Multiple movies on one disc in 4K quality

[PhysicalMediaMaestro]

For decades, DVDs and Blu-Rays could only hold one feature-length movie on a disc. I have good news-that limitation is now a thing of the past.

There is a company in Ohio called Folio Photonics that has created optical discs that can hold an entire terabyte (1,000 gigabytes) of data, enough for 20 hours of 4K video. That's enough to hold all eight "Mission: Impossible" movies on a single disc. And the best part-these discs will be available to the public next year.

https://www.tomshardware.com/news/ne...dollar5-per-tb

https://foliophotonics.com/product

If that's not impressive enough, a company called Optera has created Fluo-Ray discs that can hold ten terabytes (10,000 gigabytes) of data, enough for 200 hours of 4K video. With a disc like that, you could store all the James Bond movies on a single disc, or all the episodes of "Friends" on a single disc in 4K resolution.

https://www.techradar.com/pro/forget...ities-for-usd1

Please let me know what you think. Enjoy the rest of your day.

[PenguinInfinity]

The concept is great but the uses are extremely limited for movies and TV shows. The studios are unlikely to sell huge packs of movies for low prices because they can make a lot more money selling them individually. And very few people would be willing to pay premium prices just to have less discs so the studios couldn't sell packs for high prices either.

[steel_breeze]

The concept of multiple movies on one disc just doesn't appeal to me. As odd as it may be, part of my love of physical media is the ritual of it all: one disc/tape/whatever per movie. It's part of why, despite my OCD and fear of scratches/rot, I've never embraced the idea of dumping all my discs off onto a backup drive to preserve the disc. I love to take a specific movie off my library shelf, read the blurb, enjoy the artwork, and pop that sucker into the player.

Now, a TV series would be a whole other kettle o' fish. Having all the OG Star Trek or Battlestar Galactica episodes on one disc in 4K quality would be super cool.

[PhysicalMediaMaestro]

Originally Posted by steel_breeze

Now, a TV series would be a whole other kettle o' fish. Having all the OG Star Trek or Battlestar Galactica episodes on one disc in 4K quality would be super cool.

Thank you for your support. You could also store all the episodes of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" on a single 10-terabyte disc in 4K quality. And if you don't need 4K quality and 2K quality is good enough for you, a 10-terabyte disc can hold 800 hours of 2K quality video. If you limited the resolution to 2K resolution, you could put all the original "Star Trek" episodes, all the episodes of "Star Trek: The Next Generation", all the episodes of "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine", and all the episodes of "Star Trek: Voyager" on a single disc, Now that would be really cool.

What's more important to you, picture quality or episode quantity?

[PhysicalMediaMaestro]

Originally Posted by PenguinInfinity

The concept is great but the uses are extremely limited for movies and TV shows. The studios are unlikely to sell huge packs of movies for low prices because they can make a lot more money selling them individually. And very few people would be willing to pay premium prices just to have less discs so the studios couldn't sell packs for high prices either.

That would be true for fictional films, especially films which extremely high budgets such as the 1997 version of "Titanic" directed by James Cameron. But I think this idea could be profitable for documentary series like "NOVA" or "Nature" or "Modern Marvels" or the DisneyNature documentary series. Documentaries are much cheaper to make than fictional movies, and schools and libraries would certainly appreciate having so many episodes on a single disc.

[steel_breeze]

Originally Posted by PhysicalMediaMaestro

Thank you for your support. You could also store all the episodes of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" on a single 10-terabyte disc in 4K quality. And if you don't need 4K quality and 2K quality is good enough for you, a 10-terabyte disc can hold 800 hours of 2K quality video. If you limited the resolution to 2K resolution, you could put all the original "Star Trek" episodes, all the episodes of "Star Trek: The Next Generation", all the episodes of "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine", and all the episodes of "Star Trek: Voyager" on a single disc, Now that would be really cool.

What's more important to you, picture quality or episode quantity?

Picture quality.

[PhysicalMediaMaestro]

Originally Posted by steel_breeze

Picture quality.

Thank you for sharing.

[benricci]

No one wants yet another format to buy new hardware for. Putting films on separate discs just isn’t enough of an inconvenience to make an investment in another system.

If storage capacity or space were truly a key motivating factor for people, they’d just stream. It’s not like the folks streaming Friends out of convenience are doing so because there isn’t a disc based format where all the episodes fit on one disc. It’s just more convenient overall. Making a bigger disc ain’t gonna sway anyone.

