Back in January, TDK announced that they had started mass-production of bare BD-R write-once and BD-RE rewritable Blu-ray discs, including the shipping of mass production samples. Unlike the cartridge enclosed Blu-ray drives and discs released in Japan back in April 2003, these new discs are bare like the current CD and DVD formats. However, to product surface, the discs feature DURABIS2, which TDK claims to be the world's most advanced and protective hard coating despite its 0.1mm thickness.
Now TDK has started shipping 25GB BD-R and BD-RE media across Europe in preparation to have Blu-ray disc media on retail shelves from April '06 during the launch of the first Blu-ray hardware. They expect to start shipping 50GB dual-layer BD-R & BD-RE Blu-ray media in April. The recommended retail pricing is set at €15, €20, €35 and €45 for 25GB BD-R, 25GB BD-RE, 50GB BD-R and 50GB BD-RE media respectively. TDK will also present their full range of Blu-ray Disc media during CeBIT 2006, which will take place 9th to 15th March.
Unlike the recording material used in CD and DVD media, TDK's BD-R media will use inorganic material, making it impervious to light. As a result, TDK expects this media to be long-lasting and an excellent media for archival. The material, which is composed of copper and silicon, also allows the media to achieve fast write & read speeds as well as suitable for multi-layering. TDK's BD-RE media is also designed to resist degradation and their tests shows virtually no degradation occurs even after 10,000 rewrites. Thanks to D4rk0n3 for letting us know about the following news:
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Recommended Retail Pricing is set at 15 Euro for a 25GB BD-R (write once), 20 Euro for a 25GB BD-RE (rewritable), 35 Euro for a 50GB BD-R (write once) and 45 Euro for a 50GB BD-RE (rewritable). Expect to see the first BD media on shelves from April 06, in line with the first BD hardware availability. The revolutionary single-sided discs are bare, cartridge-free media. The 25GB products are single layer whereas the 50GB products have a dual layer recording material structure. TDK first shipped mass production samples in December 2005, and with the subsequent issuance of the relevant licenses, the company immediately commenced full force manufacturing. Some further info can be read here. In TDK's press-release in January, TDK went into in-depth technical detail about their Blu-ray media, including images. |
The recommended retail pricing of blank BD-R media reminds me of the early days of DVD recordable media when the average high-street price was anywhere from €10 up, so chances are that it will take a year or two before the prices fall sufficiently to the point where it becomes practical to use BD-R as a low cost means of archiving off a large amount of data. With such a thin coating on the recording surface, it will also be interesting to see if TDK also lives up to its claims. On the other hand, it is nice to see the launch of the Blu-ray format just a month away.
Feel free to discuss about the Blu-ray format on our Satellite, HD-TV, Blu-ray and HD-DVD Forum.
Source: HEXUS.lifestyle
