Reading around recently I have discovered that there is certainly some movement in the writable Blu-ray Disc sector.

Engadget is reporting that NEC is planning silicon to support BD-R recording at 8x speed. The recording speed of BD-R was initially only 2x, so this represents a nice saving in record time. 8x speed should be 36 MBps, which may actually tax some slower hard drives!

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Reading over at Engadget today I see that Pioneer has been busy in the R & D laboratory.

First up there is the 400 GB Blu-ray Disc with 16 layers of 25 GB each - quite a few more than the commercially available dual layer discs.

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TWICE is reporting that LG is releasing a new line of Blu-ray PC drives that record and play Blu-ray media at 6x speed.

The drives feature DVD and CD media compatibility as well as SecureDisc for content protection on written media and Lightscribe.

The GBC-H20L and the GBW-H20L carry suggested retails of $199 and $279, respectively. Both models are 6x BD-R/2x BD-RE read compatible, while the GBW-H20L is even said to be dual layer BD-R 50 capable and features 6x BD-R/2x BD-RE read and write compatibility.

Nice to see the price point of these drives coming down, though the features of these units is essentially the same as the ‘Super Drive‘ (pictured) with the HD DVD capability removed.

Primera has been a long standing player in the automated media writing and replication business. This year they are back at NAB presenting their duplication systems, including systems capable of writing and printing Blu-ray Discs.

I have been following the writing capability for Blu-ray Disc since the inception - it was one reason I preferred Blu-ray over HD DVD, who never really got the disc writing side of it to work very well. The aspect of BD-R that has been a long time coming is surface printable discs. Every CES and NAB I seem to get the message that the printable discs are coming but they never seem to actually appear. As discussion with Verbatim at CES indicated that there are indeed special difficulties associated with printable media for Blu-ray.

While I wouldn’t say they are out in force, Primera is listing media to go with your Bravo SE Blu duplicator. A spindle of 10 printable discs will set you back $240 while a spindle of 25 is listed at $465. The presenters at the Primera booth said that the media was Imation and Taiyo Yuden.

Still a tad expensive but at least they are apparently available. I look forward to the price of media coming down as more people seek the possibility of watching their own content on their Blu-ray player.

We see that Sharp has presented a roadmap of their plans for blue laser diodes targeted at Blu-ray writer applications with the release of the a 250mW blue laser diode for 6x recording as well as the first diode for 8x recorders in the next two years.

The company gave a technological briefing of its latest developments, showcasing its latest series of High-Power Blue-Violet Laser Diode for Blu-Ray recorders which are powerful enough to burn dual layer Blu-ray Discs at the 6x speed. Sharp will start production of two variations of the new diode, one with a proprietary facet structure and ultra compact dimensions to make it suitable for use in notebook BD drives, the other model suitable for desktop BD drives.

Sharp’s plans also include the development of a more powerful laser diode that will be able to burn single and dual layer Blu-ray discs at 8x, using a power output of 300mW. This will be more likely reach the mass production stage 2009, followed by a 400mW device for multi-layer 8x~12x recording in 2010.

Via EngadgetHD

The Mitsubishi Kagaku Media Co. (manufacturer of Verbatim Blu-ray media) is stepping up production of Blu-ray Discs, anticipating higher demand since Toshiba Corp.’s decision to exit the HD DVD business has left Blu-ray as the sole next-generation DVD format.

At its Singapore plant, the firm will install a production line for recordable Blu-ray Discs used for recording television programs and storing personal computer data.

The new line is slated to be in service in July or August and is expected to produce 500,000 units a month. Mitsubishi Kagaku Media currently makes 200,000 Blu-ray Discs a month at its Mizushima factory.

In addition, the firm will begin outsourcing some production to foreign manufacturers.

Hopefully this will result in price reductions for Blu-ray blank media.

Perhaps a sign that Blu-ray is gaining support as the single next generation format moving forward, online retailer Meritline is moving to promote the format’s writable and rewritable media and drives.

The subject of their latest mailing is “Next Generation Optical Disc Format”, and includes a title banner promoting Sony, Philips and Panasonic Blu-ray products, with the Sony drive and disc prominently featured.

The banner links to a page that features both Q&A and a product listing, showing write once, rewritable and even printable media from the likes of TDK, Sony, Philips, Panasonic and Ritek. The site also carries drives and empty cases.

While this kind of promotion hints that Blu-ray media may be entering the main stream, the disc pricing shows that there is indeed a long road ahead before Blu-ray media is cost effective and widely accepted as the new format of choice over DVD-R.