Rebirth of America, this is my time

The optical disc is actually just a carrier for storing data known to the public. The technology it represents is actually optical recording or optical storage.

The specific way of expression is to use a low-power laser beam to 'burn' digital data into the spiral track on the surface of the optical disc. When used, a low-power laser scanner is then used to 'read' the pits on the surface of the optical disc. The intensity of the reflected light converts the optical signal into an electrical signal.

Precisely because its technology is very complex, there are many patents derived from it.

The most basic one is the laser disc technology that was born in 1958. It was invented by David Gregg, an engineer at Western Electric. After obtaining the patent, he established his own company to specialize in researching this technology. Because of its good prospects, he attracted the attention of MCA in 1968, and after a brief negotiation, it was acquired. At this point, the original manufacturing patent of the optical disc has become MCA's technical reserve.

The following optical disc audio and video technology was born in 1965, and the video optical disc system was born in 1968. These were all re-developments based on Greg's invention in 1958. They did have their own patents, but no one could bypass the 1958 invention. ancestors.

When Evelin told Ethan this fact, Ethan's whole body was filled with excitement!

Oh Evelin, you mean that Philips' current technology is developed based on patents owned by MCA? They need to pay patent fees to MCA?

That's the theory.

The girl nodded, No matter who makes CDs now, it's impossible to bypass MCA.

Unless they want a lawsuit.

‘…’ This result left Ethan speechless.

Did he really not expect that in the future, the optical disc patent that could leverage the market worth hundreds of billions would be in the hands of MCA? Why do they look like time-travelers when they do standard things that have both content and content?

‘Damn it, is this world so scary? ’

‘Are all these big companies so prescient? ’

‘Didn’t I say that Americans never make plans? ’

‘How come this plan was postponed until decades later? ’

Ethan was puzzled, and at the same time he also asked doubtfully: Oh Evelin - how do you know all this? Ah, I mean, how do you know who holds the patent?

Since you know so much, do you know the purpose of MCA acquiring this patent?

What do they want?

Gatling-like questions made the girl laugh and cry.

Oh Ethan, I'm just a human being, not God. I can only answer questions that I know. Why do I know this? Because this technology has been supported by the Stanford Research Institute. As for why MCA bought this patent? This matter is your most Let’s ask Steven…”

David Gregg is a Californian whose home is in Los Angeles. When he began to study optical disc recording, optical disc burning, and optical disc replication, the first partner that came to mind was the Stanford Research Institute, the leading research institution on the West Coast. All subsequent patents were from Perfect cooperation between both parties.

These cutting-edge contents may be difficult for outsiders to check, but for our own people?

How many of the studies in the institute are truly fortified?

When the news at his fingertips was placed in front of Ethan, he was like an aphasic patient, unable to speak for a long time. He had always thought that he was very smart. With a world-wide cognitive reserve, he could easily reap the dividends of the times.

But after experiencing a series of events such as Nintendo's desperate pursuit of chips, Philips' early layout of optical discs, and MCA's clutching of patents more than ten years ago, he truly felt that no company that could survive for decades or hundreds of years was simple. Yes, they may have done a lot of stupid things, but that was just a failure after betting on the wrong outlet. They may have been blind and unlucky, but they were definitely not mentally retarded.

‘None of these guys are simple! ’

Ethan sighed in his heart.

Now that Evelin showed him the way, he decided to go to Los Angeles to try it out.

When he drove to Universal Studios the next day, Spielberg was not at the company.

After a brief inquiry, I found out that the production of Close Encounters of the Third Kind had been completed. This guy had gone to Colombia to attend a screening of the movie. If nothing else happened, he would not be back until the afternoon.

Mr. Jones, do you need to call the director for you? the Universal staff asked, ask him to come back immediately after finishing his work?

No, I'll just wait for him here. Ethan waved his hand, It's exactly noon now. I'll go to your cafeteria to have a meal and then find a place to rest. This should be okay, right?

No problem Mr. Jones, the director has told us that you and Mr. Lucas are his best friends, and we will treat you as we treat him.

