Sony’s potential Blu-ray successor to bring 1TB discs

Jos

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Hot on the heels of Sharp’s 100GB Blu-ray discs announcement, Sony has come out with an innovation of its own that could bring optical storage to a whole new level. Working in conjunction with researchers and engineers at Tohoku University in Japan, the company claims it has developed a blue-violet laser that shoots very thin beams with a very high watt output, allowing it to write up to 20 times more data on a disc compared to existing Blu-ray technology.

Currently, Blu-ray drives hold 25GB of data, with dual-layer versions capable of storing 50GB. The new blue-violet laser would theoretically enable 1TB capacities. Sony says it has tested the new technology, and will continue to develop it to create next-generation optical storage devices, but gave no indication as to when we'll be seeing a new disc format.

Considering most folks haven't even gotten a Blu-ray player in their homes yet, it doesn’t seem likely that there will be a major format change anytime soon. Regardless of this, or the future of physical media itself with Internet video streaming gaining popularity, the specs are astounding to consider. To put things into perspective, the new format could reportedly hold as many as 50 full movies, or an entire season of a TV series on a single disc.

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Now this is an optical tech I could get behind for backup and offline storage. Can't really see the mass consumer appeal (rather a bit of overkill, honestly), but it has some potential in the IT/data sector. Provided it's not 3.4 jazillion dollars. :)
 
I can see this being good if they can get the price at the same if not lower level than current Blu-Ray. I mean, as Vrmithrax said, this would be great as a backup medium.
 
As indicated in the news, this seems to be years away from becoming a mainstream medium, but I guess, whenever it does, it will be horrifically expensive for a while. So, I don't see myself backing up on this stuff for foreseeable future. Although, the fact of the matter is I only have a 500GB and 200GB HDD in my system, so it will still have 300GB free ;)
 
Even if it is miles away...

Vrmithrax said:
Now this is an optical tech I could get behind for backup and offline storage. Can't really see the mass consumer appeal (rather a bit of overkill, honestly), but it has some potential in the IT/data sector. Provided it's not 3.4 jazillion dollars. :)

...consumers read "wow! 1 tb! Thats like 20 times more than last time I want two!" And then getting home start asking what TB means. I wouldn't use this to store any kind of sensible data since CDs, DVDs, BDs etc are easily destructable.
 
Other than possibly storing the Library of Congress on one CD, I'm not sure what the practical application of something like this is. Guess you could put entire TV series on one disc, or collection of movies (James Bond collection, Star Trek collection, etc.), but that seems pretty insignificant considering the R&D costs involved.

But then, there could be a 500-hour version of Fallout V game that could use it.... ;)
 
I got B-Ray on desktop and laptop. I don't see the hype over this. Most users are still using DVDs or up-convert. Storage wise there are larger optical media devices. Boy insurance companies couldn't depend on 1TB today. Average home users still going to buy external HDDs of 2TB or higher. Media B-RAY just for watching media. B-Ray cost more and sure those 5 or more box sets of DVD Tv shows or movies would not fit on 1 B-Ray disc, but the price won't be cheap.
 
Yea I only see this having an application in the game industry, really. People are getting far more into streaming things like movies these days so media in general will have a very limited, niche market.

I'm still using DVDs too. I think a lot of folks are.

I bought one blu-ray movie (2012), watched it on my Ps3 since that's the only bluray drive I have, in HD, on a 52' Sony Bravia... And then I watched Resident Evil on a DVD with the same setup - honestly I must have just been missing something spectacular but I couldn't see the big deal either. I certainly couldn't see the reason to upgrade all of my equipment and start buying more expensive discs. So, DVDs for me for the foreseeable future, but they can feel free to keep making my game discs hold more data! Never did like those 4-6 cd RPG packages back in the days of the psx.
 
hello ..

well like with all media technology it may become mainstream at some point, or it may never for at the very moment they'll find some good use to it, another newer bigger, 'meaner' & cheaper version will be out ;) ...

I don't believe in full High definition, multi language video on the net services for some times, the net needs to improve & higher bandwidth connexion needs to be provided to the mass populace.

