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Pioneer Japan recently sent out a press release, announcing its new portable, clamshell type Blu-ray Disc writer, the BDR-XD05J2. This USB 3.0 equipped drive measures only 133 × 14.8 x 133 mm and weighs in at a mere 230g. The BDR-XD05J2 is capable of 6x BD-R, 6x BD-R DL, 6x BD-R LTH, 2x BD-RE and 2x BD-RE DL writing speeds and a maximum BD-ROM read speed of 6x. It also writes to triple- (100GB) and quad-layer (128GB) BD-R media at 4x and triple-layer (100GB) BD-RE media at 2x.
The BDR-XD05J2 includes features like Pioneer's PureRead2+ technology and an "advanced silent mode" for when playing movies and audio discs. It also includes a new "intelligent eco mode" which shortens the recording time and reduces the drive's power consumption when in standby mode by about 40%. The BDR-XD05J2 ships with authoring and playback software from CyberLink and is expected to hit stores in late October for about 13,000 Yen ($121US).
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Pioneer Japan sent out a press today, announcing what it claims to be the world's thinnest and lightest slot-loading Blu-ray Disc writer. Thanks to a magnesium alloy case, the BDR-XU03J weighs in at a mere 245g and measures only 133 × 133 × 12 mm. This stylish, USB powered drive is capable of 6x BD-R, 6x BD-R DL, 6x BD-R LTH, 2x BD-RE and 2x BD-RE DL writing speeds and a maximum BD-ROM read speed of 6x. The BDR-XU03J also writes to triple- (100GB) and quad-layer (128GB) BD-R media at 4x and triple-layer (100GB) BD-RE media at 2x.
The BDR-XU03J includes features like Pioneer's PureRead2+ technology and noise reducing firmware. The drive is also compatible with the company's APS-WF01J wireless dock, which lets it be used with Windows-based tablets and iOS devices. The BDR-XU03J ships with authoring and playback software from CyberLink and is expected to hit stores in late January for about 23,000 Yen ($211US).
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Millenniata and Verbatim today announced a global M-Disc partnership that Millenniata's Chief Executive described as "deep and wide-ranging."
Under the partnership, Verbatim—and its parent company, Mitsubishi Kagaku Media (MKM)— will begin worldwide marketing and sales programs of M-Disc-branded DVDs and Blu-ray discs (BDs) and technologies to consumers and enterprise customers. MKM will also pursue M-Disc partnerships with archival software developers, and OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) in the personal computer and optical disc drive (ODD) markets, including M-Ready® ODD manufacturers.
Initial Verbatim and MKM M-Disc product offerings under this agreement will include the following:
End-users and SMBs
- 4.7GB DVD M-Discs
- 25GB BD-R M-Discs
- 100GB BD-R BDXL M-Discs
Enterprise Customers
- 100GB BD-R BDXL M-Discs
- 200GB double-sided, Blu-ray Disc (BD-DSD) M-Discs
Additionally, Millenniata, Verbatim and MKM have agreed to joint development efforts designed to expand the capabilities and capacities of archival-grade data storage technologies both in terms of longevity and data storage capacity.
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The Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA) today announced the finalization of a new double-sided disc specification (BD-DSD), a commercial specification that enables storage of 200GB of data on a double-sided Blu-ray Disc for professional usage. The BD-DSD discs are designed to work in large configurations built to store petabytes of data, and also provide a cost effective, highly reliable alternative to traditional HDD and tape storage systems for data center operators. Optical discs have inherent reliability advantages over other media as the discs do not make physical contact with a read/write head, like tape, and do not continually spin like HDDs.
“With the explosion of social media services, the move toward cloud computing services, and the overall ‘digitization’ of our social and business lives, institutional data storage requirements today are simply staggering,” said Kei Yamashita, chairman of the BDA’s DSD Task Force. “The new BD-DSD specification can provide an extremely cost-effective and dependable way to meet this need while providing manufacturers of BD-DSD products the ability to help reduce a data center’s carbon footprint.”
According to estimates based on a current single-sided disc, operating costs for 100 terabyte class storage system could be significantly reduced by using BD-DSD as opposed to other media options. This estimation considers cost of media as well as data migration, power consumption, IT, hardware and software costs. The reductions in power consumption, both for operation and cooling, also result in a significant reduction in CO2 emissions when compared to HDD and tape centric data centers.
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Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., a global leader in digital media and convergence technologies, announced today its newest ultra-slim portable DVD writers, the SE-218GN and SE-208GB optical disc drives (ODDs) with a sleeker design and mobile size for Ultrabook users on-the-go.
