Over
at DigiTimes they are reporting that global capacity expansion is putting the squeeze on Taiwans DVD disc producers. This year, these top tier producers are going to face more price drops, so how do you counter that? Volume!
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According to Taiwanese makers, their total production capacity will be expanded to at least 150 million DVD-R/+R discs a month by the end of this year. Producers in other countries, including Japanese Taiyo Yuden, Mitsubishi, TDK and Maxell as well as India-based Moser Baer (MBI), reportedly will also expand their production capacities this year. Global DVD-R/+R demand this year is estimated at 1.5-2 billion discs, according to several market survey companies. To cope with threatening oversupply, Taiwan's top and second-tier makers of DVD-R/+R discs are trying to raise yields to 95% and 90%, respectively, from 70%-80% in 2003 and aiming to shift production from 4x to 8x discs. In addition, they are trying to boost orders and stabilize prices by gaining product certification from major players in the DVD burner market, including Sony, Pioneer, and Philips. |
1.5 to 2 billion discs in a twelve month period. We can now assume that the DVD recordable format is beginning to become mainstream. I probably made a mistake so someone please correct me *cough*, but if you figure 20 DVDs to the inch when stacked, they make a pretty tall stack at 2 billion. Just shy of 1600 miles high (if the stack doesn't fall over). The Earths atmosphere peters out at about 60 miles so you would need a spacesuit before long.
Or, if there were 2 hours of video on each one it would take about 454,000 years to view all the discs one at a time...I think. But that is if you don't factor in leap years...whatever it's a bunch of discs.
Source: DigiTimes
