In another bit of Blu-Ray news this day, Panasonic has
revealed its recordable and rewriteable media specs and initial prices.
Beginning in spring 2006, Panasonic will begin supplying single and dual layer
discs in 25 and 50GB capacities to consumers seeking high-capacity removable
storage.
Single layer, recordable discs will debut at $17.99 and $42.99 each
respectively. Rewriteable varieties will see $24.99 and $59.99 price tags
per disc. While initial prices seem high in comparison to DVD and HD DVD
formats, Sony, the main developer and supporter of Blu-Ray, claims that once
mass production takes place the price differences will quickly erode. The
discs will write at 2x speeds and will be read by consumer electronics players
and computer devices. To put this into perspective, 1x in Blu-Ray terms
is 36Mbps or roughly 4.29MBps, while standard DVD speed is measured in
multiples of roughly 1.32MBps.
Panasonic boasts many special in-house developments which went into its
discs. Special inorganic light-resistant materials were used for
recordable discs, while rewriteable discs use a highly sensitive recording
film. New surface treatments are employed to make the discs more durable
the resistant to scratches.
Panasonic expects its recently announced PC burners to be available this
quarter, while consumer players will debut in Q2 of this year.