Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 1618: New Generation Movie Storage Media

"Merry Christmas, Bill." Ronald called Bill Gates on Christmas Day to wish him a happy holiday.

"Haha, Ronald, Merry Christmas to you too." Gates was very happy after receiving the call. "Are you willing to take action? I feel Sony is the key. For them, your words are very trustworthy..."

"Don't push me too far. I want to stay with my family for one more day. It's probably not too late to go tomorrow..."

"For the sake of middle school students in America and around the world, you should also take action. I always thought that if I had such a multimedia learning method when I was a child, maybe I would have been able to have a girlfriend in high school."

Gates had proposed several times to ask Ronald to come forward to deal with Sony, but he had been turned down several times before. However, long negotiations had no results and the consequences of the stalemate were very bad. In the end, Ronald was persuaded to do so at the cost of asking him to make some popular science multimedia CDs of world famous songs and historical sites for Microsoft.

"Okay, okay, for the happiness of geeks like you in high school, I will leave tomorrow..." Ronald also joked. The so-called conditions of the two were actually a joke. Microsoft's additional contribution was also to echo President William's new millennium education bill, trying to use multimedia CDs to improve the math and reading abilities of middle school students.

Things like this, with Microsoft doing the distribution and Ronald's DDH producing, are always very beneficial businesses to society and will receive a good response from parents.

After spending a day off with his family, Ronald boarded a private plane and flew to New York to visit Sony's former CEO and new chairman Norio Ohga in New York.

……

"Ohga-san, long time no see. I'm really glad to see you."

At the headquarters of Columbia Records, Ronald met Tommy Mottola, CEO of Sony Music, who was chatting with Ohga.

"Ah, Ronald-san, it's really nice to meet you. We are talking about the plans for a new year's classical music record company under Sony."

Of course, Norio Ohga knew why Ronald came, but he did not mention it. Instead, he picked up a set of music CDs on the table. They were published in Japan this year. It was a 66-CD set of "Introduction to Classical Music" that covered all the great works in the history of classical music, from Baroque, classical, romantic and 20th century music. At the end of each CD, there was a commentary in Japanese for entry-level music fans to enjoy.

"This is really great. Sony should publish an English commentary version as soon as possible. It's great." Ronald listened to it with a player and found that they were indeed classic recording versions with extraordinary effects.

"It's really a miracle... Imagine that the world's top symphony orchestra is playing the greatest musical work in human history, and you only need a few dollars of CDs and a player... This is your contribution to mankind, Mr. Ohga, and it may be one of the greatest contributions..."

Ronald praised Ohga Norio in an exaggerated way. As early as 1980, it was Sony, led by Ohga Norio, and the Dutch Philips Company that jointly launched the CD record format, providing high-quality, small-volume, lossless sound sources for countless music lovers.

"Ha... I was the one who set the market for 74-minute CDs. They all wanted to make them 60 minutes long. Fortunately, I told them that Beethoven's Ninth Symphony was 74 minutes long. A new music carrier must be able to fully accommodate such a great musical work, otherwise it would not be the best choice..."

Ronald patiently listened to Norio Ohga finish his most glorious story. As a classical music expert and a man who almost became a symphony orchestra conductor, Norio Ohga's understanding of the technology and art of music carriers is much better than that of ordinary people.

"At critical moments, there are always some visionary people who can combine technology and art to make the most reasonable choices..." Ronald praised Daha, then glanced at Motula next to him.

"Tommy, I'm going to talk to Ronald-san. Do you still have the Japanese whiskey I gave you last time?"

Norio Ohga signaled Motula to leave, as there were some things he could only communicate with Ronald one-on-one.

The CD developed by Sony and Philips has occupied all data storage needs in recent years, including music, data, photos, and even videos. In faraway Hong Kong, some people used the MPEG-1 technology with low compression rate and very low definition to make a carrier called VCD, and pirated many movies.

Since the capacity of CDs is limited, a typical movie requires 2-3 VCDs to play. In the middle of watching a movie, you have to change the disc to continue watching.

Therefore, a storage medium with a larger capacity has been included in the research and development agenda of various manufacturers.

Sony and Philips had an old relationship in the development of CDs, so they worked together again to come up with a standard called Multimedia Compact Disc (MMCD).