I think optical & magnetic media will prevail for @ least a decade, leaving a lot of space for development. If it wasn't for piracy, games & movies would have been released on 32-64 Gb memory cards instead.

the 1TB Blu-ray will find good use in archival system, secondary backup & like already said, new movies compilations, with the coming of 3D contents, high definition audio & video, soon more & more will be added, who knows a higher; ultra HD version, with very high refresh rates giving us great movies for theaters.

Let's wait & see, where it goes ;)

cheers!
 
@Richy: Say what? Games release on 32-64gb memory cards? Compare pricing between a memory card and a single or dual-layer DVD, and you people complain about gaming industry being so expensive.

@Zilpha: I cant seem to find the difference either... still my friends are all "hey I watch a 20gb movie it was so awesome 1080p full hd"... and on 14" notebook screens, I laugh on the inside though.
 
I can very easily tell the difference between DVD and Bluray. I'm a bit of an audio snob and not quiet as bad a video snob, but I can definitely see the difference almost instantly when watching SD or HD video on my setups. For a while my wife was saying "What's the difference", but after a while she started saying "There's something wrong with the TV." What was wrong was that her father had brought over a DVD to watch after saying it was bluray. It's something you kind of get used to if you watch it for a while - and you get spoiled. Also, the ability to have uncompressed audio with many Hi Def movies is always a plus.
 
Burning one of these discs should be an interesting process. But I can't imagine the time involved to burn a TB of data, and then what the odds are of some kind of software or hardware or even physical glitch happening in that amount of time that's going to turn that (probably every expensive) disk into a coaster.
 
Sure you all scoff now at 1TB optical media, but just wait and see how much space we'll need for a "3d holographic movie". Instead of 1920 x 1080, we'll be at 1920 x 1920 x 1080 for the low res versions.

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to catch this lightning bolt and head back to the future.
 
gwailo247 said:
Burning one of these discs should be an interesting process. But I can't imagine the time involved to burn a TB of data, and then what the odds are of some kind of software or hardware or even physical glitch happening in that amount of time that's going to turn that (probably every expensive) disk into a coaster.

With a DVD you burn 7 times a CD, and still it burns in a couple more minutes than a CD.
 
Yeah - but even if you can read your data off your source at 100MB/sec (a very fast spindle based hard drive) you're talking 10,000 seconds or over 2 1/2 hours.
 
hello ...

@ Kibaruk - I agree about the pricing issue, but i wanted to show that space is always an issue for multimedia content & today as blu-ray of over 50 Gb doesn't exist & some multimedia content do require more than that, they could have been co-released on magnetic media, assuming people are ready to pay for them, it will also allow better speed, won't you be happy to have a full HD movie on a small card that fit your purse.

the 1 Tb blu-ray will be expensive for a couple of years then become mainstream but then we'll see new multi-TB discs coming up. Based on experience, those who claimed in the past that we won't need that much space failed in their comments.

I don't see things as science fiction any more, we can say they are things to come some day in the future, near or far ...

PanicX was closer to the reality with his funny fictional comment ... who knows what kind of media we will have to deal with tomorrow ....

cheers!
 
as sopme one who works in the IT field, the cost of storing large bulky tape backup is truly a lot of money. as i work for a world-wide company managing that data would be cheaper and easier to storage and backup with something like that.
can't wait to see what options they can present for us!!! :)
 
2 questions:
1. How much would cost a single blu ray disk with 1 TB free space?!
2. How much would cost a single blu ray disk with 1 TB of games?!
 
Guest said:
2 questions:
1. How much would cost a single blu ray disk with 1 TB free space?!
2. How much would cost a single blu ray disk with 1 TB of games?!

same as did 1 25Gb or 50Gb at the beginning of this generation ... & will be same as at today
same as did 1 dvd-5 or dvd-9 at their early stage & will follow same trend as usual ...

same as are games for all generations...

else we also will earn more money ...

it's all relative & it's about time we do see things truly as they are ;)

cheers!
 
Hello what r u pepople talking about HELLO!!!!!! NO one speaks nerd please explain
 
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