Pioneer Increases Disc Size to 500GB

[djluis2k6]

About a month ago, Pioneer announced that they had developed a 400GB Blu-ray Disc. Not satisfied that they had exhausted all avenues, they continued developed and found a way to add four additional layers, bringing the total disc capacity to 500GB. As with the 400GB version, the disc is compatible with current Blu-ray drives found in computers, players, and recorders.

Brendan Sheridan, Pioneer Multimedia Division Product Manager, commented, "While Blu-ray discs (BD), offering both 25GB and 50GB, are sufficient for users' current demands, we envision the need for a technology that can support far greater capacities as HD streaming in particular becomes commonplace and users build larger files of digital content. The multi-layered method is compatible with Blu-ray devices providing a long term future for the technology and is more easily produced when compared to competing technologies such as holographic storage."

Currently the disc only exists as an experiment, but Pioneer is working with the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA) to make the method a standard of the format. It is expected - if approved - it will take between two and four years for the discs to hit the open market.

How much could something like this cost, and could this be a great replacement for multiple disc releases like TV shows such as Law & Order: SVU that would probably be about 4-5 discs?

[CptGreedle]

https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=1616

[djluis2k6]

Originally Posted by CptGreedle

https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=1616

I know, this is the discussion thread on the topic.

[CptGreedle]

Ah.
Well.

My bad.
I don't think movies or Tv shows (or video at all) will make it to these for a long time, if ever. They say 2 to 4 years, but that is for them to make it out into high end stuff. I doubt it will be available for home use for probably 6 or 8 years.
By then, it might not be so much. I could be wrong, and they could try to rush this out, but if they do, how much do you think one disc would cost?

Plus, they have only just started to make games (as in.. one game so far) that takes advantage of the space on Blu-ray, it will be a while before they could benefit from 500GB!
But perhaps it will be an evolving technology, a new era of technology that changes with time, instead of outdating itself. If it were to work, then even the old players would be able to play the newest media.

I hope they make more announcements about this, i am very interested to see how this goes and if/when it will be mainstream.

[djluis2k6]

Well by that time, PS3 will have some "greatest hits" titles made. Perhaps they could use something like this in a promotion like that, offering a couple PS3 titles on that large of a disc?

[tron3]

Originally Posted by djluis2k6

How much could something like this cost, and could this be a great replacement for multiple disc releases like TV shows such as Law & Order: SVU that would probably be about 4-5 discs?

The more layers you add, the more prone it is to error in manufacture.

There is no reason we can't see a BD75, or BD100 in the meanwhile. That is plenty of space for HD audio, higher bit rates, and extras on one disc.

Besides, some months ago didn't they tweak the BD25 to become a BD33? Even a BD66 is good because you only need two layers in which to make it. 16 GB of extra space over a BD50 is nothing to sneeze at. Unless you are sneezing at an HD DVD 15 GB disc.

[djluis2k6]

Originally Posted by tron3

The more layers you add, the more prone it is to error in manufacture.

There is no reason we can't see a BD75, or BD100 in the meanwhile. That is plenty of space for HD audio, higher bit rates, and extras on one disc.

Besides, some months ago didn't they tweak the BD25 to become a BD33? Even a BD66 is good because you only need two layers in which to make it. 16 GB of extra space over a BD50 is nothing to sneeze at. Unless you are sneezing at an HD DVD 15 GB disc.

I don't see a lot of demand for this large of a disc, I don't think it's something that has to be mass produced. I think it would be better to just go on a title-by-title basis. It would great to have each BD release on 1 large disc, so how bout just customizing a special sized disc per release? When an older move is converted to BD, just a regular BD-50. When Law & Order: SVU is brought to Blu-Ray, instead of multiple discs, just customize a special sized disc to fit the whole season on 1 disc. I think that would be best.

[haushausman]

The BD500 will mostly likely be used only for data storage purposes only. It will remain on the PC side of things far after it is fully developed.

[JadedRaverLA]

Originally Posted by tron3

The more layers you add, the more prone it is to error in manufacture.

There is no reason we can't see a BD75, or BD100 in the meanwhile.

Even BD75 or BD100 has very little potential for consumer applications. Typical consumers see more "value" in multi-disc sets than they do in single-disc sets with a ton crammed onto it. Also, chances are it will remain cheaper to manufacture 2 BD50s than a single BD100.

Originally Posted by haushausman

The BD500 will mostly likely be used only for data storage purposes only. It will remain on the PC side of things far after it is fully developed.

Exactly. People need to stop thinking of this as a way to get all 6 Star Wars movies onto a single disc. It's just not going to happen. This is for industrial use only, and for backing up large amounts of important data. In that sense, its a great breakthrough. In the consumer sphere, its essentially irrelevant.

It will still be interesting to see if Sony and others try to market this a corporate solution over the existing UDO solution (which was basically the first "blue-violet" laser based medium Sony created. Maybe Pioneer is trying to become a player in the enterprise market? I really don't know.

[tron3]

Originally Posted by JadedRaverLA

...Typical consumers see more "value" in multi-disc sets than they do in single-disc sets with a ton crammed onto it. Also, chances are it will remain cheaper to manufacture 2 BD50s than a single BD100.....

True Dat. While I think all 6 Star Wars movies on one disc would be an incredible feat, I am still concerned with playback issues with that many layers. Let alone the response time.

Look at Lord of the Rings. Each Movie is over 3 hours long. While I am sure they can fit it on a BD50, even then SOMETHING is compromised to get it to fit and keep a certain degree of quality. This compromise usually comes in the form of fewer extras and less than HD sound. So, I agree that perhaps a BD75, or BD100 is better suited for the task.