This standard allows the original laser head servo technology used in CDs to be inherited and used, which is very suitable for both manufacturers.

The other is the ultra-density (SD) optical disc, which was jointly developed and supported by Toshiba, Time Warner, Panasonic, Hitachi, Mitsubishi Electric, Pioneer, Thomson and JVC.

If this continues, the history of the war between VHS and Beta videotape formats will be repeated. The major Hollywood studios have not yet voiced their opposition, but five computer companies (IBM, Apple, Compaq, HP and Microsoft) can no longer stand it and have jumped up to oppose it.

This is because, after the invention of CD, it was not only used to store music, but also used by computer manufacturers to store data. Now many software releases are using CD as a medium. There are also various rewritable CD-i formats, which allow users to use cheap CDs instead of expensive and complex tape drives for backup.

If this new medium is divided into two camps like the videotapes of the past, Hollywood will not care, at most they can just release two formats, they can sell the same anyway. But computer manufacturers can't stand it, if they release software and interface with various computers, they will have to make two sets of reading devices, and the Windows operating system, which already has serious hardware compatibility issues, will be completely ruined.

A temporary industry technical group they formed issued a press release stating that they would only accept one format. The group voted to boycott both formats unless the two camps agreed on a unified standard.

To this end, Microsoft's Gates proposed recruiting IBM's president Lou Gerstner to unify computer manufacturers and put pressure on executives of the warring parties.

However, after all, both parties have invested a lot of money in the research and development of new generation technologies. If only one standard is used, the means that could have been used as a technical threshold to keep competitors out will lose their effectiveness.

Negotiations between the two sides were very slow, and neither side was willing to give in. As of today, the biggest achievement is that both sides have agreed to compromise on technical standards and merge the two into one standard. However, there are still many issues that I have not yet reached an agreement on, such as who gets more and who gets less.

As 1995 was coming to an end, Gates invited Ronald to come out of retirement and serve as a special envoy of the computer industry to visit Norio Ohga and use his personal relationship with Ohga to see if there was any turning point.

Ohga Norio actually tended to compromise. His successor, the new CEO Nobuyuki Idei, was very enthusiastic about developing the media business. Ohga was not sure whether his previous strategy of selling electronic equipment was becoming outdated.

However, Sony has invested a lot in this new multimedia compact disc (MMCD), and if it really compromises, it will involve the face of the two major camps. Sony, which has already lost the videotape format war, cannot afford to lose again this time.

Ronald did not persuade Da He from the perspective of the pros and cons of technical standards, because he himself did not understand the differences and pros and cons of these technologies. He also did not persuade from the perspective of technical barriers. This involved a billion-dollar business choice, so he had to be cautious in his words.

Ronald chose to persuade from the perspective of whether Norio Ohga could leave his name in history as the 74-minute duration of the CD did.

After the invention of CD, many people were surprised by the number 74 minutes. But if you look at the technical standards, you will know that this is the length of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. It is the contribution that Norio Ohga made to classical music fans. No one would want to change the CD after hearing the last chorus of "Ode to Joy".

To some extent, all classical music fans should thank Norio Ohga. When they listen to many famous symphonies, they are not limited by the 60-minute limit proposed by Philips... After all, in addition to Ode to Joy, there are many masterpieces by Mahler, Tchaikovsky, Schubert, Brahms and others that are longer than 60 minutes.

Ohga Norio wanted to compromise, and Ronald just gave him a good reason. For the benefit of the public, there was nothing wrong with Sony compromising a little. Overall, they could only gain the greatest benefit by compromising. Anyway, they still had a larger capacity media to be developed later...

"I think the most important thing for Sony and Philips is to stick to the original CD laser head servo technology standards, so that the original CD drive player production line can produce new media players by simply adjusting the parameters in the factory."

Norio Ohga raised the most important point. With this, when everyone produces players and drivers for new media, they have to pay copyright licensing fees to the Sony and Philips camp.

To achieve this, the new media must use the source code "EFMPlus" invented by Kees Schulhammer-Immink, the chief data format scientist in the Sony-Philips camp. With this, Sony and Philips will not lose too much initiative.

The weakness of this encoding is that in order to be compatible with the old servo technology, the capacity of the original new version of the CD must be reduced from 5GB to 4.7GB. The GB unit was invented by the IT industry, and 4.7GB is approximately equal to the capacity of 7 old CDs.

