Pioneer finds 20-layer 500GB Blu-ray Disc "feasible"
by Darren Murph 
posted Aug 5th 2008 at 1:15PM
Now here's a rate of progress we could get used to. Nary a month after Pioneer trumpeted a 400GB Blu-ray Disc, out pops another press release from the firm boasting about a 500 gigger with a score of layers. Based on research at its Tokyo headquarters, specifications have been drafted for an incredibly capacious 500GB BD. Granted, this very company already had plans for a 500GB optical disc nearly four years ago, but there's no time like the present to make this stuff a reality, right?[Via TrustedReviews, thanks xdragon]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
JimC @ Aug 5th 2008 1:51PM
Would this be compatible with existing readers?
XDragon @ Aug 5th 2008 2:28PM
With the past 400G, they were claiming yes with a firmware upgrade but no mention of that was made either way this time.
DrXym @ Aug 5th 2008 4:44PM
That would be extremely unlikely unless Pioneer ensured at least one or possibly two layers were visible to existing players and the others were invisible. I doubt that is the case and it's almost certain that existing players couldn't be made to detect or work with the new layers.
I don't know what Pioneer have in mind for this but its certainly not consumers.
J.Goodwin @ Aug 5th 2008 2:37PM
Quit making 500 Gigabyte blu-rays and give me freakin BD-R that isn't 20 bucks.
Mr. E @ Aug 5th 2008 6:28PM
I was surprised when I looked at BD blank media recently (25GB, of course). They're actually starting to get close to HDD price per gig. 2X BD-Rs are going for $9-10 apiece at newegg, and 4X are $12 apiece. If you like to buy in bulk you can get a RiData 25 pack for $199 ($8 apiece). I wouldn't have thought the demand would be high enough to start pushing prices down like this, but I guess it must be. I'm still waiting on a burner for myself, though.
imonit @ Aug 5th 2008 2:39PM
And do what with it exactly? Let's start using the 50gb discs properly and stop with the "2-disc, 5-disc special collection set" marketing ploys.
Mojo_Yugen @ Aug 6th 2008 9:11AM
Never happen. Consumers like to feel some heft when laying down that much money. We had the same thing happen with DVDs where they could have used 2 dual layer discs but put releases on 4 single layer discs to "bulk up" the package.
Sean @ Aug 5th 2008 5:40PM
Even if they make this thing, it will be prohibitively expensive and won’t work with all BD players and drives on the market. They should focus on getting single layer 25GB discs down in cost.