Panasonic Unveils Blank Blu-Ray Media Prices
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.
Posted by - GoogleFreak
January 9, 2006, 2:36 pm
News Source - Xbit Labs
Go Back to main News
