Reborn America, this is my time

Chapter 142

The optical disc is actually just a carrier for storing data known to the public, and 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 disc. When in use, use a low-power laser scanner to 'read' the pits on the surface of the disc. The intensity of the reflected light converts the optical signal into an electrical signal.

It is precisely because its technology is very complicated that there are many derived patents.

The most basic is the laser disc technology, which was born in 1958 and was invented by Western Electric engineer David Gregg.After obtaining the patent, he set up his own company to specialize in the research of this technology. Because of the promising prospects, he got the attention of MCA in 1968 and was acquired after a simple negotiation.So far, the most original manufacturing patent of optical discs has become the technical reserve of MCA.

Afterwards, the CD audio and video technology was born in 1965, and the video CD system was born in 1968. These are all re-developments based on Greg’s invention in 1958. They do have their own patents, but no one can get around 1958. ancestors.

When Evelyn told Ethan this fact, Ethan was completely smecta!

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

"Theoretically it is."

The girl nodded, "No matter who makes the CD now, it is impossible to bypass the MCA."

"Unless they want a lawsuit."

'...' This result left Ethan speechless.

He really didn't expect that in the future, the optical disc patent that can leverage the [-] billion market would be in the hands of MCA?Why do they look like a time traveler with both content and standard things?
'Fuck, is this world so scary? '

'Are all these big companies so prescient? '

'Isn't it said that Americans never plan? '

'Why did this abacus go decades later? '

Ethan was puzzled, and at the same time he asked suspiciously: "Oh Evelyn - how do you know all this? Ah, I mean, how do you know who owns the patent?"

"Since you know so much, do you know the purpose of MCA's acquisition of this patent?"

"What do they want to do?"

Gatling-like questioning made the girl dumbfounded.

"Oh Ethan, I'm just a person, not God. I can only answer questions that I know. Why do I know this? Because this technology was once supported by Stanford Research Institute. As for why MCA bought this patent? What do you think about this matter? Well go ask Steven..."

David Greg is a native of California, and his home is in Los Angeles. When he started researching CD recording, CD recording, and CD duplication, the first partner he thought of was the Stanford Research Institute, a leading research institution on the West Coast. The subsequent patents were all The two parties work together perfectly.

These cutting-edge content may be difficult for outsiders to find, but for our own people?
How many researches in the research institute are really fortified?
When the news at his fingertips was 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 before, and with the cognitive reserve of a world, he could easily enjoy the dividends of the times.

But after experiencing Nintendo’s desperate pursuit of chips, Philips’ early layout of CDs, and MCA’s patents as early as more than ten years ago, he really felt that no company that can survive for decades or hundreds of years is 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 be blind and unlucky, but they are definitely not mentally retarded.

'None of these guys is simple! '

Ethan sighed in his heart.

Now that Evelyn showed him the way, he decided to go to Los Angeles.

And when he drove to Universal Studios the next day, Spielberg was not in the company.

After asking around briefly, I found out that the production of "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" has been completed. This guy is going to Colombia to attend a screening of the movie. If there are no accidents, he will come back in the afternoon.

"Mr. Jones, do you need to call the director for you?" Universal's staff asked, "Let him come back as soon as he finishes his work?"

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

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

Universal's staff took Ethan to the cafeteria. After filling his stomach, he slept in the VIP room in the studio until the crisp knock on the door entered his ears, and he escaped from sleep. Saw Spielberg in a black shirt.

"Wow, did you get your hair done? That's so fucking cool."

Looking at Spielberg, who was combing partly, Ethan immediately gave a thumbs up.

"Yeah, I did it on purpose." Spielberg shook his head and said, "Today's screening will be attended by people from North American theaters, and they will decide the number of times my film will be scheduled, so I need a handsome hairstyle , to ensure that they will feel that I am reliable after seeing me.”

'...' Ethan froze for a moment.

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

"If anyone still thinks you're unreliable, then I'll just spray him to death!"