The Universal staff took Ethan to the canteen. After filling his stomach, he slept again in the VIP room in the movie theater. It was not until a crisp knock on the door penetrated his ears that he broke away from his sleep. I saw Spielberg wearing a black shirt.

Wow, did you do your hair? That's really cool.

Looking at Spielberg with his hair parted, Ethan gave a thumbs up.

Yeah, I did it specially. Spielberg shook his head and said: Today's movie screening will be attended by people from North American theaters. They will decide the schedule of my movie, so I need a handsome hairstyle. , to ensure that they will feel that I am reliable after meeting me.”

‘…’ Ethan was stunned for a moment.

Then he said in an exaggerated voice: Oh Steven~ When you keep stating that Star Wars is a good movie, you are the most reliable director in the world!

If there is still someone who thinks you are unreliable, then I will just go and spray him to death!

Isn't this stupid?

Hahaha—— Ethan's words made Spielberg laugh loudly.

Perhaps it was because the test screening of Close Encounters of the Third Kind was widely praised, so he was very happy now. After chatting with Ethan about his work for a while, he also took the initiative to ask about Ethan's When he learned that Ethan was very interested in the optical disc technology owned by Universal's parent company MCA, he even laughed and said, Optical disc? Did you go to study Philips?

How could Ethan tell the truth about a question like this?

He shrugged: I just heard some news that Philips didn't want to give up the Apollo project team of Milova because they were very satisfied with the video interface that Apollo had.

Oh, I understand, I understand. Spielberg did not dwell on Ethan's words.

He clenched his fist and hammered Ethan's shoulder, saying: Brother, don't be so cautious~

When you help George, we become a real family.

We are a family!

Spielberg yelled, and then asked Ethan to follow him with a smile. When Ethan came to his office, he also took out a blue plastic box from the drawer.

This is... Ethan narrowed his eyes.

'Jaws'. Spielberg opened the palm-sized box directly, and then, two discs with movie posters printed on them were presented in front of Ethan.

Such a situation made Ethan's pupils shrink suddenly.

Spielberg motioned for him to sit down and turned on the TV in the office. It was only then that Ethan discovered that there was a machine as thick as a briefcase placed in the TV cabinet.

Following Spielberg's debugging, the optical drive that was basically the same as Ethan's previous life was spit out by the machine. When Spielberg put the disc in, the TV screen that was still flashing with snowflakes instantly turned black, but After a few seconds, Universal's logo jumped onto the screen.

Such a fact made Ethan frown, Steven? Do you already have a product?

To be honest, even though Ethan had been mentally prepared after hearing the news that MCA had the optical disc patent, he was still very surprised when he saw it all.

His surprise did not come from the product itself, but that all of his guesses were correct.

When the CD containing Jaws appeared, Ethan was sure that Philips was using Mi Luohua to promote its new standard!

While he was surprised, Spielberg also sat back on the sofa and said, Ethan, if you want to know about CDs... then it will be very troublesome for us to talk...

Because this story happened ten years ago...

Just as Ethan guessed, when MCA saw the technology of compact discs in the 1960s, they felt that this thing could become a trend-setting thing. It may be able to carry audio and video, allowing Hollywood entertainment to break away from the limitations of theaters and enter thousands of homes like television. As a result, MCA at that time directly acquired it and wanted to vigorously develop it.

During the MCA research process, they discovered that Philips, a world-renowned consumer products company, was also researching this thing. More importantly, the research directions of both parties were different. MCA was researching transparent optical discs, while Philips was researching reflection. CD, the latter seems to have more advantages than the former.

Since the basic patent for optical discs in America is owned by MCA, Philips, which wanted to do this part of the business, communicated with MCA and hoped to study the project together. MCA, which wanted to get better technology, directly agreed and reached a specific agreement. In the cooperation, Philips was responsible for producing players and MCA was responsible for producing optical discs, equally sharing the huge possible market.

Because the future was very bright, technicians from the two companies had been working on optical discs since 1969. After three years of research and development, laser discs capable of carrying movies finally appeared.

