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Don’t Hold Your Breath – Blu-ray Discs Shall Remain 50GB
Mon Oct 12, 2009 at 10:00 AM ETTags: TDK, Industry Trends (all tags)
The Blu-ray Disc Association doesn’t want you getting too excited about the announcements made in the last few days from the likes of TDK. Though, 320GB discs are possible, we won’t be seeing them used commercially.
VP of communications for the Blu-ray Disc Association Andy Parsons compared the issue to that of VHS tapes. In the early days of the VCR, the only option for viewing was the two hour SP mode, and while blank tapes were able to be recorded in a variety of standards, commercial releases remained almost exclusively in the highly compatible SP mode.
While certainly manufactures and consumers would both benefit from the newly announced 320GB capacity, Parsons says that too many Blu-ray players just wouldn’t be able to handle it. “This is because player manufacturers design players to meet published specifications that define maximum media capacity, which in the case of Blu-ray Disc, is 50GB on two-layer media.”
For now, it looks like those dreams of enjoying full seasons of television on a single disc or being able to watch the entire Star Wars series without having to move a finger will have to wait.
Source: Home Media Magazine
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TDK Creates 320GB, 10 Layer Blu-ray Disc
Tue Oct 06, 2009 at 04:00 PM ETTags: TDK, Industry Trends (all tags)
In an ongoing effort to improve the technology, TDK has created a Blu-ray disc that’s capable of holding an unprecedented three hundred and twenty gigabytes of data.
A step up over their previous record breaking 200GB disc, there were a great many issues that TDK faced when making the new 320GB discs. First, signal quality and strength decrease dramatically with each layer. The solution in creating such a high storage medium with so many layers was varying the materials with each layer. The bottom layer is unique, using a mixture of copper and silver, while each layer above it is composed of bismuth peroxide and germanium dioxide.
The error rate of the discs is at the threshold of commercial viability according to TDK, and the lasers for both reading and writing the discs are standard. The discs will be shown at Japan’s CEATEC this week, where we can expect to hear more about when consumers might begin to benefit from the new tech.
Source: Tech On!
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Are You Ready for a 200GB Blu-ray Disc?
Thu Aug 31, 2006 at 05:40 PM ETTags: Technology Forecasts, TDK (all tags)
Move over, BD-50! TDK earlier today unveiled a prototype 200GB multi-layer
Blu-ray disc at the IFA conference in Berlin, Germany.
Red Herring reports that the German-based optical storage manufacturer was able to greatly increase the capacity of its recordable high-definition Blu-ray discs -- well above even the company's initial 100GB prototype announced earlier this year -- by advancements in blue laser optical media technology
A 200GB Blu-ray disc would be an eight-fold increase in storage capacity over the current industry standard BD-25 single-layer disc, which maxes out at 25GB. It would also be four times that of the upcoming BD-50 dual-layer, 50GB disc variant, the recordable version of which TDK announced they would begin shipping to retailers tomorrow.
If TDK can eventually perfect its 200GB prototype for mass consumer production, it could conceivably hold up to 18 hours of Blu-ray formatted video -- and instantly render today's squabbling about BD-25 versus BD-50 moot.
However, backwards compatibility issues with today's current and upcoming Blu-ray players -- none of which are capable of playing a 200GB disc -- could prove problematic for TDK. Still, the idea of a Blu-ray disc with such massive storage potential is undeniably intriguing. (Just think of all those remastered 'Star Trek' episodes a single 200GB disc could hold!)
Stay tuned for the latest news as the story develops...
- Related links:
- TDK Increases Blu-ray Capacity [Red Herring]
- Earlier on High-Def Digest:
- Paramount Confirms 'Star Trek' HD Remaster (Aug 31, 2006)
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