More than 2 layers on commercial BDs?

[Polyh3dron]

I know that TDK made experimental 100 and 200GB Blu-Ray discs. I also read in Wikipedia that the 200GB will never be able to be used in a BD movie player because the specs were already finalized for a certain amount of layers and I was just wondering, Are commercial BD Movie players able to read BDs with 3 or more layers on them such as 75 or 100GB discs?

[Dave]

Yes current player may not read 100GB media. I dont know if firmware update can fix this.

Panasonic is almost ready with 100GB too. We should see them soon.
They claim 100 year lifespan of those media!

[Blue]

I think unless firmware can easily upgrade existing players (and I think that maybe a long shot) you certainly won't see it while HD-DVD is around and probably not for a long time to come. This is NOT part of the blu ray specifications, so until it is in the specifications, it's a novelty R&D project stuck in a lab/s. The specifications are only for 1 & 2 layers. Members of the BDA have been quite vocal about the standard being around for at least 10 years.

[Polyh3dron]

Thanks for clearing that up for me.

[dobyblue]

I don't see why a firmware upgrade wouldn't be able to adjust the layer problem. I certainly think it would having a problem reading TDK's disc as they went with a 33.5GB layer instead of 25GB.

[Blue]

Originally Posted by dobyblue

I don't see why a firmware upgrade wouldn't be able to adjust the layer problem. I certainly think it would having a problem reading TDK's disc as they went with a 33.5GB layer instead of 25GB.

Firmware is "embedded" software, nothing more, nothing less. I can't comment for fact on the layering in blu ray as I don't know how it has been implemented. I however know how at least one model has implemented it in DVD (PC drive) and it is impossible to add another layer to that DVD drive and I suspect the same is true for all 2 layer DVD drives. I have little knowledge of the physical implementation of Blu Ray especially around the optical areas, however I would love to know more.

[Shadowself]

as much as it has to do with the firmware.

Certainly the firmware on most Blu-ray players and drives can be updated. This is a demonstrated fact. At the very least, the firmware would have to be updated to be able to know how to handle the segmentation across more layers.

The upgradeability issue is really about the optics. The question boils down to, "Did the early, and do the currently shipping, drives have the ability to see (focus) down more layers than just two?"

That is a hardware issue. If they do, then a "simple" firmware upgrade should suffice. If not, then there is no way to upgrade.

The historical reference to DVDs (and by analogy to HD DVD) may not be relevant. DVDs (and, similarly, HD DVDs) have a significantly greater spacing between layers. There used to be cost advantages to making a drive which could only focus on a single layer, thus most early, single layer drives could never be upgraded to read dual layer DVDs. Such cost advantages have long ago evaporated which is why virtually all DVD players/drives are dual layer now.

The layers in a Blu-ray disk are much closer together. It may be feasible for current drives to focus on lower (more) layers.

However, no one outside the engineering teams of each player/drive developer knows about the optics capabilities of their systems. Thus until this becomes an issue (100+ GB disks start to be offered to the public) we won't know which ones -- if any -- of the current systems can support an upgrade to higher density / more layer disks.