bloom america

Chapter 183 Problems with the optical drive

On the other hand, with the release of vcd, the research and development of vcd-up has also been put on the agenda.

Today's VCDs require about 4 discs to play a movie, and some even require 6 discs, which makes it very troublesome to play.

A complete video of VCD requires two disks to complete. If a single disk is used, the disk space required for VCD will increase by about 30%.

But in that case, the disk would be too big.

In particular, four laser heads must be concentrated on one disk, which is indeed technically difficult.

However, the research on vcd-up is necessary because it can facilitate the user experience.

For users, the simpler and easier the product is to use, the better the user experience will be. Catherine cannot ignore this.

Therefore, the development of vcd-up is necessary.

In this regard, Catherine left it to Apple. And she ran to meet with Hedy Lamarr.

This legendary woman, known as the most beautiful woman in the world, is now 52 years old. Despite this, she still has charm even now.

"Hello, Ms. Heidi."

This was the first time Catherine saw this woman. Although she was very old, she seemed to be full of care.

Her eyes are so deep, as if she is telling others "I don't belong to anyone".

Heidi's life is a legend. When she entered Hollywood, she was very dissatisfied with the six-month practical contract, so she approached Meyer, the boss of MGM. In the end, she used her eloquence to convince Meyer

, earning himself a long-term contract of three years.

"Please sit down, Kate, don't be so formal."

Heidi smiled gently at Catherine.

"Actually, I've heard of you a long time ago." Heidi has been working at the National Council of Inventors since leaving MGM, probably for this reason.

"To be honest, you are such an amazing girl." Heidi looked at Catherine with a look that seemed slightly envious, making her a little embarrassed.

"Actually, I didn't do anything." Catherine replied.

In fact, from Catherine's point of view, she is also very dissatisfied with the progress of her career, because her current career is really far from what she hopes to see.

Compared with those protagonists who entered the Fortune Global 500 in three years and became the world's richest man in seven years, Catherine's company has been seven years since 1960, but it is still only a small business.

Just an influential company.

"When I was your age, I was still doing some ridiculous things, but now you have something that I didn't have at that time."

18-year-old Hedy Lamarr...she was filming the world's first film featuring full nudity at that time...

"I really envy you..." She didn't look like she was 50 years old at all when she spoke. She seemed to be still full of vitality.

Hedy Lamarr has always longed for herself to be recognized in the academic world, but unfortunately, this recognition would not come until 1997. At that time, Hedy had only the last three years left.

"My patent was originally intended to be used in guided weapons, but why would you think that this thing could be used in wireless communications?"

“Human beings are creatures that move around and move around, and now, the phone has become an indispensable item in our lives... However, the fixed phone constrains our movements, which is so unreasonable.

A phone should be worn everywhere and can be taken out anytime, anywhere.”

Catherine said this.

"Madam, your technology is the most important part of our wireless phone network. As long as we have your technical support, I think it won't take 20 years to develop a phone that everyone can carry around with them."

, we can be anywhere and call anyone.”

Catherine became more and more excited as she talked.

"Really..." Heidi obviously didn't expect that Catherine would have such a high opinion of the technology she invented.

——She doesn’t know that her technology will make Qualcomm the “tax collector” for one-third of the world’s people.

"It sounds like we're going to have a great future."

"Yes, so, Ms. Heidi, are you interested in the laboratory?"

"laboratory?"

"I want to set up a laboratory to specialize in wireless communication technology." Catherine explained.

"It's my honor...but please allow me to think about it."

Heidi smiled.

Indeed, this was the first time the two parties met, although they had spoken before.

After bidding farewell to Heidi, Catherine returned to the company and then came to the VCD R&D base.

"Is there any news from IBM?" Catherine asked.

Sanders replied: "It's okay for the time being, but Japanese manufacturers not only equip their TVs with jacks for our component terminals, but also have RGB jacks..."

"Don't worry about those guys who are at both ends of the spectrum. Our most important goal now is to promote VCD."

Catherine said this.

"By the way, Miss Catherine." Sanders seemed a little serious.

"If we really launch vcd-up next year, this may have a negative impact on our vcd..."

Catherine shook her head.

"No, the new machine is fully compatible with the video discs of the old machine, and the cost will be lower. We just need not to make the disc so big."

The new technology will require the use of four laser heads to work. Because the work between the laser heads cannot be affected, vcd-up has to work hard in this aspect. In fact, this is also the most technical difficulty that needs to be overcome.

.

According to technicians' estimates, if the latest technology is used, the size of the VCD disk will need to be increased by 20%. This size is within Catherine's acceptance range.

"No, I mean, what do people who buy our old machines do?"

"It's simple - said Serling.

"Change?" Sanders had no idea that Catherine would come up with such an idea.

"Yes, you only need to subsidize a certain price to switch to the new vcd-up, and that's it." Catherine learned this trick from later generations.

"In fact, we don't need to make too much profit. What we need is to tell customers that we are considering the problem from their perspective. What we protect is the rights and interests of consumers. In this way, users will buy our products in the future.

After using the product, you won’t feel disgusted anymore.”

After-sales service must be done well, reputation is needed no matter what.

For example, although Catherine's first-generation Microsoft computer has not sold too much and has been discontinued, the company still maintains the warranty on the first-generation Microsoft computer - this is the company's commitment, lifetime warranty.

"I see."

After all, Sanders is still young, and is not a business elite who has been fighting Intel for thirty years as he was later.

"Besides vcd-up, how is the research on data optical discs?" Catherine asked again.

"The bit error rate is still too high, but it is not a problem to make the reading equipment..."

The improvement of production technology is the top priority for the further development of optical drives.

"By the way...what if it's used to make music CDs...?"

Catherine asked suddenly.

Sanders was stunned for a moment.

"In this regard... I'm not sure. Maybe it needs further demonstration, but it seems feasible. In fact, vcd has done a good job in this aspect."

The original CD appeared as a music storage medium, but Catherine suddenly thought of this at this time. It seems feasible to use music CDs, such as releasing records or something.

By the way...it seems that at this time, Michael Jackson

After watching the VCD, Catherine came to the nimbus research team.

The Nimbus game console is expected to use a 16-bit CPU, just like SFC from the future. However, the difference between Catherine's Nimbus game console and SFC is that the Nimbus game console uses an optical drive.

The current cassettes are too expensive, and only after the 1980s will the cost drop significantly, but not everyone can afford them.

Relatively speaking, optical discs are much cheaper. Most importantly, optical discs have a large storage capacity, which means that games can be more colorful.

With the CD in hand, Catherine can start another plan, which is digitization.

Once digitization is achieved, the value of optical fiber can be reflected.

One thing Catherine still has to do is to give the Nimbus game console the ability to play online.

Of course, this function may be useless at present, but it can also be regarded as laying a foundation for the future and allowing its own researchers to have sufficient technical accumulation.

After all, today's photoelectric converters are really too big.

If you can reduce it to a card, or directly let the computer process the optical signal, you can achieve your goal.

Catherine predicts that she will separate the Nimbus game console and the network card. After all, this function is a bit useless, and then Catherine considers adding a slot to the Nimbus game console to house the network card. As for this slot, it is usually closed.

.

In addition to these, Catherine's new game console has also begun to increase its demand for color. It can only display less than a hundred colors.

However, in Catherine's plan, the performance of nimbus should meet SFC standards, so the color requirements are much higher.

It's just a pity that the current CG technology has not been developed yet, otherwise it would be much more interesting.