Sanyo on Monday revealed a new Blu-ray laser that could significantly speed up recording while also doubling the amount of available storage. By increasing the power of the laser to about 450mW, the Japanese electronics maker says it can not only produce the pits that hold data at a 12X rate versus the current 8X ceiling but penetrate up to four layers deep, allowing as much as 100GB on one disc versus the 50GB of a current two-layer disc.

The advancement would permit a burner to produce a disc with as much as eight hours of 1080p resolution, H.264-based video and could do so in about 10 minutes assuming a constant burn rate.

Actual shipping drives using the new laser aren't immediately planned and will likely require approval from the Blu-ray Disc Association, which would need to support the four-layer format across all manufacturers rather than just Sanyo. [via PC Advisor]