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Pioneer has developed an optical disc that can
hold up to 400G bytes of data easily surpassing
previously announced prototypes.
The new disc manages to pack 16 layers, each
with a 25G-byte capacity, into a conventional
12-centimeter diameter optical disc. The new
discs are similar to Blu-ray Disc technology and
slight changes to the hardware on a Blu-ray
drive would allow the new Pioneer discs to be
used on one.
Pioneer doesn't have any plans to commercially
produce the disc but is looking to work with
disc manufacturers who would make it themselves.
The technology is about ready to enter
commercialization, said Michiko Kadoi, a
spokeswoman for Pioneer in Tokyo.
A one-sided Blu-rayDisc has 25G bytes of
capacity, far less than the Pioneer disc.
Currently dual-layer 50G byte discs are the
highest capacity discs available commercially.
Various companies have worked on higher capacity
discs and TDK previously announced development
of a 6-layer disc with 150G byte capacity but
that has yet to reach the market.
Getting a clear signal from each recording layer
has been a stumbling block for higher capacity
discs with more layers, but Pioneer says it has
managed to solve this problem by employing
technology it developed for DVDs. The new disc
has a structure that reduces interference from
adjacent layers and so accurate playback is
possible from all 16 layers, the company said.
The initial prototype is a read-only disc but
the same technology is also applicable to
recordable discs.
A current 50G byte Blu-ray Disc can store about
6 hours of digital high-definition TV so the
higher capacity discs, if commercialized, would
be able to expand this to 48 hours.
Pioneer plans to detail the technology at the
International Symposium on Optical Memory and
Optical Data Storage 2008 that will be held in
Hawaii from July 13.
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