Now that the product has been released, the next thing to do is to register a patent and bring it to the market.

Since both parties knew that the promotion of this kind of product was indispensable for the continuous output of content, MCA took the initiative to negotiate with several other Hollywood companies one by one, hoping that they could join in. After a while, they finally reached an agreement on interests. As a result, Universal and Philips decided to launch the machine in the North American market next year, that is, in 1978.

The first supporting movie is of course Universal Prince's Jaws.

“When Sidney told me they decided to make Jaws the first commercial film to be released on disc in North America, I was already playing with this thing…”

Spielberg shook his legs and said with a smile: This disc projector is actually very easy to use. It allows people to enjoy the joy of movies at home.

If you like it, just take it.

If you want to burn other movies, I can help you.

It doesn't matter which company's movie it is.

Spielberg's words are very atmospheric.

Judging from the contracts signed by each company, the current Big Seven are indeed an alliance.

But as he told the story, the clouds between Ethan's brows not only did not dissipate, but intensified, because he discovered a problem. If Philips had reached a cooperation with MCA as early as 1969, then When Milohua, a subsidiary of Philips, had a conflict with him...

Why would Spielberg choose to help him so calmly?

This is obviously against common sense!

Steven...

Thinking of this, Ethan suddenly hesitated and said, Can I ask you a question?

Of course! Spielberg said with a smile: What else do you want to know?

As long as I know, I will definitely tell you.

The calmer Spielberg acted, the more doubtful Ethan became. After he revealed his surprise with a constipated look on his face, the guy leaning on the sofa immediately took over the conversation.

Oh Ethan, you ask me why I chose you between Philips and you?

Brother, this question is very simple! Because Philips broke the treaty first!

Spielberg smiled and said: We at MCA actually had great hopes for compact discs at the beginning, but this hope was destroyed by Philips!

Did I just tell you? As early as 1972, we had already developed the current optical disc! But that year, Philips did something that made us angry!

As for what happened...

You should know, right?

After all, that's what you came for!

When Spielberg reminded him, Ethan immediately remembered that in 1972, Philips released the world's first home video recorder, the Philips N1500!

Philips opened the door to the era of home video recorders with that product!

And in the same year, MCA also worked with them to create a commercially available optical disc player?

oh--

This special code is simply a backstab!

You mean, Philips' cooperation with you is just to block your patents? And then better promote their products? Ethan asked: They may have tampered with the optical disc research?

Who knows? Spielberg shrugged and said, I only know that their behavior made the bosses of MCA very angry! They once asked Philips what they were doing!

Having said that, Spielberg's subjective thoughts are extremely strong.

If Philips hadn't suddenly released the N1500, how could the optical disc issue have been delayed until now? If Philips hadn't discovered that Sony and JVC's products were better than its own, they might not have returned to the optical disc field, right? After all, They don’t have the most basic patent!”

As soon as these words came out, Ethan immediately understood why Spielberg would help him.

When the Philips guys brought MCA together in their cooperation, Sidney Sheinberg, the CEO and president of MCA, definitely wanted to kill them!

In this case, when Spielberg discovered that helping him Ethan Jones could defeat Philips and thus vent his anger on Bole who discovered him...

If you don’t help, that’s the biggest problem!

Not to mention that he was already very happy with video games.

In this case, if he hammers Philips hard, there will be no psychological pressure on him at all!

Well... I thought it was because I am so handsome...

Ethan muttered.

What? Spielberg, who didn't understand, was a little surprised.

When Ethan said that he thought it was his handsomeness that conquered Spielberg and gained his friendship, the director who was leaning on the sofa was stunned.

Then he held his stomach and laughed.

Hahaha - oh Ethan - hahaha - you really are - hahaha -

He was amused by Ethan's words.

Ethan, on the other hand, asked with a straight face: Am I not handsome?

As soon as the words came out of his mouth, Ethan couldn't hold himself any longer and covered his eyes with a puff.

The next second, the small office suddenly became a sea of ​​happiness.

