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OpticalMedia posts

TDK's heavily stacked 320GB disc shows its nearly-clear face at CEATEC

by Darren Murph posted Oct 7th 2009 at 1:59AM Featured Story


As with pretty much every other optical disc out there that claims to hold a near-infinite amount of data, we're still skeptical about TDK's ability to actually bring to market the 320GB spinner you see above. But hey -- it's got ten 32GB layers and it's practically see-through. Did you really expect us to walk on by without clicking the shutter even once? Exactly.

Gallery: TDK's 320GB optical disk

GE microholographic storage promises cheap 500GB discs, Blu-ray and DVD compatibility

by Thomas Ricker posted Apr 27th 2009 at 2:53AM


Ah, holographic storage -- you've held so much promise for cheap optical media since you were first imagined in research papers published in the early 60s. Later today, GE will be trying to keep the dream alive when it announces a new technique that promises to take holographic storage mainstream. GE's breakthrough in microholographics -- which, as the name implies, uses smaller, less complex holograms to achieve three-dimensional digital storage -- paves the way for players that can store about 500GB of data on standard-sized optical discs while still being able to read DVD and Blu-ray media. Better yet, researchers claim a price of about 10 cents per gigabyte compared to the nearly $1 per gigabyte paid when Blu-ray was introduced. The bad news? We're talking 2011 or 2012 by the time microholographics devices and media are introduced and even then it'll only be commercialized for use by film studios and medical institutions. In other words, you'll likely be streaming high-def films to your OLED TV long before you have a microholographic player in the living room.

Update: And out pops the press release.

Ridata bringing 6x BD-R media to United States

by Darren Murph posted Dec 25th 2008 at 4:29AM

Anyone who has even looked into recording content onto a BD-R knows just how immensely expensive a single disc is. Thankfully, you'll have one more option (and thus, one more competitor to push prices downward) starting next year. Advanced Media, the parent company of Ridata, will be debuting 6x recordable Blu-ray Disc media at CES 2009, with availability in the US slated for Q2 '09. As of now, the only discs planned for release here are 25GB single-layer units, but we don't suspect the dual-layer variants will be too far behind.

Moser Baer nabs BDA certification for 6x BD-Rs

by Darren Murph posted Dec 16th 2008 at 10:06PM

6x Blu-ray media is far from new, but Moser Baer has just become the first company outside of Japan to develop and ship 1x to 6x BD-Rs. The New Delhi-based outfit actually popped up on our radar last year with claims of 8x Blu-ray recording media, and now it has "received product verification from the Blu-ray Disc Association for its next generation Blu-ray (BDR) 1x-6x discs." We're no experts on certification, but we're all about getting more options on the shelves to drive down prices.

Atari president confident about physical media's decline

by Darren Murph posted Dec 8th 2008 at 11:33AM

While high ranking executives from high ranking companies have bickered back and forth about the longevity of Blu-ray as a format, Atari president Phil Harrison has some pretty strong feelings on physical media as a whole. In an interview with Edge, the bigwig stated that "there's a generation of kids being born today and probably already alive who I'm pretty confident will never buy a physical media product; they will never buy a DVD, they will never buy a CD, and they will never buy a game in a box." While some may jump on this as being patently absurd, we're not so sure it's a crazy as it at first sounds. Video games in particular have been distributed via the 'net for some time now (Steam, anyone?), and it's no secret that programming and movies are headed in that direction. There's no way to accurately predict how many more generations will be buying wares in boxes, but it's safe to say we're a lot closer than most people expected us to be just a decade ago.

[Via G4TV]

Pioneer shows off 16-layer 400GB Blu-ray Disc, affirms compatibility with current players

by Darren Murph posted Dec 2nd 2008 at 7:35AM


When Pioneer first introduced its unicorn-like 16-layer 400GB Blu-ray Disc, we weren't sure if the thing would make it beyond the drawing board, let alone be compatible with existing BD decks. Over at the IT Month Fair in Taipei, Pioneer showed up to showcase the capacious disc, and better still, a DigiTimes report asserts that these are indeed compatible with Blu-ray readers already on the market. Currently, the 400GB disc is slated to hit mass production sometime between now and 2010, while rewritable versions won't hit until 2010 to 2012. Not like it really matters though -- a 1TB disc is on track for 2013, and you know you'll be waiting for the latest and greatest.

DVD neXt COPY Ultimate burns ten DVDs to one Blu-ray Disc

by Darren Murph posted Nov 14th 2008 at 1:41PM

Not quite sure what happened to DVD neXt COPY's shift key while filling out those incorporation documents, but whatever the case, the outfit's latest piece of software is quite interesting. The bizarrely titled DVD neXt COPY Ultimate can not only transfer your DVD movies to portable devices while stripping it of unwanted material like the sizable DTS audio stream, but it also toasts those films back to a BD-R. In fact, it promises to squeeze ten whole DVDs onto a single blank Blu-ray Disc, though we're unsure how great (or terrible) it is at busting through all of those encryption schemes it's sure to run into. Those willing to take the risk can pick up a copy right now for $69.99.