"Isn't this a fool!"

"Hahaha——" Ethan's words made Spielberg laugh out loud.

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

How could Ethan tell the truth about this kind of question?

He shrugged: "I just heard some news that Philips didn't want to give up Mirowa's Apollo project team, because they are satisfied with the video interface that Apollo has."

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

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

"When you help George, we're a real family."

"We are a family!"

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

"This is..." Ethan narrowed his eyes.

""Jaws"." Spielberg directly opened the palm-sized box, and then, two CDs with printed movie posters appeared in front of Ethan.

Such a situation made Ethan's pupils shrink suddenly.

While Spielberg motioned for him to sit down, he turned on the TV in the office. It wasn't until then that Ethan realized that there was a briefcase-thick machine in the TV cabinet.

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

Such a fact made Ethan frowned, "Steven? You already have products?"

To be honest, even though Ethan had made all the mental preparations after hearing the news that MCA had the optical disc patent, he was still very surprised when he saw all this.

His surprise didn't come from the product itself, but his surprise that all his guesses were right.

When the disc carrying "Jaws" appeared, Ethan was sure that Philips Natma was using Mirov 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 about..."

"Because of this story, it has happened ten years ago..."

As Ethan guessed, when MCA saw the technology of optical discs in the 60s, they felt that this thing might become a trend-setting thing.It may be able to carry audio and video, freeing Hollywood entertainment from the constraints of theaters, and entering thousands of households just like TV.Ever since, the MCA at that time directly acquired it and wanted to vigorously develop it.

In the process of MCA research, they found that Philips, a world-renowned consumer goods company, is also researching this thing. More importantly, the research directions of the two parties are different. MCA researches transparent optical discs, and Philips researches reflective discs. CD, the latter seems to have more advantages than the former.

Since the basic patent of optical discs in America is owned by MCA, Philips, who wanted to do this part of the business, communicated with MCA, hoping to study this project together.MCA, who wants to enjoy better technology, directly agrees and reaches a specific agreement. In the cooperation, Philips is responsible for the production of players, and MCA is responsible for the production of optical discs, 'equally sharing' the huge market that may exist.

Because the future is very bright, since 1969, the technicians of the two companies have been working on discs there. After three years of research and development, a laser disc capable of carrying movies finally appeared.

Now that the products have come out, the next thing to do is to register the patent and push it to the market.

Since both parties knew that the promotion of this product would not be possible without the continuous output of content, MCA took the initiative to take the lead in negotiating with several other Hollywood companies one by one, hoping that they could join them. After a while, they finally reached an agreement on interests. Unanimous, Ever since, Universal and Philips decided to launch the machine in the North American market in 1978 next year.

And the first supporting movie, of course, is Universal Prince's "Jaws".

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

Spielberg shook his legs and said with a smile: "This disc projector is actually very useful. It allows people to enjoy the happiness brought by 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 is indeed an alliance.

But as he told the story, the cloud between Ethan's eyebrows not only did not dissipate, but became more and more intense, because he discovered a problem, if Philips had reached a cooperation with MCA as early as 1969, then when When Mi Luohua, a subsidiary of Philips, had a conflict with him...

Why did Spielberg choose to help him so calmly?
This is obviously not in line with common sense, okay!

"Steven..."

Thinking of this, Ethan 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 more calm Spielberg behaved, the more confused Ethan became. After he expressed his surprise with a constipated 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 tore up the treaty first!"

Spielberg said with a smile: "Our MCA actually had great hopes for CDs 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 in that year, Philips did something that made us angry!"

"As for what it is..."

"You should know, right?"

"After all, that's what you're here for!"

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

Philips used that product to open the door to the era of home video recorders!
And in the same year, MCA also worked with them to create a commercially available CD player?
Oh--

This special is simply a backstab!
"You mean, the cooperation between Philips and you is just to get stuck on your patents? And to better promote your own products?" Ethan asked, "Maybe they have tampered with the CD research?"

