Which is Cheaper: Blu-Ray or HD DVD?
An "information battle" is under way between the Blu-ray Disk group and the companies supporting the high-density digital videodisk (HD DVD) as they jockey for position in the market for the next-generation play-only optical disk media using the blue-violet laser. The time is rapidly approaching when the US film industry and other major content providers will finally select the medium to be used to package high-definition TV (HDTV) imagery. According to industry observers, more and more content providers are saying they want to ship packages by as early as 2005.
The sales pitches in Hollywood are becoming more intense as a result, although the focus has shifted to media manufacturing cost. The "wish list," a document summarizing all the features the major Hollywood studios want in a next-generation optical disk, specifically states that manufacturing cost should be on a par with DVD-ROM. For both Blu-ray and HD DVD backers, this has become the top priority.
DVD-Level Prices Possible
At a presentation in Los Angeles at the end of March 2004, the Blu-ray Disk group resoundingly declared that Blu-ray Disk (BD) ROM volume production costs have been confirmed to be equivalent to those of DVD-ROM.
Volume production at costs close to those of DVD-ROM is almost here (see Fig). Sony Corp of Japan, for example, claims that it can pare manufacturing cost to only about 10% more than DVD-ROM media, assuming the same production scale of 10 million disks/month as is currently the case with DVD. When development was still young, Sony needed about 7 seconds (cycle time) to manufacture a single-sided, single-layer disk, but this has been reduced to about 5 seconds. The firm expects to further reduce this to about 4 seconds, the cycle time for existing DVD-ROM manufacturing, by the time volume production is started. A source at the firm commented that yield is "well above" the minimum acceptable value of 70% set for volume-production optical disks.
In the early stages of volume production, when production levels are low, the majority of production costs will be on equipment acquisition and mastering. Both of these items will need to be cut as far as possible.
Sony is moving to address these problems already. First, it plans to use production equipment from DVD-ROM manufacturing, including the injection molding presses used to make the disk substrates, and the film growth systems forming the reflecting films. The mastering process, which creates the stamper used to transfer microscopic pits during the molding process, is tapping a technology called phase transition mastering (PTM), which will deliver lower costs.
PTM was developed in-house by Sony. A Si substrate is coated with inorganic resist, and illuminated with blue-violet laser diode light through an object lens with a high numerical aperture (NA) of 0.95. This light cuts the pit pattern. "It looks like a PTM mastering system will be cheaper than existing DVD systems," said a source at the company.
3.5-Second Cycle Time
The HD DVD group is also making great strides in dropping manufacturing costs to match those of DVD. Cinram International, Inc of the US has manufactured 800,000 evaluation disks, and Memory-Tech Corp of Japan 200,000, demonstrating the validity of the technology.
Memory-Tech installed new manufacturing equipment designed specifically for HD DVD in its Tsukuba Plant, in May 2004. The manufacturing line is intended to slash cycle time to just over 3.5 seconds, about the same as DVD-ROM lines, for single-sided, single-layer 15GB media.
An "information battle" is under way between the Blu-ray Disk group and the companies supporting the high-density digital videodisk (HD DVD) as they jockey for position in the market for the next-generation play-only optical disk media using the blue-violet laser. The time is rapidly approaching when the US film industry and other major content providers will finally select the medium to be used to package high-definition TV (HDTV) imagery. According to industry observers, more and more content providers are saying they want to ship packages by as early as 2005.
The sales pitches in Hollywood are becoming more intense as a result, although the focus has shifted to media manufacturing cost. The "wish list," a document summarizing all the features the major Hollywood studios want in a next-generation optical disk, specifically states that manufacturing cost should be on a par with DVD-ROM. For both Blu-ray and HD DVD backers, this has become the top priority.
DVD-Level Prices Possible
At a presentation in Los Angeles at the end of March 2004, the Blu-ray Disk group resoundingly declared that Blu-ray Disk (BD) ROM volume production costs have been confirmed to be equivalent to those of DVD-ROM.
Volume production at costs close to those of DVD-ROM is almost here (see Fig). Sony Corp of Japan, for example, claims that it can pare manufacturing cost to only about 10% more than DVD-ROM media, assuming the same production scale of 10 million disks/month as is currently the case with DVD. When development was still young, Sony needed about 7 seconds (cycle time) to manufacture a single-sided, single-layer disk, but this has been reduced to about 5 seconds. The firm expects to further reduce this to about 4 seconds, the cycle time for existing DVD-ROM manufacturing, by the time volume production is started. A source at the firm commented that yield is "well above" the minimum acceptable value of 70% set for volume-production optical disks.
In the early stages of volume production, when production levels are low, the majority of production costs will be on equipment acquisition and mastering. Both of these items will need to be cut as far as possible.
Sony is moving to address these problems already. First, it plans to use production equipment from DVD-ROM manufacturing, including the injection molding presses used to make the disk substrates, and the film growth systems forming the reflecting films. The mastering process, which creates the stamper used to transfer microscopic pits during the molding process, is tapping a technology called phase transition mastering (PTM), which will deliver lower costs.
PTM was developed in-house by Sony. A Si substrate is coated with inorganic resist, and illuminated with blue-violet laser diode light through an object lens with a high numerical aperture (NA) of 0.95. This light cuts the pit pattern. "It looks like a PTM mastering system will be cheaper than existing DVD systems," said a source at the company.
3.5-Second Cycle Time
The HD DVD group is also making great strides in dropping manufacturing costs to match those of DVD. Cinram International, Inc of the US has manufactured 800,000 evaluation disks, and Memory-Tech Corp of Japan 200,000, demonstrating the validity of the technology.
Memory-Tech installed new manufacturing equipment designed specifically for HD DVD in its Tsukuba Plant, in May 2004. The manufacturing line is intended to slash cycle time to just over 3.5 seconds, about the same as DVD-ROM lines, for single-sided, single-layer 15GB media.