Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Audio / Video
  3. News

VMD High Definition Disc Format Debuts

By

From the press release:

New Medium Enterprises Inc. today announced it will unveil its highly anticipated pre-industrial VMD (Versatile MultiLayer Disc), the next generation HD Disc and Drive containing 20GB of storage capacity on the current red laser technology platform, before investors and news media in the United States. The HD content will be shown in genuine HD formats (MPEG-2, 1920×1080 interlaced and progressive scan).

The company plans to launch production and sales of 20GB and 40GB Discs and Drives in the fourth quarter of 2005. The drives will be inherently backward compatible with existing pre-recorded and recordable DVD and CD formats.

New Medium will demonstrate and describe this revolutionary new technology before significant investment bankers, portfolio managers, research analysts, retail brokers and special situation investors in New York City. In addition to one-on-one meetings with the financial community, New Medium will preview its technology for content providers and members of the news media during showings at 10:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m., 2:30 p.m., and 4:30 p.m. in Mid-Town Manhattan at the Broadway Screening Room located at The Brill Building, 1619 Broadway, 5th floor (between 49th & 50th) on Thursday, May 5, 2005.

The pre-recorded VMD has four layers on one side for an initial capacity of 20 GB and is entirely based on the current red laser DVD industrial infrastructure. VMD is designed for viewing High Definition content requiring high storage capacity and high bit rate (up to 40 Mbs), such as full-motion pictures, sports entertainment and other demanding video content and data. Pre-recorded VMDs are capable of playing next-generation, High Definition movies and other video content, catering to the vast consumer base of owners of HDTV television and large screen sets.

Found VIA eCoustics.com

Ian Bell
Ian Bell
Publisher
I work with the best people in the world and get paid to play with gadgets. What's not to like?
The Beats Pill is back, baby!
A pair of Beats Pill speakers.

In what's been one of the worst-kept secrets of the year -- mostly because subtly putting a product into the hands of some of the biggest stars on the planet is no way to keep a secret -- the Beats Pill has returned. Just a couple of years after Apple and Beats unceremoniously killed off the stylish Bluetooth speaker, a new one has arrived.

Available for preorder today in either black, red, or gold, the $150 speaker (and speakerphone, for that matter) rounds out a 2024 release cycle for beats that includes the Solo Buds and Solo 4 headphones, and comes nearly a year after the Beats Studio Pro.

Read more
Ifi’s latest DAC is the first to add lossless Bluetooth audio
Ifi Audio Zen Blue 3 DAC (front).

Ifi Audio's new Zen Blue 3 wireless digital-to-analog converter (DAC) will officially be available to buy for $299 on July 9. When it is, it will be the first device of its kind to support a wide variety of Bluetooth codecs, including Qualcomm's aptX Lossless, the only codec that claims to deliver bit-perfect CD quality audio over a Bluetooth connection.

Admittedly, there are very few devices on the market that can receive aptX Lossless (and fewer that can transmit it), so it's a good thing that the Zen Blue 3 also works with the more widely supported aptX Adaptive, LDAC, and LDHC/HWA codecs (all of which are hi-res audio-capable), plus the three most common codecs: AAC, SBC, and aptX.

Read more
The new Beats Pill might replace Sonos on my back porch
The 2024 Beats Pill and an aging Sonos Play:1.

If I were to build an outdoor stereo in 2024, I'd do it with a pair of portable Beats Pills instead of Sonos speakers. Phil Nickinson / Digital Trends

In 2017, after more than a decade in our home, my wife and I added a pool. With it came a covered deck, making what basically was a new outdoor room. Not uncommon at all in Florida, but new to us.

Read more