[PenguinInfinity]

Originally Posted by benricci

No one wants yet another format to buy new hardware for. Putting films on separate discs just isn’t enough of an inconvenience to make an investment in another system.

If storage capacity or space were truly a key motivating factor for people, they’d just stream. It’s not like the folks streaming Friends out of convenience are doing so because there isn’t a disc based format where all the episodes fit on one disc. It’s just more convenient overall. Making a bigger disc ain’t gonna sway anyone.

I agree. I've seen various threads and comments about wanting a better physical format and I just don't see the need. I can't imagine there is anyone that would like to buy physical media but is currently streaming or downloading instead because they have a problem with Blu-ray.

[PhysicalMediaMaestro]

Originally Posted by benricci

No one wants yet another format to buy new hardware for. Putting films on separate discs just isn’t enough of an inconvenience to make an investment in another system.

If storage capacity or space were truly a key motivating factor for people, they’d just stream. It’s not like the folks streaming Friends out of convenience are doing so because there isn’t a disc based format where all the episodes fit on one disc. It’s just more convenient overall. Making a bigger disc ain’t gonna sway anyone.

Is that what our society has become? Have so many people become that lazy and impatient? If that's the case, then the only way to physical media to make a big comeback would be if people could order it online and it would arrive in a few seconds, like in Looney Tunes cartoons where a character orders something in the mail and the package gets delivered in just seconds. And we all know that will never be possible.

I still think these one-terabyte discs and ten-terabyte discs should be manufactured, if only so people and companies can use them to back up their data. They could also be used for video/computer games that require a lot of data storage. The newest version of Microsoft Flight Simulator requires you to connect to the Internet because the world has so much visual detail it cannot be stored on a single optical disc or a single hard drive, and there's no guarantee you'll be able to play it because the server can only handle so many people playing at once. If there's too many people playing, you'll just have to wait your turn. That isn't a problem with games that can be stored on your hard drive or on an optical disc.

[Anthony P]

Every so often the same useless discussion happens.

This is a read/write media. Good if a company for some reason wants to backup their HDD/SSD to inactive physical media storage.

But unfortunately absolutely meaning less for movie distribution that needs a media that can be replicated and not duplicated and that needs fast read speads for playback

[Anthony P]

Originally Posted by PenguinInfinity

I agree. I've seen various threads and comments about wanting a better physical format and I just don't see the need. I can't imagine there is anyone that would like to buy physical media but is currently streaming or downloading instead because they have a problem with Blu-ray.

I agree that anyone that is OK with SD streaming with adds will not be going back to physical media because something better comes out. But I for one would buy into a new for mat that for example offers lossless 8k video, I can see the limitations of current tech.

[Anthony P]

Originally Posted by PhysicalMediaMaestro

Is that what our society has become? Have so many people become that lazy and impatient? If that's the case, then the only way to physical media to make a big comeback would be if people could order it online and it would arrive in a few seconds, like in Looney Tunes cartoons where a character orders something in the mail and the package gets delivered in just seconds. And we all know that will never be possible.

physicals media is not going to make a huge comeback, and why would it need to? Most people are OK paying to watch ads, it wastes time just as as well as quality content in a quality presentation and is much cheaper.

[Vilya]

High capacity optical media has been designed in many forms over the past decade. I have posted about some of them and none of them went anywhere as far as home video is concerned. Most never went anywhere at all because of their impracticality and high cost.

These high capacity designs were meant to archive large amounts of data for government, corporate, and scientific applications. The cost of manufacture for these specialty discs is much higher than the optical media used for home video, but the devices designed to play them could cost well into five figures if the past prototypes are any indicator. The costs would have to drop dramatically for consumer applications and even if it did, where is the consumer interest?

The studios have shown no interest in a new physical media format and, frankly, the consumer has not, either. The studios much prefer online digital distribution (streaming) and the control over their product that it gives them. At the same time, the consumer loves the convenience of streaming. The momentum is with digital distribution.

[PhysicalMediaMaestro]

Originally Posted by Anthony P

I agree that anyone that is OK with SD streaming with adds will not be going back to physical media because something better comes out. But I for one would buy into a new for mat that for example offers lossless 8k video, I can see the limitations of current tech.

So a.sharper picture would make a new format worth it? I'm happy to hear that. 8k streaming is not possible with today's Internet infrastructure, and there's a pretty good chance it never will be. Thank you for backing me up. A one-terabyte disc can hold 5 hours of 8k video, and a ten-terabyte disc can hold 50 hours of.8k video.

Now we need to make a thread discussing which movies and shows we would like to see in 8k.

