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Forums - Gaming Discussion - Clarifying the Blu Ray read speed

scottie on 20 April 2009

I created this thread because it was mentioned in this thread

http://www.vgchartz.com/forum/thread.php?id=69027

As well as many others around the site. I didn't want to derail otehr threads so I created this one

 

The line in question is as follows

"BD read is only 2X on the PS3. the 360 has a 12X dvd drive"

 

So it may seem that the 360's disc drive reads data 6 times as fast!

 

This is incorrect though.

 

It turns out that the X in 2X is a multiplication symbol, and is pronounced 2 times, as in, the read speed of the PS3 is 2 times...

 

2 times what?

And in the case of the 360, 12 times what?

 

The answer is infact that the PS3's blu ray reads at 2 times the speed of the first (commercially available) Blu Ray player

And that the 360's 12X is 12 times as fast as the first commercially available DVD player.

 

Comparing a 1X CD, dvd and BR drive

 

CD The interwikis failed me. But I'm guessing pretty slow, cos even a 52X cd drive isn't exactly nippy

DVD 10.5 Mbit/s

BD 36 Mbit/s

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blu-ray_Disc

 

So to put it in a console perspective

 

360 = 12X 10.5 = 126 Mbit/s

PS3 = 2X 36 = 72 Mbit/s

PS2 = 4X 10.5 = 42 Mbit/s

 

Edit: - Scottie is learning things.

DVDs have a variable write speed, depending on where the data is located (near the centre or outside of the disk). The fastest speed of a DVD is faster than Blu Ray, but the slowest is slower than a 2X Blu Ray. So a DVD is still faster on the whole, as long as either the disk isn't full, or the slower part of the disk can be filled with data that does not need to be read quickly, leaving the faster part of the disk to load things that do need to be loaded quickly



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gergroy on 20 April 2009

Oh uh, I sense MikeB bait...



starcraft on 20 April 2009
gergroy said:
Oh uh, I sense MikeB bait...

I can sense him.  Somewhere, he just realised there was a disturbance on VGC. 

He is rushing to the computer as we speak.

 



starcraft - Playing Games = FUN, Talking about Games = SERIOUS

outlawauron on 20 April 2009

That's interesting information. Cool. So the difference isn't as big as I thought.



"We'll toss the dice however they fall,
And snuggle the girls be they short or tall,
Then follow young Mat whenever he calls,
To dance with Jak o' the Shadows."

Check out MyAnimeList and my Game Collection. Owner of the 5 millionth post.

Spankey on 20 April 2009

I too can sense a post coming stating the read speed on BR is constant throughout while the DVD is variable depending on where the data's being read from...

http://www.gamespot.com/pages/profile/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=23916169&user=skektek

 

More info in link

 



Proud Sony Rear Admiral

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starcraft on 20 April 2009
outlawauron said:
That's interesting information. Cool. So the difference isn't as big as I thought.

Another thing that makes the difference even smaller is that the PS3's read speed is constant, whereas the DVD9's read speed fluctuates. 

In some cases towards the edge of the DVD, the read speed is actually lower than the PS3's.

So while in a streaming contest the Xbox 360 has better capabilities than the PS3 and can show more textures and graphical effects, the advantage is not without limitations, and is best tapped only by a talented developer.

 



starcraft - Playing Games = FUN, Talking about Games = SERIOUS

Deviation59 on 20 April 2009

Hey OP... you're missing CLV and CAV drive types...



MikeB on 20 April 2009

@ scottie

http://www.vgchartz.com/forum/post.php?id=2002828



Naughty Dog: "At Naughty Dog, we're pretty sure we should be able to see leaps between games on the PS3 that are even bigger than they were on the PS2."

PS3 vs 360 sales

outlawauron on 20 April 2009
starcraft said:
outlawauron said:
That's interesting information. Cool. So the difference isn't as big as I thought.

Another thing that makes the difference even smaller is that the PS3's read speed is constant, whereas the DVD9's read speed fluctuates. 

In some cases towards the edge of the DVD, the read speed is actually lower than the PS3's.

So while in a streaming contest the Xbox 360 has better capabilities than the PS3 and can show more textures and graphical effects, the advantage is not without limitations, and is best tapped only by a talented developer.

I think it's crazy we talk about all this. Really, I stopped caring so long ago.



"We'll toss the dice however they fall,
And snuggle the girls be they short or tall,
Then follow young Mat whenever he calls,
To dance with Jak o' the Shadows."

Check out MyAnimeList and my Game Collection. Owner of the 5 millionth post.

gergroy on 20 April 2009
MikeB said:
@ scottie

http://www.vgchartz.com/forum/post.php?id=2002828

  lol, I'm even in the thread you are refering to