Royal Digital Media trots out 100GB-per-disc Blu-ray competitor

by Darren Murph posted Oct 29th 2008 at 12:59PM

Look out HD VMD and CH-DVD -- an all new Blu-ray rival has just sashayed into town, and this one means business. By way of a random DreamStream press release, Royal Digital Media has introduced its bona fide Blu-ray rival... while casually forgetting to name it. These "high-definition discs" will be able to store up to 100GB and will boast military-grade encryption that an aimless hacker will surely destroy in a week or two. According to DreamStream's Chief Development Officer Ulf Diebel, RDM's format "will transform perceptions of high-definition," as it is able to "display the next generation of high-definition: 1920p." For whatever it's worth, this here tech is based around "inexpensive red laser technology," and RDM is hoping to "replace traditional DVD technologies with a comprehensive, next generation HD system." So, when can you buy into this sure-to-be-awesome format? Q1 2009, and for a price "equal" to that of traditional DVD players. Sold!

Imation brings first 6x Blu-ray recordable discs to US

by Darren Murph posted Sep 17th 2008 at 4:21PM


We had a dream back in June that America would one day be able to buy 6x BD-Rs for these 6x Blu-ray burners without relying on a Japanese importer, and today, that dream has been realized. Imation is bringing TDK Life on Record media to US soil, marking the first time 6x Blu-ray recordable (BD-R) and Blu-ray recordable double layer (BD-R DL) media has been available here. Unfortunately, this stuff is still absurdly expensive -- expect to hand over $13.99 for a single BD-R in October, while a BD-R DL 1-pack will ring up at a staggering $32.99.

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]

Japanese researchers devise method for cramming 42GB on a DVD

by Darren Murph posted Jun 27th 2008 at 11:57AM


Never mind those fancy BD-R critters, how's about a 42GB DVD? Researchers with a good deal more intelligence than us over at Tohoku University have reportedly figured out a way to "multiply the amount of data that can be stored on a DVD or CD by 9." Based on our best guess at translating a foreign language (we kid... sort of), the achievement was realized by shaping the pits on a DVD's surface like Vs, essentially making the disc more capacious in the process. Unfortunately, said project will probably never see any mainstream attention, as existing DVD / CD players won't recognize the malformed media, and worse still, the process can't be applied to Blu-ray Discs.

[Via CrunchGear]

NEC ships samples of SoC for 8x Blu-ray recording

by Darren Murph posted Jun 19th 2008 at 6:06PM


Yesterday, Panasonic announced that it would be bringing 6x BD-R media to Japan. Today, we've got NEC leap-frogging said announcement by trumpeting the shipment of its newest SoC (system on chip). Sure enough, samples of the SCOMBO/UM2A, a "SoC chip designed for use in Blu-ray Disc systems that support 8x recording and playback," have begun to ship out to undisclosed recipients. We're told that the chip is being aimed at the PC and AV markets (obviously), but there's no telling how long we'll have to wait until 8x Blu-ray burners (and 8x BD-R / BD-RE media, for that matter) hit the streets.

Japanese government to levy royalty fees on BD-Rs / Blu-ray recorders

by Darren Murph posted Jun 17th 2008 at 10:32PM


We just can't see this one going over well. Reportedly, Japan's Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry and the Education, Science and Technology Ministry have jointly decided to administer royalty fees on all blank Blu-ray Discs (BD-R / BD-RE) and Blu-ray recorders. According to the entities, such a system is necessary to "compensate copyright holders for the increase in copying by individuals due to the development of new digital technologies." It was also noted that there was some disagreement on whether all HDD-based recorders should be taxed (not to mention those oh-so-innocent portable media players), and further "discussions" could make the fees applicable to even more hardware. Tax everyone for the actions of a few -- sounds like a totally infallible plan, no?

Delkin's 25GB Archival Gold BD-Rs will be around longer than you

by Darren Murph posted Jun 13th 2008 at 8:43PM


Archive master Delkin has stepped up to the plate once more, this time aiming to please those with way more horror films than a typical CD-R can hold. The Archival Gold Blu-ray recordable media is the first of its kind "guaranteed to preserve data safely for over 200 years." The 4x discs feature the outfit's proprietary ScratchArmor technology, which is designed to fend off the terrifying effects of UV light, heat, humidity and careless fingernails. The units are available now in 1/5/10/25 packs for an undisclosed price.

Corel's WinDVD nabs BD-R 1.1 and BD-RE 2.1 playback certification

by Darren Murph posted Jun 8th 2008 at 11:53PM


Corel's not satisfied with simply snagging DTS-HD Master Audio certification for WinDVD 8; it's also trumpeting the ability of WinDVD to fully support BD-R 1.1 and BD-RE 2.1 recordable / re-recordable media. Reportedly, this certification proves that said application "has passed the stringent standards and guidelines set by the Blu-ray Disc Association to ensure the best possible user experience," but it's not like that spill really means anything to you. You can, however, now rest assured that WinDVD will be all BFF like with discs that use H.264 and VC-1 for encoding. Availability? OEMs can get it now, retail consumers will see it in early 2009.




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