The battle between two rival high definition formats for video disks has been decided in favor of Blu-ray, which was jointly developed by Sony, Samsung, Philips and other companies. A U.S. manufacturer based in Washington State has embraced the new technology, and sees a bright future for it.

兩個(gè)高清晰度影碟格式之爭(zhēng)最終以索尼、三星、飛利浦等公司開(kāi)發(fā)的“藍(lán)光”勝出而結(jié)束。因商業(yè)前景看好，華盛頓州的一個(gè)美國(guó)制造廠家將采用這項(xiàng)新技術(shù)。

Last year, Erick Hansen of Blu-ray Technologies set up an independent plant in Spokane, Washington, to manufacture disks in two high definition formats, Blu-ray and HD DVD.

去年，藍(lán)光技術(shù)公司的埃里克.漢森在華盛頓州的斯波坎市開(kāi)設(shè)了一家獨(dú)立的工廠，生產(chǎn)藍(lán)光(Blu-Ray)和高清影碟(HD DVD)兩種格式的高清晰度光盤。

Each had its backers. Toshiba had developed the HD DVD format, partnering with NEC and a number of Hollywood studios, which agreed to use the format for their high definition releases. But Blu-ray got more backers. After major retailers such as Wal-Mart and Best Buy made the switch to Blu-ray, Toshiba gave up the fight last month and said it would no longer make or market HD DVD equipment.

這兩種不同格式的光盤都有強(qiáng)大的后臺(tái)。東芝和NEC以及一些好萊塢電影公司合作研發(fā)了高清影碟(HD DVD)，而且好萊塢電影公司同意使用這種高清晰度光盤來(lái)發(fā)行他們的電影。但是藍(lán)光格式的支持者更多。在主要零售商沃爾瑪和百思買轉(zhuǎn)向藍(lán)光格式后，東芝上個(gè)月放棄跟索尼公司之爭(zhēng)，決定不再生產(chǎn)或銷售高清影碟(HD DVD)。

Both Blu-ray and HD DVD encode data on high-density disks using a violet-blue laser. But Hansen says Blu-ray disks hold more information, and retrieve it faster.

藍(lán)光和高清影碟都采用紫藍(lán)色激光把數(shù)據(jù)儲(chǔ)存在高清晰度光盤上。但是漢森說(shuō)，藍(lán)光影碟儲(chǔ)存量更大，讀取數(shù)據(jù)更快。

"We have an analogy that we use at our facility," he explained. "We basically say, if you're a banker and you can get your money faster to a client without loss, without any problems, you're basically going to win the loan war. That's what Blu-ray does and that's what it did, and that's why anybody that actually understood the technology knew that Blu-ray would be the winner in the end."

漢森說(shuō)：“我們?cè)诠�廠做過(guò)類比測(cè)試。基本情況跟銀行發(fā)放貸款差不多：如果你是一家銀行，能夠準(zhǔn)確無(wú)誤、迅速便捷地向客戶提供貸款，就基本上能在貸款業(yè)務(wù)競(jìng)爭(zhēng)中勝出。藍(lán)光技術(shù)就能夠做到這一點(diǎn)，這就是為什么所有了解這個(gè)技術(shù)的人都知道，藍(lán)光將最終贏得格式之爭(zhēng)的勝利。”

Hansen was a pioneer in the DVD business, and still produces DVDs and compact disks. In the 1990s, he manufactured them outside Los Angeles, but says costs were high, so in 2006 he chose the city of Spokane in Washington State for his new plant.

漢森是DVD行業(yè)的開(kāi)拓者，并仍在生產(chǎn)DVD和CD。1990年代，他在洛杉磯郊外設(shè)廠生產(chǎn)光盤，但是由于成本過(guò)高，他于2006年把新工廠建在華盛頓州的斯波坎市。

Costs are much lower there for electrical power and workers' compensation insurance, which covers employees injured on the job. He also keeps his expenses down by working with the environment and not against it, for example, using the earth to cool the high-tech clean room where the disks are made.

斯波坎市的電費(fèi)以及負(fù)擔(dān)雇員工傷的保險(xiǎn)成本要低很多。漢森還通過(guò)適應(yīng)環(huán)境，而不是違背環(huán)境來(lái)降低費(fèi)用。例如，讓地球給他生產(chǎn)影碟的高技術(shù)潔凈廠房降溫。

"The first thing we did was, we took our clean room and put it underground. We built it in a basement," explained Hansen. "When I had the facility in California, we spent about $20,000 a month on air conditioning. Now we spend maybe $300 or $400 by building it at 65 degrees in a basement, in an environment that we could control."

漢森說(shuō)：“首先我們把工廠的潔凈廠房建在地下，也就是把車間建在一個(gè)地下室里。我在加州的那家工廠每個(gè)月的空調(diào)電費(fèi)支出約2萬(wàn)美元。現(xiàn)在，地下室的溫度在華氏65度，而且還能調(diào)控，每個(gè)月電費(fèi)在300至400美元之間。”

That temperature of 18 degrees Celsius is just right for the process.

華氏65度相當(dāng)于攝氏18度，正是生產(chǎn)影碟的最佳溫度。

The disk-molding machines generate heat, which he says he puts to use.

他說(shuō)，他還把生產(chǎn)影碟的模具機(jī)所產(chǎn)生的余熱利用起來(lái)。

"We take that excess heat, redirect it back up into the first, second and third floors of the building (it's a four story building) and heat the rest of our building with the waste energy that we create," he said.

漢森說(shuō)：“我們把余熱搜集起來(lái)，然后輸送到這座四層樓廠房的一、二、三樓，用我們生產(chǎn)過(guò)程中產(chǎn)生的余熱為我們的廠房提供熱量。”

Hansen uses water to cool the machines, and as the water heats up in the process, he pipes it through the ground to chill it naturally. He sells polycarbonate scraps from the disk making process to an automaker for tail lights.

漢森利用水來(lái)降低機(jī)器的溫度，在這個(gè)過(guò)程中，水的溫度上升，然后將水注入地下的冷卻系統(tǒng)來(lái)自然冷卻。他還把生產(chǎn)光盤過(guò)程中的聚碳酸酯下腳料出售給汽車制造廠，來(lái)做汽車尾燈。

He says new technologies are creating business opportunities for entrepreneurs like him. And he says as American companies learn to keep their costs down, they can manufacture at home, instead of outsourcing to countries like China.

漢森說(shuō)，新技術(shù)為他這樣的企業(yè)家提供了新的商機(jī)。他說(shuō)，隨著美國(guó)公司學(xué)會(huì)如何降低生產(chǎn)成本，他們就能在美國(guó)本土生產(chǎn)，而不必外包給中國(guó)等國(guó)家。

Manufacturers of Blu-ray disks and equipment must still persuade consumers to invest in high definition television sets and video players. That battle continues, while new technology such as high-speed digital downloads over the Internet may make even Blu-ray disks obsolete someday.

藍(lán)光影碟和設(shè)備的生產(chǎn)廠家必須要說(shuō)服顧客拿出錢來(lái)購(gòu)買高清電視機(jī)和錄相機(jī)，到目前為止，這一爭(zhēng)論仍在繼續(xù)；另一方面，網(wǎng)上高速下載等新技術(shù)也可能在未來(lái)的某一天使藍(lán)光影碟變得落伍。