Sony developing Blu-Ray successor - could hold 1TB on a disc

[TTYT]

This is mind-boggling: http://gear.ign.com/articles/110/1108505p1.html

Today Sony in partnership with Tohoku University announced they have developed a new laser technology that will allow them to encode discs with twenty five times the data of any standard Blu-ray disc, with a total capacity of 1TB on a single disc.

The all-semiconductor laser technology uses a extremely condensed wavelength of 405 nanometers and generates high-powered optical pulses at three picoseconds (three-trillionths of a second). The nitty gritty technical details aside, this ultimately could mean big things for a next generation disc format, particular for high definition films and television and gaming.

Currently a standard dual-layer Blu-ray disc provide 50GBs of maximum data capacity, which as it stands, is rarely ever reached by games or movies. However, with up to 1TBs of data at their disposal, publishers could pack multiple titles on a single disc. With that much space, as The Examiner reports, studios could pack up to fifty HD films onto a single disc or entire seasons of television series.

The potential applications for games are also pretty substantial; with more space comes more capacity for more elaborate graphics, longer games, uncompressed multi-channel audio, more elaborate gameplay, or as we mentioned with movies and television, multiple games on a single disc.

While Sony did not announce any clear cut plans for the technology in terms of implementation on a consumer level, they did note that there are "high expectations" for the new laser system and that it could be particularly valuable in reducing the size of devices due to it's smaller light source.

All things considered, it seems fairly obvious that it will be years before this technology becomes commercially available, let alone adopted as a standard, but when the time comes it could lead to some pretty interesting developments in high-fidelity, high-capacity disc-based media.

[Bob]

Until they just implant the movie in my brain, I ain't interested

[Darth Geek]

And when Beetlejuice is released on this new format, it will still have no extra features.

[Doctor Who?]

I am still getting Blu Rays there is no way I am buying a new format.  Any way for the new format to be worth it we will have to get TVs that can show better then 1080p and I am not buying a new Tv(even if I had the money)until the TVs I got in the past 1 t 3 years die and that had better not happen for a long time,so I am not interested in the least.

[RVR II]

Until they just implant the movie in my brain, I ain't interested

[Artie]

Since movie studios don't like putting multiple movies on a disc until long after their initial release it seems unlikely they would support such a format.  Unless the new laser could make really small say 100 or 200 GB discs - those could be some real small players.

[SJP]

Since movie studios don't like putting multiple movies on a disc until long after their initial release it seems unlikely they would support such a format.  Unless the new laser could make really small say 100 or 200 GB discs - those could be some real small players.

From what I've read, there are companies working on quad-layer Blu-Ray discs that are 100 GB in size, and can be read by the standard BD laser, but they are still in beta testing and aren't available commercially.  You could easily fit an entire season of almost any show in HD on a disc that big, which is why I wonder why no one's leapt at the chance to do it yet...you'd companies would be jumping all over the ability to produce 3 separate, buyable titles on the ol' assembly instead of one 3-disc set.

To be fair, they ARE working on higher-res movies than HD...the biggest reason being that, the larger the screen, the more pixels you need, thus why you occasionally hear about 4k or 6k (aka 4000-6000 lines of horizontal resolution, compared to the 1k of HD) to allow for a super clear picture on an IMAX-type screen, where a 1 TB or bigger disc might be useful.  So, yeah, the 1 TB disc currently wouldn't be needed for consumers except for backup purposes, but rest assured Sony's planning to put this sucker in the PS4 if it's ready in time.  And it'll probably be backwards compatible with BD, DVD, and all the rest.

While I'm sure Sony's a long way off from replacing BD, never say "we'll never need that kind of space."  I mean, Final Fantasy XIII uses either 3 DVDs or 1 BD already, depending on what system you've got, and in the 1980s, people thought it was mind-boggling to be able to fit a whole megabyte on a disc smaller than 5 1/4".  With people wanting to clear downloaded movies and music off of their hard drives for archival purposes, trust me, we'll find a way to fill 1 TB worth of disc in a hurry.

[stansimpson]

And even with 1TB, they'll still make multi-disc box sets.   

[Doctor Who?]

And even with 1TB, they'll still make multi-disc box sets.   

Yeah that is another thing I don't like.

I mean if a show can't be put in HD I would still gladly buy a Blu Ray version that put an inter season of The Simpsons or some other show on one disc and yet the only show that has done anything like that is The Venture Brothers.

[Artie]

And even with 1TB, they'll still make multi-disc box sets.   

Yeah that is another thing I don't like.

I mean if a show can't be put in HD I would still gladly buy a Blu Ray version that put an inter season of The Simpsons or some other show on one disc and yet the only show that has done anything like that is The Venture Brothers.

I've been waiting for that for years.   They could put out entire series sets on a few discs for shows that wouldn't be big enough sellers to justify season sets on dvd. 

[MrTorso]

I wish they touted Blu-Ray as a high capacity format instead of strictly a high-def one.  I am really curious about what they are doing with the Simpsons season 13 as that is going to have a blu-ray release.

[Doctor Who?]

Well assuming they don't use multi discs for multi discs sake and it take up the same amount of space as on DvD it should fit on one Blu Ray disc.

4x8.5 gig discs=38 gigs<one 50 gig Blu Ray disc.

I sure hope that is what they are doing.

It would sure be much more green to use fewer discs then putting discs in cardboard cases that scratch them up.

[spaceforarent]

I wish they touted Blu-Ray as a high capacity format instead of strictly a high-def one.  I am really curious about what they are doing with the Simpsons season 13 as that is going to have a blu-ray release.

According to Amazon, the DVD set has 4 discs, and the Blu-Ray has 3.

[D.B. Barnes]

Until they just implant the movie in my brain, I ain't interested

Oh it's comin'!

[Doctor Who?]

Well I am not sure there is a point to the Blu Ray set then.  I mean the show isn't in HD and if there is only one disc less when all four discs could fit on one Blu Ray what is the point really?