Panasonic, Sony promise 67GB Blu-ray discs
updated 12:25 pm EST, Sat January 2, 2010
Blu-ray technique gives 33pc 'free' storage
Panasonic and Sony on Friday were revealed to have made a technology that could provide a third more space on a Blu-ray disc than existing technology. An evaluation technique known as i-MLSE (Maximum Likelihood Sequence Estimation) would better judge the optical quality when reading and writing discs, letting Blu-ray burners and readers work at up to a higher limit. The companies estimate that they could already produce 33.4GB per layer versus 25GB today and could result in a 66.8GB dual-layer disc.
Unlike some advanced Blu-ray developments, the new approach is primarily dependent on software and wouldn't need new lasers or settings to record the extra capacity, according to Tech-On. Some companies may need to upgrade the processing hardware inside their drives as the advanced correction needs extra performance to be handled in real time.
Sony is particularly hopeful that i-MLSE becomes a widespread standard and is likely to propose it to the Blu-ray Disc Association as part of the spec. The move would give Association members like Apple, Dell, LG and Samsung a new option for data backups and longer-running movies.














Apple's a member of the Association?
01/02, 02:11pm reply
Surprising... given their outright refusal to support Blu-ray on their Macs (asides from data usage), I'm a bit surprised to hear about this.
This is good news, though. This could probably translate over to longer, more ridiculously hi-def movies than they already have.
TheAppleFreak
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Oct 2009
Back up
01/02, 03:45pm (1 reply) reply
What is the point of backing up to discs? By the time it was finished, it would be time to do it again.
HDD is more economical.
dmsimmer
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Feb 2005
great...
01/02, 04:00pm reply
More room for more cr@ppy previews that you can't fast forward through because the disc won't let you.
chirpy22
Junior Member
Joined: Jan 2006
really
01/02, 10:27pm reply
I thought everyone quit investing in stupid plastic disks...
sixcolors
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Oct 2001
This is war
01/03, 03:49am reply
Oh, boy. The heat is on. The moment HD download contents are available, Sony just have to push it further for their Blue-ray invention.
coffeetime
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Nov 2006
Apple and downloads
01/03, 12:42pm reply
Apple is not just a member, it's been on the Blu-ray Disc Association's board of directors almost from the beginning.
Good luck with HD downloads. If you think that the ISPs are going to sit and take it while everyone loads down their networks with multiple 10+ gigabyte downloads every month, you're dreaming. Either they're going to cap your bandwidth or they're going to raise your prices. Comcast is already paving the way.
CmdrGampu
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Aug 2009
Re: great
01/04, 01:02pm reply
More room for more cr@ppy previews that you can't fast forward through because the disc won't let you.
And if you think that, if downloads come into real usage, you're not going to have the same thing there, you're dreaming.
testudo
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Aug 2001