AfterDawn: News

Pioneer develops 500GB Blu-ray compatible disc

Just last month, we reported that Pioneer had developed a 400GB Blu-ray compatible disc. Today however, they have one-upped their previous announcement by announcing they have developed a 500GB disc that can be read by blue lasers and is technically compatible with Blu-ray.

The disc uses 20 layers at 25GB a piece to equal 500GB and has the capacity to store 10 times the amount of 1080p footage that current BD movies have.



"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," said Pioneer multimedia division product manager Brendan Sheridan. "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."

Sheridan does note that the disc is only a research project prototype right now but that the company is in talks with the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA) to formalize the standard.

When will the public see this disc? Two to four years, expects Sheridan.

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 6 Aug 2008 14:55

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• 12 comments

• 00lloyd

  Good stuff. I wait for the day when I can convieniently get a whole TV season (maybe series) on one disc! In HD obviously.

  6.8.2008 14:59 #1

• PantherM

  I wonder what the cost will be 4 years from now?
  
  It would be awesome to have an entire movies series on one disc. Evan has HDD's get bigger....no one will want one TV show taking up 1/4th of their HDD space.

  6.8.2008 15:14 #2

• dragnandy

  wow, 500gb, thats insane. thats like one of my HDD right there!!

  6.8.2008 20:55 #3

• sgriesch

  Quote: When will the public see this disc? Two to four years, expects Sheridan. That's if BR is still around by then. Good to see that they are improving capacity. Does this mean prices for the lesser capacity will go down?

  6.8.2008 23:17 #4

• squidge37

  20 layers
  
  I wonder if the disc would have to be 1/4" thick, or more.

  7.8.2008 15:58 #5

• Vanilla66

  oh great, not like 50gb discs arent pricey already.

  7.8.2008 22:17 #6

• embo22000

  Originally posted by Vanilla66: oh great, not like 50gb discs arent pricey already.Newer technology means older tech will become cheaper.

  8.8.2008 09:02 #7

• kiaghi7

  Indeed, I still have disgruntling memories of paying obscene (by today's standard) prices for DVD-R media when it was new, and CD-R well before that, and the prices were ridiculous because it was new, now today the cost is pocket change particularly when bought in bulk (DVD-R DL's still need to come down, A LOT).
  
  BD-R's are completely insane right now, but that's because the proliferation and competition simply doesn't exist yet, but it will come in time just as every media before it, and soon enough (i.e. the next 2-3 years) media speeds will climb, production will skyrocket, and prices will fall sharply to a fraction of what they are now. Moore is still getting it right all these years later :D

  8.8.2008 18:02 #8

• fergus100

  Quote:Quote: When will the public see this disc? Two to four years, expects Sheridan. That's if BR is still around by then. Good to see that they are improving capacity. Does this mean prices for the lesser capacity will go down?blue ray will exist it won the format war and do you think studios will abandon 100million ps3s in peoples homes the market is opening up for blue ray tv adds a few years ago used to be "available in vhs and dvd"then it turned around to "dvd and vhs" today im hearing adds "available in dvd and blue ray from monday"
  
  blue ray is well on its way get over it

  9.8.2008 11:36 #9

• kiaghi7

  Sorry to burst your bubble fergus100, but only about 14.5 million PS3's have sold world wide as of June 08, not that it's a small number, but well short of 100 million.

  11.8.2008 16:07 #10

• sgriesch

  Quote:Quote:Quote: When will the public see this disc? Two to four years, expects Sheridan. That's if BR is still around by then. Good to see that they are improving capacity. Does this mean prices for the lesser capacity will go down?blue ray will exist it won the format war and do you think studios will abandon 100million ps3s in peoples homes the market is opening up for blue ray tv adds a few years ago used to be "available in vhs and dvd"then it turned around to "dvd and vhs" today im hearing adds "available in dvd and blue ray from monday"
  
  blue ray is well on its way get over itIt's not about abandoning our PS3's, which I own one. It's about whether the general public is going to pay $30 per movie to replace their DVD library. Blu-Ray didn't win the format war. The opposition just sold out. Finally, do you know what a run-on sentence is?

  12.8.2008 13:23 #11

• hermes_vb

  It's a shame Big Interests are blocking mass production of affordable recordable high capacity media. I would really like to back up gigs of personal data like home movies and pictures on a single disc. The fears of piracy keep it from happening...

  15.8.2008 18:10 #12