Panasonic Starts Pilot Production of 50-GIGABYTE Blu-ray Discs in Torrance, California

Posted on Monday, December 5, 2005 by MegaZone

From PRNewswire…

Dec 5, 2005 14:08 ET

Panasonic Starts Pilot Production of 50-GIGABYTE Blu-ray Discs in Torrance, California

New Dual-Layer Spin Coat Technology Doubles Disc Capacity

TORRANCE, Calif., Dec. 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Panasonic has modified its existing pilot production line for single-layer Blu-ray Discs, called BD-ROM, so that it is able to replicate dual-layer BD-ROM discs with 50 gigabytes (GB) of storage capacity. The new pilot replication line is housed within the Panasonic Disc Manufacturing Corporation of America, which is located here in Torrance, Calif. Single-layer Blu-ray Discs have 25 GB of storage capacity for holding video and other data, while current DVD discs have 8.5 GB of storage at most.

The doubling of BD-ROM disc storage capacity is enabled by spin coating technologies developed by Panasonic that create two recorded layers on a single side of a Blu-ray Disc. In the process, readily available inexpensive UV curable resins are used in the creation of the space layer, cover layer and hard-coat, resulting in a reduction in disc replication costs. Video and other data is then embedded in the layers for playback later using a blue laser-equipped Blu-ray Disc player, recorder or BD-ROM drive-equipped PC.

The Torrance pilot production line is able to produce dual-layer BD-ROM discs with the attachment of a dual-layer replication line module to the existing single-layer line. Single-layer BD-ROM discs are currently being produced on the pilot line with more than 80% yield rates. Panasonic expects to provide sample dual-layer BD-ROM discs to the industry for testing by the end of this month.

“Working closely with the movie studios and our replication partners, Panasonic was able to foresee the need for greater disc capacity to give consumers a much richer user experience,” said Eisuke Tsuyuzaki, director of Strategy & Alliances, Panasonic Hollywood Lab.

Panasonic expects to highlight the new replication process for dual-layer BD-ROM discs at the Blu-ray Disc Association’s booth (#9444, Main Hall, Las Vegas Convention Center) during the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, January 5-8, 2006.

The additional capacity will allow movies and other High Definition video titles to be stored, along with value-added features, on a single Blu-ray Disc. The BD-ROM format is expected to succeed DVDs as the preferred medium for High Definition movies and other packaged entertainment content for the home as the nation moves from analog TV to digital and High Definition Television.

About Panasonic

Best known by its Panasonic brand name, Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. is a worldwide leader in the development and manufacture of electronic products for a wide range of consumer, business, and industrial needs. Based in Osaka, Japan, the company recorded consolidated net sales of $81.44 billion for the year ended March 31, 2005. The company’s shares are listed on the Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, New York (NYSE:MC) , Euronext Amsterdam and Frankfurt stock exchanges. For more information on the company and the Panasonic brand, visit the company’s website at http://www.panasonic.com/.

Source: Panasonic

CONTACT: Will Safer, +1-201-392-6124, saferw@us.panasonic.com, or Jim
Reilly, +1-201-392-6067, reillyj@us.panasonic.com, both of Panasonic

Web site: http://www.panasonic.com/

About MegaZone

MegaZone is the Editor of Gizmo Lovers and the chief contributor. He's been online since 1989 and active in several generations of 'social media' - mailing lists, USENet groups, web forums, and since 2003, blogging.    MegaZone has a presence on several social platforms: Google+ / Facebook / Twitter / LinkedIn / LiveJournal / Web.    You can also follow Gizmo Lovers on other sites: Blog / Google+ / Facebook / Twitter.
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  • bicentennial76
  • bicentennial76

    Hey, you know alot about pretty much every format thats out, and i have a question, I just bought a PSP, and ive read all the different ways to add movies and such to the Memory card, but there was an article i think, on driverheaven that showed a DVD hookup going either into the Memory slot to play NORMAL dvds using the PSP as a screen basically, or it was through the USB slot. Do you know anything about this?

    Also, is is possible that people could somehow Hack *again i know nothing of this stuff* a Minidisk player to so to say, Burn UMD formats of Games? Not sure if this makes ANY sense, again i really have no clue and its just thoughts… but im curious now and wanna know.

    Sorry if you dont know what the hell im talking about… lol
    the only thing i really wanna know is if there IS a dvd player for the PSP. I cant find anything on it on google so i doubt it. but im still curious! Thanks in advance for any info you come up with!

  • megazone

    UMD isn’t really like MD. UMD is more like DVD really, but physically different of course. Smaller hub, so the data tracks spiral in further, a tighter spiral, and smaller pits. Still basically uses a red laser and DVD based tech. It is pretty much a dual-layer DVD, shrunk down.

    I haven’t heard anything about DVD on a PSP. I’m not sure how you’d do that, maybe via USB. In theory you might be able to hack up something that looked like a big MemoryStick but really read from a DVD drive, but that seems like a lot of work and money. I’m sure it’d take hacking either way. The unit can certainly decode DVD data, but getting it into the unit would be the hard part.

    One of my co-worker is a major PSP freak, but he’s on vacation this week. When he’s back I’ll ask him if he knows anything.