At this year's Consumer Electronics Show, Hitach-Maxell demonstrated a 4 layer 100GB Blu-ray disc. Since then, the company has taken this technology one step further, doubling the number of layers and boosting the capacity to 200GB. Here's part of their press release, translated from Japanese:
The hitachi, ltd. Research Center (chief: Yasushi Hukunaga/below, Hitachi), this each time, basic technology of the optical system which expands the regenerative signal output of the optical disk in 10 times was developed. As for this technology, it is something which makes the optical detection method which expands the regenerative signal making use of the interference of two lights the optical disk apply. With this technology, reflected light of the optical disk being weak, accurate reading of the regenerative signal becomes possible, you say that reflected light becomes weak by the fact that the number of record layers increases fundamental topic of the multilayer optical disk is solved, the blue ray disk whose record playback of the single sided 100~200 gigabyte is possible at 4~8 layer (Blu-ray Disc) actualization of the device is expected.
While details are sketchy due to the translation, Hitachi appears to be splitting the laser in half to create a reference beam. This second beam helps cut through the interference caused by the layers being so close to each other. According to other, unconfirmed sources, Hitachi plans to bring this 200GB disc to market by 2009. If you'd like to read more, their entire press release can be found here. Add a comment
Samsung sent out a press release this morning, announcing a new portable, slot loading DVD burner, the SE-T084L. Along with support for LightScribe, the SE-T084L features 8x DVD±R, 6x DVD+R DL, 4x DVD-R DL and 5x DVD-RAM writing speeds.

Samsung Electronics Ltd., the worldwide digital consumer electronics and information technology leader, announces its new high-end SE-T084L portable front slot loading DVD burner targeted to the business traveler that uses a portable notebook computer. The WriteMaster(TM) SE-T084L is ideal for the traveler on the go who requires a DVD burner, but whose notebook does not include the device...

...The SE-T084L is a slim and compact portable DVD burner featuring easy insert and eject capabilities with its slot loading technology. It offers USB bus power and gives users the ability to read and write to DVDs without the need for an AC adaptor. The SE-T084L features 8X DVD+R recording, 6X DVD+R DL recording, 8X DVD+RW and DVD-R recording. It also features 4X DVD-R DL recording, 6X DVD-RW recording and 5X DVD-RAM recording.
The SE-T084L started shipping back in April for a street price of $150. More information can be found here. Add a comment
A few weeks ago we reported that Gigstorage was in the process of moving its CD-R manufacturing business to Thailand. According to a recent article by DigiTimes, the company's new factory is up and running and they've started volume production of CD-R discs.
Gigastorage, a second-tier maker of optical discs in Taiwan, early in May started volume production of CD-R discs at an initial monthly capacity of two to three million discs in Thailand, and will begin volume production of photovoltaic conductive paste, its new product, in July of 2007, according to the company.

Gigastorage completed its shift of CD-R disc manufacturing equipment from Taiwan to its factory in Thailand and then began production. While the factory's production will focus on CD-R discs for the time being, Gigastorage may also shift production lines of DVD+R/-R discs from Taiwan if demand in the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) market grows to a certain level, the company indicated.
If you'd like to read more, head on over to DigiTimes. Add a comment
With growing pressure form OEM clients like Dell and HP, Taiwan's optical drive manufacturers have started to introduce more SATA equipped drives. According to DigiTimes, the volume of SATA DVD-ROM drives and DVD burners could exceed that of ATAPI models by the second half of this year.
While ATAPI has been popularly used in optical disc drives (ODDs), SATA (serial ATA) stands a good chance of replacing the former as the mainstream interface standard for DVD-ROM drives and DVD burners in the second half of 2007 due to increasing adoption of the latter by global OEM/ODM clients such as Dell and Hewlett-Packard, according to ODD makers in Taiwan.

Many international OEM/ODM clients have requested for use of SATA in place of ATAPI for new DVD-ROM drive and/or DVD burner models sent for product certification over the past four months, the sources pointed out. As a result, the total shipment volume of SATA DVD-ROM drives and DVD burners is likely to exceed that of ATAPI models in the second half of the year, the sources indicated.
While this isn't the first time DigiTimes has made these claims about SATA, ATAPI drives are definitely on the way out. If you'd like to read more, head on over to DigiTimes. Add a comment
To cope with falling media prices, some of the industry's smaller media manufacturers have started using second-grade polycarbonate and self-developed dyes. As a result, batches of discs with defect rates as high as 50% have started to show up on the Taiwanese market.
In the Taiwan retail market, small brands or brands without a reputation have recently provided a large volume of DVD+R/-R discs of which purchasers have found as many as 30-50% failed in performance. Such defect rates are historically very exceptional, according to Taiwan retail channels.

Currently, DVD+R/-R discs supplied by international brands, including Philips, Sony and TDK, sell at NT$8-12 (US$0.24-0.36) per disc while small or little-known brands charge only NT$6-7 for a disc, the sources indicated.
These failure rates are quite high, even for low grade media. Nevertheless, people shouldn't be surprised by the quality. As the old saying goes, you get what you pay for. If you'd like to read more, head on over to DigiTimes. Add a comment