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Twisting Optical Science for Bigger Optical Discs

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Twisting Optical Science for Bigger Optical Discs

Researchers at the Swinburne University of Technology overcome a law of optical science to develop technology boosting DVD storage capacity-- a change in writing lasers boosts DVD storage capacity from 4.7GB to up to 1 petabyte.

The technology enables "three-dimensional optical beam lithography at nine nanometres" and acts as a turnaround to Abbe's Limit, the law discovered in 1873 by Ernst Abbe.

Abbe's Limit states light beam focused by a lens cannot produce a focal spot smaller than half of the wavelength (or 500nm) for visible light. It allowed for the development of  of modern optical microscopy, but set a barrier for scientists working in the nanometer scale.

“The new technique produces a focal spot that is 1/10000 of a human hair, enabling more data to be written to disc,” Swinburne Centre for Micro-Photonics director Professor Min Gu says.

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Don't Give Up on Discs

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Don't Give Up on Discs

We all know it's the last dance for optical disc storage but it's more like a slow waltz than a fast tango...

And there's money in the last-man-standing product cycle, as we saw with floppy discs.

Since the beginning of 2011, first-tier Taiwan-based makers of blank optical discs (CMC Magnetics, Ritek and Gigastorage) have reduced output of of CD-R and DVD discs by 20-30% (and increased Blu-ray discs). Most second-tier makers stopped production and are selling off inventory. Prices at source rose Continue reading...

DVD Writing and Label Printing From One Device

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DVD Writing and Label Printing From One Device

Lite-on announces its iHAS624, a SATA DVD writer with disc labelling options as well as permanent disc erasing.

It writes standard DVDs at 24X, with 12X speeds for double layer discs, 8X for DVD +RW and 6X for DVD-RW. It also carries smart-erase to erase data by overwriting with random characters.

Lite-on says its writer even allows some 16X speed discs to be written at 24X through its fastest writing strategies.

The writer has 2x disc label burning systems-- either Lite-On's own Labeltag or Continue reading...

Digital Download Passes Blu-ray for First Time

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Digital Download Passes Blu-ray for First Time

Tt's not that Blu-ray isn't finally racing along…it's more the danger than digital download is sprinting faster and threatens to permanently overtake Blu-ray any time soon.

Now digital distribution platforms for in-home entertainment (including video-on-demand) have outpaced Blu-ray Disc in US consumer spending during the first half of 2010, passing the $1 billion mark for the first time, according to new figures released by DEG.

Electronic sell-through increased 37% year-over-year to $285 million Continue reading...

2010 is Year of Blu-ray, Says MediaRange

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2010 is Year of Blu-ray, Says MediaRange

"This is the Year of Blu-Ray." Does that sound to you like a train that's long overdue in the station?

Sure, Japan's media association (JRIA) claims 98 million will be sold this year and 310 million by 2012. And Bitkom claims Europe will sell 890 million euros this year, up 70%.

But it is hard to trust these statistics when so many have predicted so much for Blu-Ray, and all has fallen short.

So when we hear that one of the Top 5 European BD-R brands (June 2009 report by the GfK) says it Continue reading...

TDK First with 6x Write-once Blu-ray

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altTDK says they’llbe the first to start shipping new 6x write-once Blu-ray discs to Europe.

With data transfer speeds of 216Mbps, these BR discs reduce recording time for 25GB disc by 17 minutes.

Protected by DURABIS2 coating to ensure the discs are scratch, light and dust resistant, retail pricing will be recommended at 17.99 euros (25GB BD-R) and 44.99 euros (50GB BD-R).

Go TDK

500GB TeraDisc DVD

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500GB TeraDisc DVD

A new study published by Coughlin Associates says consumer data storage needs will quickly outpace the max capacity of current Blu-Ray and HD-DVD storage solutions by 2010.

Mempile hopes its TeraDisc™ technology can step in: their format can store one Terabyte of data on a single DVD-sized optical disc and has a roadmap up to 5TB. Their discs are made of a Plexiglas-like material and 0.6 millimeters thick. Half a terabyte (500GB) holds about 20 high-def movies.

The Coughlin study says by 2013 the average household will accumulate a combined total of nearly 9000 Gigabytes (GB) of commercial and personal data.

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