Pioneer ups ante, introduces 500GB Blu-ray disc

Traditional Blu-ray discs today offer 25GB on a single layer or 50GB on a dual layer disc.  Since then, companies have continued to try and raise the bar higher, with Pioneer seemingly leading the pack.

Less than once month after introducing a 16 layer 400GB optical disc, Pioneer recently introduced a new 500GB version.  The new 500GB disc has 25GB of storage room on each layer, with 25 total layers on the disc.  So many layers can be placed on one disc because researchers placed layers of different thickness upon one another. 

A 500GB will be able to hold multiple movies recorded in 1080p, more than 8,000 hours of music files, and 250 different video games.  The Blu-ray format has become the "de facto next generation storage system" for the gaming, movie and PC industries, Pioneer officials said.

The disc is still in early research phase, but Pioneer hopes to launch an actual product between 2010 and 2012.  Furthermore, Pioneer officials are talking with members of the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA) to try and get the new standard accepted by the BDA.

Now that you have access to the 500GB discs, you’ll need something that is able to burn Blu-ray discs at a rate faster than 8x.  The discs could be especially helpful once HD streaming becomes commonplace in consumers’ homes.