Ronald didn't quite understand this request, so he went to the next room and called Microsoft's chairman, Gates.

Gates said that this capacity loss is not a big problem, as long as Sony is willing to compromise.

Norio Ohga’s second requirement was that the new unified standard must use the naming of the Sony and Philips camp.

Outsiders don't know so many technical details, and they will only think that in the end it was Sony Philips' MMCD that won, rather than the SDCD invented by Toshiba, Time Warner, Panasonic, Hitachi, Mitsubishi Electric, Pioneer, Thomson and JVC.

Especially for Sony, this nominal victory is very important, they can not afford to lose again in the home entertainment format war. If SDCD really becomes the name of the new generation of storage media, Ohga Norio's name will be forever associated with two shames.

However, although this nominal victory does not involve any direct income, it is much more difficult for the other camp to agree to it than the first coding format.

We are all listed multinational companies. Many times, for Wall Street bankers and analysts, face matters are more important than substantive issues. Whoever wins the standard (name) battle will have a much greater impact in the securities market in the short term than the so-called substantive advantage.

"Of course I won't make things difficult for Ronald-san, so I thought of a new way..."

Norio Ohga also understood this, and he smiled as he took out a solution that he had prepared for a long time.

"We changed the name of Multimedia Disc (MMCD) to Digital Video Disc (DVD)."

That was much better. Ronald quickly called Gates again. The other party was also very surprised that Ohga Norio understood the key points of negotiation. By changing the name to DVD, the people in the other camp would not feel that the reputation benefits were all won by the Sony-Philips alliance.

This is a newer name for everyone. For Sony, DVD is definitely its own invention. Wall Street analysts can also make another interpretation under the guidance of manufacturers in the other camp. The two camps finally learned from each other and made a new standard, which was named DVD...

The five IT computer manufacturers all agreed on the two key points. Basically, this problem that has plagued the computer industry for a year only requires a formal contract to be signed.

Ronald congratulated Norio Ohga, who, more than a decade later, once again turned the tide and facilitated the establishment of standards for a new generation of storage media. He was truly a hero.

"Hey..." Ohga Norio poured Ronald a glass of Japanese whiskey. He knew his own business. In fact, a lot of the technology in the new DVD standard was based on the SDCD standard. Who made them have so many people and greater productivity?
"I feel like there's something missing..." Ronald saw what Da He was thinking. "Back then, fans of classical music would thank Da He-san for not letting them change discs in the middle of a symphony. This was a huge favor... After all, music and movies both require an immersive appreciation experience. Otherwise, changing discs in the middle of a performance would be a real downer..."

"Haha, yes, this was my biggest concern back then. People at Philips don't understand art..."

"I don't know, what technology is there in this DVD that can prevent the disc from being changed in the middle? You know, some movies are longer than others, the longest can be three hours..."

"You reminded me, Ronald-san..." Ohga Norio's face suddenly glowed with a rosy glow. We should insist on double-layer discs, not double-sided discs..."

The new DVD storage standard supports storing two layers of information on a single disc. There are two ways to achieve this: one is double-layer, allowing the laser head to read from one side, and the other is double-sided, where the customer needs to switch sides to read.

If a single-layer 4.7GB DVD can't hold some of the longest movies in film history, a double-layer DVD doesn't require people to stand up and manually flip the sides of the player, while double-sided DVDs require pausing to flip sides. Just like the length of CDs, audiences who use DVDs to watch movies in the future will also thank those who stipulated double-layer DVDs.

"Ohga-san, I have to say that you really are the one who understands art the best among those who understand technology, and the one who understands technology the best among those who understand art..."

"No, no, I think Ronald Sang is a genius who understands both business and art..."

The two of them praised each other and tacitly understood that this would be the most important selling point in the DVD's public relations promotion.

"Ronald-san, I am very grateful to you today. What can I do for you?" Ohga Norio was very satisfied with Ronald, a young man who understood his need to leave his name in history. After taking a sip of 15-year-old whiskey, he asked Ronald what benefits he wanted.

"I want to be one of the first providers of film libraries for this new medium, the DVD format. I am very optimistic about this new medium, which is much better than VHS. Not only can it contain movies, but also some behind-the-scenes footage and deleted scenes in other parts of the DVD. Movie fans will definitely like it..."