Measuring 148.6 x 14 x 146mm (SE-208GB) and 148 x 14.4 x 143(SE-218GN), the drives are ideal for Ultrabook™ users that need optical media for easy access to stored documents, photos and multimedia content. These new drives feature a new external ODD design by placing the eject button on top of the case to maximize the ease of pressing the eject button instead of on the front bezel.
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Pioneer Corporation and Memory-Tech Corporation have jointly developed a high-capacity optical disc for data archiving with a capacity of 256 GB on a single side. With the use of double-sided disc technologies, capacity can be expanded up to 512 GB.
Recently there has been growing interest in digital archiving where information such as source materials and official documents held at libraries and art galleries are digitized and stored long-term, and the total volume of stored digital data is expected to rapidly increase in the coming years. As well as offering lower maintenance costs compared with other technologies, the use of optical discs to record and save information is recognized for its high reliability, such as its excellent recording recall factor when exposed to disasters such as flooding, and further advances in capacity are required.
The high-capacity optical disc for data archiving developed by Pioneer and Memory-Tech employs a guide layer-separated multi-layer disc structure which separates the recording layers and guide layers, and by stacking eight recording layers on a single side of an optical disc, achieves the high capacity of 256 GB. With the use of double-sided disc technologies, recording capacity of up to 512 GB on a single disc can be ensured. Moreover, the discs feature excellent compatibility with existing formats. For instance, the developed optical discs recorded using a compliant recording device can be played back on Blu-ray Disc™ compliant drives (Some pickup and firmware modifications required).
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Showing continued growth and market interest from both consumers and enterprises for long-lasting, compliance-ready permanent data storage, Millenniata has introduced its 25 GB Blu-ray M-Disc. The M-Disc optical media (DVD and now Blu-ray) is the only storage option to preserve information, photos and videos for hundreds of years. Optical media is the responsible choice because of its unparalleled longevity, broad compatibility, high reliability, energy efficiency and durability against electromagnetic pulses and catastrophes. With the recent Blu-ray Disc Association approval, the M-Disc Blu-ray works in most standard Blu-ray drives and is being shipped to customers as of April 1, 2014.
According to International Data Corporation (IDC), the digital universe is growing at a remarkable pace – doubling about every two years in both the consumer and enterprise segments. Consumers, for instance, take twice the photos/videos per person now than a few years ago and those images are much larger files. For both enterprises and consumers, this increase in file creation and the reality that virtually all storage mediums have a limited life, means that reliable, long-lasting, archival quality storage options are essential.
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As the world leader in storage media, RITEK provides the world's best Blu-ray discs with dual layers (BD-R DL) to accommodate the growing needs for 3D Digital TV and Blu-ray hardware and software. The BD-R DL 6X disc is highly compatible, reliable and durable. It especially feature that can record data at speeds of up to 8X.
Providing double the storage capacity of a standard Blu-Ray Recordable disc, RITEK BD-R DL 6X discs provide up to 50GB of data. It is designed especially to store large HD video and audio files. Therefore, you'll use fewer discs when you're backing-up, recording or duplicating high definition digital recordings. The most attracting part of this disc is that you can record all these data up to 8X in the most of drivers of current market.
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Other World Computing (OWC), a leading zero emissions Mac and PC upgrade and storage technology company has upgraded the OWC Mercury Pro External Blu-ray Optical Drive to professional grade 16X BD-R write speeds, 128GB BDXL compatibility, and high-speed USB 3.0 connectivity.
In addition to single and double layer BD-R discs, the Mercury Pro External offers expanded support for up to 100GB of data on triple layer BDXL-R/BDXL RE discs and up to 128GB on quad layer BDXL-R discs. For comparison, 128GBs of data on a single quad layer BDXL disc is the equivalent of 27 standard DVDs or five single layer Blu-ray discs.
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Sony Corporation ("Sony") and Panasonic Corporation ("Panasonic") today announced that they have formulated "Archival Disc", a new standard for professional-use, next-generation optical discs, with the objective of expanding the market for long-term digital data storage.
Optical discs have excellent properties to protect themselves against the environment, such as dust-resistance and water-resistance, and can also withstand changes in temperature and humidity when stored. They also allow inter-generational compatibility between different formats, ensuring that data can continue to be read even as formats evolve. This makes them robust media for long-term storage of content. Recognizing that optical discs will need to accommodate much larger volumes of storage going forward, particularly given the anticipated future growth in the archive market, Sony and Panasonic have been engaged in the joint development of a standard for professional-use next-generation optical discs.
These efforts resulted in the formulation of "Archival Disc", a new professional-use next-generation optical disc standard, for which the technology roadmap, logo, and specifications are outlined below.
