Write-once Blu-ray recordable (BD-R) discs with 4x writing speed are on the way from Panasonic.

Panasonic says it is the first company to develop 4x BD-R discs; discs from other manufacturers are currently 2x. The new discs will be available in both 25GB and 50GB, and will be released in July and September respectively.

According to the Panasonic, the new 4x BD-R Discs have a maximum data transfer speed of 144Mbps, which means they can copy a 1GB folder in just one minute. In comparison a DVD-RW with a 2x data transfer speed needs 6 minutes to copy a 1GB folder.

The company says high writing speeds are achieved by the application of a new phase-change recording technology, which allows precise and stable recording even when writing at 4x speed. Panasonic has succeeded in applying this technology to both single-layer and dual-layer discs, which means that users will be able to write 50GB data at 4x high-speed without turning over the disc.

The new discs are said to offer extremely low error rate thanks to a newly developed film forming technology that minimizes dust generated in the sputtering process. Panasonic says this allows the error rate to be reduced to 10% that of a conventional disc, allowing reliable and a high quality recording.

Blu-ray is generally considered to be winning the high-definition DVD format war, and no doubt the announcement of 4x BD-R discs will help make the Blu-ray format even more attractive.

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Entry was posted on Tuesday, July 3rd, 2007 at 6:39 pm under Uncategorized.

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