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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Over at TWICE I see a new report of an interview with Stan Glasgow, President of Sony Electronics. The article discusses a number of technologies including Blu-ray Disc.

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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.

Over at Hollywood in Hi Def today there are a few interesting numbers on Blu-ray Disc sales.

Firstly, Blu-ray has sold over 11 million discs since inception, according to data compiled by the Redhill Group for Home Media Magazine.

The next statement is perhaps the most interesting though - projections based on early data show that Blu-ray sales during May have surpassed sales for all of 2007.

And then add that Blu-ray software sales in the first four months of 2008 more than four times those of the same period in 2007.

That puts all of the recent doom and gloom articles into some perspective! Perhaps the idea of trying to paint an overall picture based on month to month variations is flawed.

The article also notes that Transformers is officially set for September 2nd 2008, complete with BD Live capabilities, confirmed by the press release in this post. That title will almost certainly have a huge impact on sales by itself.

It is great to see some real sales volume information, where we usually only get relative information and revenue numbers from Home Media Magazine.

Via Format War Central

Today I received my copy of Juno on Blu-ray Disc and I was excited to check out one of the newer features that the title offers - a digital copy that I can transfer to my portable device.

My excitement turned a little sour though when I popped in the disc and found that it allowed for transfer to an iTunes device or a PC/Mac - no sign of my portable device of choice - the trusty Sony PSP.

Upon further investigation I see in the endless fine print these words - “Not currently compatible with Sony PSP or Microsoft Zune”. Sigh…

So it seems that we non-iPod or iPhone owners are out of luck. Another interesting note in the fine print - the authorization code for the digital copy may not be valid after April 14, 2009.

I hope that the other studios do a better job of digital copy - so far the Fox experience is less than useful.

It sounds like Tinker Bell will be another early BD Live title from Disney. This release will come soon after the release of Sleeping Beauty, which which is currently Disney’s first BD Live title scheduled for October 7th.

Tinker Bell’s BD Live enhancements revolve around a ‘Tinker Trainer Game,’ in which players accrue ‘Movie Reward Points’ that can be redeemed for online themed wallpapers and virtual jewelry.

Tinker Bell will follow Peter Pan’s feisty buddy as she grows up in Pixie Hollow, where she doesn’t want to embrace her magical talents at first. Her fairy friends, voiced by Kristen Chenoweth, Lucy Liu and Raven-Symoné, encourage Tinker Bell to be true to her abilities.

Perhaps not everyone’s cup of tea, but it is certainly interesting to see what the studios are aiming to do with the BD Live technology.

Sounds like the capacity limitations of Blu-ray Disc, currently 50GB, will be blown away by a new, backwards compatible optical disc format.

It seems that Call/Recall is developing a format that can store 1TB using blue lasers.

Apparently the enabling technology is the use of a Rhodamine-type dye in a recording layer. The dye spots are tiny and can exist in 200-250 layers thus providing the 1TB capacity. So much for dual layer limitations!

The I/O rate is said to be around 100MB/sec - another major increase over the 4.5 MB/sec (36 Mbps) of single speed Blu-ray.

The process is currently write-once, though reversibility is being worked on and there is a generalised roadmap out to 5TB, still on CD-sized 120mm platters.

While this is all very cool should it work out, one still has to wonder how long we will be using 12cm discs when the options for solid state flash type drives get denser and cheaper at an alarming rate…?!

There is quite a bit of Blu-ray player news about today.

Via Format War Central you can read that Video Business is reporting that high-end consumer electronics retailers expect set-top Blu-ray players to begin outselling DVD players by August. Also revealed is that the Sony BDP-S350 and Panasonic DMP-BD50, will hit stores in July. Both are reportedly BD Live capable players.

Over at ZDNetAsia we read that eleven Chinese disc manufacturers have been authorized by Blu-ray Disc Association to produce Blu-Ray discs and disc players next year. Interesting to note this article states that the BDA’s member number has increased to 187 while that of International DVD Forum has decreased to 163.

We also see that Home Media Magazine summarises the players coming to the market, including the Daewoo BDP-1000 (pictured) and 2000 BD Live capable players with 1080p 24 mode, 1 GB of storage, SD Memory Card slot and HDMI 1.3, due in the fall. They also list the Panasonic DMP-BD50, two Sony’s (BDR S350 and S550) and the Playstation 3 for BD Live capability.

For Bonus View players they list the two Pioneer (BDP 51FD and 05FD), the Sharp BD-HP50, Marantz BD8002, the Philips BDP7200, Sylvania NB500, Samsung BD-P1500 and the Denon 2500, along with a quick summary of features. Well worth a look.

We also read via Digital Bits that Denon is considering a Blu-ray player with SACD and DVD-Audio multichannel playback.

All in all is it pretty easy to see that there will be quite a range of players to choose from and from the VB article it is pretty clear to see that at least the player market has quickly become a nice money maker for the consumer electronics industry, having already overtaken the saturated DVD player market with respect to revenues.

We read at EngadgetHD that Panasonic’s 3rd generation UniPhier processor will be the first single chip processor designed to handle picture-in-picture and all other necessary Profile 2.0 features. DTS-HD MA, Dolby TrueHD, DivX 1080p, Ethernet controller, laser control and graphics engine are all included.

The chip is a die shrink from the previous generation, and should achieve higher yields and lower prices as a result.

Sample shipments start in June so perhaps we will see players based on this for the holiday season.