Blu-Ray Capacity Increased.

[Polaris573]

The specification governing the storage capacity of blu-ray discs has been officially increased to 128 GB for single write discs and 100 GB for re-writable discs. The new format, called BDXL, goes three to four layers deep on the disc and requires a more powerful laser. Unfortunately this means that existing blu-ray equipment will not be able to read or write to BDXL discs. The need for new equipment, combined with the fact that movies have no trouble squeezing onto current 50 GB Blu-Ray discs, will probably severely hamper adoption in the near term.

Source: MaximumPC

[Ben_UK]

Increased capacity is nice and all that, but if the max resolution output is fixed at 1080 X 1920, is there really any point?

It would be great if they could increase it to double what it is now, though thats probably for "blu ray 2" in 2015 or something...

[Phxprovost]

Originally Posted by Ben_UK

Increased capacity is nice and all that, but if the max resolution output is fixed at 1080 X 1920, is there really any point?

It would be great if they could increase it to double what it is now, though thats probably for "blu ray 2" in 2015 or something...

wut? i could put a video on a blueray with 4000X4000 res if i wanted to... The res has nothing to do with the media, its the player and screen that maxes the res

[popswala]

I honestly don't see the point of this. blueray disc do just fine with the size of disk to movie. What do you need more space for? I can see puttin more then one movie on disc but whats the chances that after u burn them. when you do wana watch them that the ones you put on the same disc is the combo you feel like watching. And this tech Prob isn't gonna work that way, maybe more intended to be able to pack more detail to the movie when tv's can only put out so much and most ppl that have large tv's prob have crappy cables to counteract.

I don't know bout you but the ones I have work just fine. I'm not forkin' more money over on something like this. I don't burn movies anymore no way. Thanks to large HDDs on a network.

[PVTCaboose1337]

Gosh I hate how they do double density and quad density and double sided and all this crap. Had the same problems with floppy disks way back when. Old (5.25" mind you) 360k drives not compatible with 1.2mb disks. UHHHH.

[assaulter_99]

I'd rather have em lower the prices of the media and writers instead of doubling stockage capacity. I'd rather buy a TB HDD than buy a writer atm (dunno if prices elsewhere are the same though)

[DRDNA]

sounds absolutely great for backing up purposes, but thats about it.

[Sasqui]

Originally Posted by PVTCaboose1337

Gosh I hate how they do double density and quad density and double sided and all this crap. Had the same problems with floppy disks way back when. Old (5.25" mind you) 360k drives not compatible with 1.2mb disks. UHHHH.

Excellent point.

When we have laser - crystal storage at 100 Terrabytes per cubic centimeter, we'll be laughing at our silly spinning disks and SSD NAND flash drives.

[devguy]

If it needs a new laser (and thus not compatible with the PS3), I doubt it will go anywhere. I see PS3 games as the only thing in the future even possibly using that kind of storage.

[Easy Rhino]

every step counts but not all are that memorable. eventually we will be cranking out 3 times the res of 1080p and we will need that kind of portable storage capacity.

[freaksavior]

Originally Posted by Easy Rhino

every step counts but not all are that memorable. eventually we will be cranking out 3 times the res of 1080p and we will need that kind of portable storage capacity.

yeah, eventually. Look how long it took HDTV other high def content to actually get adopted. Them doing this is a bad move.

People who arleady bought a blu ray / new hdtv will be mega pissed if this turns out to be main stream. I can see this as backup media, and for commercial applications. but consumer movies. I kind of doubt it.

[Easy Rhino]

Originally Posted by freaksavior

yeah, eventually. Look how long it took HDTV other high def content to actually get adopted. Them doing this is a bad move.

People who arleady bought a blu ray / new hdtv will be mega pissed if this turns out to be main stream. I can see this as backup media, and for commercial applications. but consumer movies. I kind of doubt it.

highly unlikely movie studios and the like will be upping their res any time soon requiring this new blu ray disc standard. this is most definitely for data storage and research purposes. also, it keeps sony and fellow investors in the storage game keeping blu-ray relevant for several more years.

[qwerty_lesh]

If the SIG for BluRay play their cards right then this would be targeted at an Enterprise market until there is any actual commercial demand for it, otherwise we may see them try to force it onto consumers (XP > Vista, anybody?)

[hat]

Yeah, I've got a 3 hour blu-ray movie... 17.5GB. That's still pretty far from 25GB from a normal blu-ray disc...

[Easy Rhino]

Originally Posted by qwerty_lesh

If the SIG for BluRay play their cards right then this would be targeted at an Enterprise market until there is any actual commercial demand for it, otherwise we may see them try to force it onto consumers (XP > Vista, anybody?)

exactly. this is enterprise material and will be around when consumer demand develops. there is no demand yet for higher res movies. i think we will stay at 1080p for a few more years.

[TheLaughingMan]

This just makes my argument for anime to be packaged as 720p @ 30 FPS to be packaged on Blu-ray discs to minimize disc numbers for box sets. Imaging having all of Cowboy Bebop in HD, with 5.1 dolby digital surround sound, 4 hours of extra features, all 26 episodes and the movie on 2 Blu-rays instead of 8 DVD's. That would be epic.

[Mussels]

well i'm glad they got it sorted now, so at least i can hold off longer and get one of the new drives


oh and what people said about the PS3... there will be a PS4. i bet this comes with it.

[Soylent Joe]

Originally Posted by Mussels

oh and what people said about the PS3... there will be a PS4. i bet this comes with it.

I would also bet on that. They'll incorporate the stronger laser in there in order to read these, so they'll have plenty of room to store those super-huge beautiful 3D PS4 games on. Also, assuming that laser would also be able to read regular BR's, it would still be able to read all older BR games and current BR movies (as there's no current need to put a movie on a BDXL, it would just be uneconomical).

[Mussels]

its another decent anti piracy trick for them too, PS3 games play on PS4, blu ray plays on PS4, but (some?) PS4 games cant play on PS3 due to the disk being in the new format.

all they'd need to do is crank up the graphics (better GPU, more AA on older titles or something) and away they go. hell even just a better framerate would sell.

[assaulter_99]

Originally Posted by Mussels

its another decent anti piracy trick for them too, PS3 games play on PS4, blu ray plays on PS4, but (some?) PS4 games cant play on PS3 due to the disk being in the new format.

all they'd need to do is crank up the graphics (better GPU, more AA on older titles or something) and away they go. hell even just a better framerate would sell.

I didn't think about that, nice find. Comes about just the same time as news of hacks being developed. I bet its just a trick to tell em "lay down your arms, we have another trick up our sleeve".

I don't suppose a firmware update will work, is it...??

[Mussels]

Originally Posted by TAViX

I don't suppose a firmware update will work, is it...??

not unless sony had this planned from the start, and deliberately held the tech back...

[department76]

bluray itself severley hampers the adoption of BD. hddvd should have won...

[Soylent Joe]

Originally Posted by department76

bluray itself severley hampers the adoption of BD. hddvd should have won...

Care to elaborate on how does Blu-Ray hampers the adoption of itself? From what I've seen, it's the overpriced players, price of new BR movies, and lack of HDTV's in homes. And why should HDDVD have won?

[department76]

Originally Posted by Soylent Joe

it's the overpriced players, price of new BR movies?

bingo.

hddvd had a $100 player that had more features and support than the cheapest ($300) BR player for two years before the first $100 BR player. it was VERY recent that a BR player could even be found for $100, and it's still uncommon.