Under Ethan's gag, the slightly serious atmosphere of the conversation suddenly disappeared, and in the subsequent chat, Ethan also learned about the latest status of the disc from Spielberg.

Although the laser disc product is very powerful, MCA executives agree that it is very difficult to promote this product. The core reason is that it is too expensive.

After discussions between Philips and MCA, they decided to launch a compact disc projector to the market at a price of US$700, and US$700...can now buy a home computer other than Apple.

More importantly, selling the machine at this price is actually a loss.

When the price of a compact disc player remains high and you lose money no matter how you sell it, failure is inevitable, but the so-called attempt is also necessary because MCA is a public company. If there is no failure in the market, the management still needs to go Explain to shareholders why the developed products are packed into boxes.

That's very troublesome, right? Spielberg winked at Ethan.

Yeah~ Public companies are so troublesome. Ethan smiled and nodded.

Ethan arrived at Universal at noon and did not leave until after dinner in the evening.

The communication with Spielberg made him very happy, because he not only confirmed the patent ownership of the optical disc, but also learned about the relationship between Philips and MCA, and even knew that even MCA was not optimistic about the optical disc product. Tend to shareholder pressure to implement.

When this kind of thing is placed in front of him, what if Philips has planned it in advance?

Although business is business, in business, if any party takes the initiative to act as a second-rate kid, don't blame others for catching you and yelling at you!

In addition to these, Spielberg also revealed something to Ethan.

In fact, there has always been a voice in MCA, which is to temporarily abandon video recording, focus on sound storage, and use optical discs to erode the tape market.

In this way, firstly, we can promote the optical disc product at a lower cost, and secondly, we can show Philips a little bit of color. They made the world's first cassette tape, and they have the patent. If the tape can be printed If we do this, we can get rid of the constraints of Philips and gain more benefits.

But unfortunately, this voice is not strong in MCA, because VHS recorders are so easy to use. Some people think that magnetic storage may continue to develop, and optical discs should stop.

When Ethan heard Spielberg's words, he remained silent.

Because a song came directly to his ears——

I'll give you a CD from the past and listen to our love at that time.

Yes, Ethan remembered Eason's song.

If you abandon video storage and only do sound, wouldn't it be a Sony CD player?

Although they did not really kick the tape into history, they were indeed epoch-making products!

At the same time, Sony also successfully promoted its own CD format with that thing!

so……

The other ideas within MCA mentioned by Spielberg are actually operational.

But in his memory, MCA didn’t seem to have done any of these things?

After a brief thought, Ethan put these things behind him.

He sighed with some emotion, Special code...

This era is really full of gold!

Anyone who talks about the special code is an industry starting from tens of billions!

Unfortunately, these things are still a bit far away for him.

Now, his butt is full of shit.

When Destiny Games wants to make games, make consoles, and have a showdown with Nintendo...

The configuration of his head and two hands is really not enough!

If I can’t finish the work on hand, where will I have time to get these things?

well--

It would be great if I could shadow clones——

Separate a bunch of guys to work, and then I can fish happily~

Note: ① After David Gregg obtained the optical disc patent in 1961, he switched jobs from Western Electric to 3M. Through 3M and Stanford Research Institute, he studied optical disc technology and improved functions such as recording, copying, and signal storage. In 1963, Stanford and he had already developed a compact disc video recorder, which later became compact disc DV. ②The company that held the optical disc patent at MCA was called MCA DiscoVision. They jointly developed optical discs with Philips and launched a projector in 1978. The first movie was indeed Jaws, but because Philips had stabbed MCA in the past, the cooperation was only in It stopped in 1981. Since they licensed the agent to Pioneer, we will see more Pioneer LD players. The company MCA eventually changed its name due to the expiration of the patent. Its current name is Universal Pictures Home Entertainment. ③The world's first video game powered by LD was Sega's Astron Belt in 1982. This technology does not have to be used in the PS era. Many times, the reason why a product cannot be promoted is not because of technology, but because of the profitability of a single product (commonly known as toothpaste squeeze), or because of market struggles.