | | | much more lower than expected. This is because |
| BD has a superior storage capacity. Thanks to a | | | | consumers think that common DVD quality is already |
| blue-colored laser, it is able to store up to 54 GB | | | | good enough, the price of BD players is still too high |
| data, almost 12 times more than simple single layer | | | | and consumers don’t perceive so |
| DVD. This capacity seems huge, but discs encoded in | | | | overwhelming improvements in the video or audio |
| MPEG-2 video typically limit content producers to | | | | quality to justify the purchase of this new device. |
| around two hours of high-definition content on a | | | | And until now nobody can say they are wrong. |
| single-layer BD-ROM. This required the creation of | | | | |