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

Having said that, Spielberg's subjective thinking is extremely strong.

"If it wasn't for Philips' sudden release of the N1500, how could the matter of optical discs have been delayed until now? If Philips hadn't discovered that Sony and JVC's products were better than their own, they might not return to the field of optical discs, 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 group put MCA together in the cooperation, Sidney Simberg, the CEO and president of MCA, must have wanted to hammer them to death!

In this case, when Spielberg found out that helping him, Ethan Jones, could defy Philips, thus venting his anger on Bole who had discovered himself...

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

Not to mention that he was already very fond of video games.

In this case, hammering Philips, there will be no psychological pressure for him at all!
"Well... I thought it was because I was so handsome..."

Ethan mumbled.

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

And when Ethan said that he thought it was his handsomeness that conquered Spielberg and thus won his friendship, the big director leaning on the sofa was stunned.

Then he covered his stomach and laughed.

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

He was amused by Ethan's words.

But Ethan asked with a straight face, "Aren't I handsome?"

As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Ethan couldn't hold back anymore, and covered his eyes with a puff.

In 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 the latest situation of the CD from Spielberg.

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

After discussions between Philips and MCA, they decided to bring the disc player to market for $[-], which... could now buy a home computer other than an Apple.

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

When the price of a CD player remains high and you lose money no matter how you sell it, failure is inevitable, but the so-called attempt is also appropriate, 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 under pressure.

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

"Yeah~ Public companies are such trouble." Ethan smiled and nodded.

Ethan arrived at Universal at noon, and he didn't leave until after dinner at night.

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

When this kind of thing is in front of him, so what if Philips makes arrangements in advance?

Although business is business, but in business, if any party takes the initiative to become a second-five boy, then don't blame others for catching you all the time!

In addition to these, Spielberg also revealed one thing 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 CDs to erode the tape market."

"In this way, firstly, we can promote the CD product at a lower cost, and secondly, we can give Philips a little color. They made the world's first cassette tape, and they own the patent. If the tape can be printed If it is dropped, then we can get rid of the constraints of Philips and get more benefits."

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

When Ethan heard Spielberg's words, he didn't speak.

Because a song popped out of his ear——

"Give you a CD of the past, listen to our love at that time."

Yes, Ethan remembered Eason's song.

If you abandon video storage and only make sound, isn't that Sony's CD player?

Although they didn't 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!

and so……

The other ideas inside the MCA that Spielberg said were 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 emotion, "Special..."

"This era is really full of gold!"

"Talking about that special code casually is an industry starting at tens of billions!"

It's a pity that these things are still a bit far away for him.

Now, his ass is full of shit.

When Destiny Games is going to be a game, a console, and a showdown with Nintendo...

His configuration of one head and two hands is really not enough!

I can't finish the work at hand, so where do I have time to get these things?

"Ugh--"

"If only I could shadow clone—"

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

　Note: ①David Gregg moved from Western Electric to 1961M after he obtained the optical disc patent in 3. Through 3M and Stanford Research Institute, he studied optical disc technology and perfected functions such as recording, copying and signal storage.In 1963, Stanford had already created a disc video recorder with him, which later became the disc DV. ②MCA DiscoVision, the company that held the optical disc patent back then, was called MCA DiscoVision. They and Philips jointly developed optical discs. The projector they launched in 78 was indeed "Jaws", but because Philips backstabbed MCA before, the cooperation was only in It stopped in 1981, because they authorized the agency to Pioneer, so we will see more Pioneer LD players.The MCA company eventually changed its name due to the expiration of its patents, and its current name is Universal Pictures Home Entertainment. ③The world's first video game equipped with LD was Sega's "Astron Belt" in 1982. This technology does not mean that it can only be used in the PS era.In many cases, the failure of products to be promoted is not due to technology, but the profitability of a single product (commonly known as squeezing toothpaste), and market struggles.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)