Next step after Bluray

[Smokey]

With Bluray disc being the highest capacity optical disc one can buy currently (50gb storage capacity), Sony and Panasonic revealed the next-gen follow-up to Blu-ray Disc.

The new format, dubbed Archival Disc, will allow for optical discs with storage capacities of up to 300GB, a six-fold increase over current dual layer Blu-ray Discs. As time goes on, Sony and Panasonic plan to expand the recording capacity to 500GB and eventually 1 terabyte.

With a terabyte of data on a single disc, 4K suddenly becomes a viable option for home video releases. Sony and Panasonic plan to launch the first Archival Disc systems in summer of 2015.

What this means for DVD, Blu-ray and the new game consoles remains to be seen, but with the stated goal of “expanding the market for long-term digital data storage,” we might see the proliferation of three separate formats next year.

Sony, Panasonic: Archival Disc is the next step after Blu-ray | BGR

[Mr Peabody]

You pretty much expected something when 4k displays became available, but on the other hand DVD is still here. Will 4k be the giant step that gets people to spring for it or will it be, who cares. There are still people who haven't bought HDTV yet. I believe though the faster the industry make formats obsolete the more they will make people sit on the side lines.

[Feanor]

You pretty much expected something when 4k displays became available, but on the other hand DVD is still here. Will 4k be the giant step that gets people to spring for it or will it be, who cares. There are still people who haven't bought HDTV yet. I believe though the faster the industry make formats obsolete the more they will make people sit on the side lines.

Indeed, at least I personally am suffering from new format fatigue.

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

This announcement is really old news, and is not directly related to 4K video except from a timing angle(Bluray is a maturing format that needs to be succeeded to keep patent revenue high). Panasonic actually announced the development of a six layer 300GB disc back in 2006 during the format war, but there was nothing out there that needed that disc storage capacity. The announcement was made in order to short circuit HD DVD paltry 51GB disc announcement(something they knew they could not financially develop). Considering the fact that 50GB disc yields were not that high back then, the cost of manufacturing a 300GB disc would be a loss leading venture. Let's face it, if interest in 4K UHD television wasn't so high, the 300GB disc would not see the light of day. 4K has the potential of reviving interest in 3D. With two 1080p images viewed through passive 3D glasses(lighter/cheaper glasses, easier on the eyes, more detail, and less headaches for those with degraded eyesight), the cost of doing 3D is a quite a bit cheaper than active glasses and current 3D technology.

DVD is dying a very slow death here, and the manufacturers and studios know this. The problem I see here is whether the studios will really release their high cost IP in a ultra high resolution disc form, or make you pay for each viewing of a high resolution master copy of their films in 4K. That remains to be seen.

Smokey, the title of this post is completely wrong since the 300GB disc is nothing more than an extension of the Bluray disc, not a replacement of.

[Smokey]

I believe though the faster the industry make formats obsolete the more they will make people sit on the side lines.

DVD was launched back in '95 and after 20 years it is still a marketable format. So it has not been obsolete by any mean. And bluray probably will have same life span if not longer since broadcasters transmit same HD resolution. So I would call the new format "accomapanied format" rather than replacing obsolete format

[Smokey]

Let's face it, if interest in 4K UHD television wasn't so high, the 300GB disc would not see the light of day.

Sony and Panasonic has said that HT will only be part of application for new optical storage disc. The main part would be for digital storage or back up to replace cloud storage for commercial and business use. Lets face it, 50 gb of optical storage is not much these days