Get ready to never leave your home. Pioneer announced this week a read-only Blu-ray technology that could put up to 48 hours, or 400GB, of movies on a single disc.
By comparison, the current Blu-ray Disc format stores 25GB on a single-layer disc and 50GB on a dual-layer version. A 50GB Blu-ray disc can hold up to about six hours of high-definition video.
16 Layers
The new Pioneer technology has 16 layers on a conventional 12-centimeter optical disc, and is currently a play-only version. The company has indicated that a writable version is being developed.
Pioneer's announcement said "it is possible to maintain compatibility" between the new, very high-density Blu-ray format and existing players. However, the company indicated that some kind of modification may be necessary, either in the production of the discs or in the players.
The key to making such storage possible, Pioneer said, is reducing interference between adjacent layers, as its prototype does.
A formal announcement of the 400GB technology is expected at the International Symposium on Optical Memory and Optical Data Storage, which begins Sunday in Hawaii. Industry observers anticipate that Pioneer will not commercially produce the discs, but will work with manufacturers. TDK has also announced a high-capacity disc, with six layers and a 150GB capacity.
In a separate announcement, Pioneer said it will start selling Blu-ray recorders in Japan before next March.
The recorders, to be sold under the Pioneer brand, will be made with Sharp Electronics. Sharp, Sony and Matsushita control virtually the entire Blu-ray market in Japan. Matsushita makes Panasonic products. No plans for sales of the recorder in the U.S. or elsewhere were announced.
'Not Earth-Shattering'
Josh Martin, an analyst with industry research firm Yankee Group, said the new, high-capacity disc is "interesting, but not earth-shattering." He said the last time he checked, it was not much cheaper...

More... (http://www.toptechnews.com/story.xhtml?story_id=60673)