[Dynamo of Eternia]

The problem with a 1TB disc, assuming the disc itself will be the same physical size as a CD, DVD, Blu-Ray, and 4K Blu-Ray, is that the more technology advances to store more data on the same physical surface area, the more susceptible that data is to not being readable from the slightest of imperfection or damage to the disc.

What good is it to have multiple movies or entire seasons/series on a single disc if (what for some past disc formats would be) a minor scratch, a fleck of dust, or some other imperfection can severely interfere with playback.

[PhysicalMediaMaestro]

Originally Posted by Dynamo of Eternia

The problem with a 1TB disc, assuming the disc itself will be the same physical size as a CD, DVD, Blu-Ray, and 4K Blu-Ray, is that the more technology advances to store more data on the same physical surface area, the more susceptible that data is to not being readable from the slightest of imperfection or damage to the disc.

What good is it to have multiple movies or entire seasons/series on a single disc if (what for some past disc formats would be) a minor scratch, a fleck of dust, or some other imperfection can severely interfere with playback.

Here's a solution to this problem. Remember CD players that could store multiple CDs at once? Bring those back for these new discs. And for extra protection, enable the tray to be locked by giving it a slot for a mechanical padlock. This not only protects the discs you have, it also prevents kids from inserting discs that you don't want them inserting.

https://www.amazon.com/Sony-CDP-CX35.../dp/B0000AKKS9

[Vilya]

Originally Posted by PhysicalMediaMaestro

8k streaming is not possible with today's Internet infrastructure

8K streaming is most certainly possible with our current internet infrastructure. You can easily find 8K videos to stream, but not movies or TV shows. I live in a rural village of just 1600 people and I can easily stream 8K content and with my internet provider's most basic plan.

H.265 (HEVC): A more efficient successor to H.264, reducing bandwidth requirements. 4K streaming with H.265 may use around 15 Mbps, so 8K could require approximately 50-60 Mbps."

https://www.fastpix.io/blog/understa...-for-streaming

^These internet download speeds are readily available to most of us.

The studios have shown no interest in offering their content in 8K and streaming providers are not eager to pay more in bandwidth costs to deliver it. Streaming customers in general are not known for demanding the best in quality, either; they care most about low cost and convenience.

[Vilya]

Originally Posted by PhysicalMediaMaestro

Here's a solution to this problem. Remember CD players that could store multiple CDs at once? Bring those back for these new discs. And for extra protection, enable the tray to be locked by giving it a slot for a mechanical padlock. This not only protects the discs you have, it also prevents kids from inserting discs that you don't want them inserting.

https://www.amazon.com/Sony-CDP-CX35.../dp/B0000AKKS9

Sony tried offering multi disc blu-ray players that held 400 discs, but they were discontinued due to poor sales. They won't make that mistake twice.

https://www.amazon.com/Sony-BDP-CX96...8761388&sr=8-4

A multi-disc player would not solve the problem of reading errors due to high data density, either. Even with 4K discs shoving more of them into a player won't make the 4K discs less susceptible to reading errors.

[Anthony P]

Originally Posted by PhysicalMediaMaestro

So a.sharper picture would make a new format worth it? I'm happy to hear that.

I was talking about myself. for 99% of people that is not the case. If it was the case there would be no streaming and even if one decides some people want quality but convenience barely wins out they would be in the small minority (to use Netflix terms) that have the premium package, there is realy no excuse other than "I don't care" for standard or even with standard with ads. Most people don't care as long as something is playing.

8k streaming is not possible with today's Internet infrastructure, and there's a pretty good chance it never will be.

I don't know if "not possible" is the right term, aren't there some digital theatres that receive and present in 8k? But will it ever be realistic for consumer product I agree with you that it is unrealitic to think it has a chance (consumers complaining about ever increasing prices and companies try to become and remain reasonably profitable, why would they decide to offer something none of their customers want)

Thank you for backing me up. A one-terabyte disc can hold 5 hours of 8k video, and a ten-terabyte disc can hold 50 hours of.8k video.

If we are talking about a film series like Harry potter... then one thing that holds all the films (assuming good interface) I mighht be interested 50 hours of 8k video that is a bunch odf random films a lot less)

Now we need to make a thread discussing which movies and shows we would like to see in 8k.

lol lets wait for an actual replicatable format. and not a useless tech article. Do you even know the read/write speed of this thing? Not important if it takes 10h to backup that 1TB of content or 10H to re-upload after a catastrophic failure, but useless to watch 5h of 8k video