GristyMcFisty used our news submit to tell us that the engineers of TDK have developed a new protective layer for optical disks. CNet News.com 'attacked" one of these protective layer coated DVDs with a screwdriver as well as a Sharpie permanent marker and found that all these attacks had no effects on the playability of the DVD.
This new technology to protect the surface of an optical disk can become crucial for the long-term competitiveness of Blu-ray. Why? This question is answered quickly.
HD-DVD and Blu-ray, both use a blue laser which allows us to store 30GB of data on a DVD when the data layer is placed at the same depth as it is in current DVDs, but compared to HD-DVD can Blu-ray hold up to 50GB of data, this advantage is a result of the fact that Blu-ray places the data layer closer to the surface of the disk. The negative effect is that the Blu-ray disk is easier to damage, so this new coating is a necessary improvement to make Blu-ray disks more resistant against physical damage.
Analysts and industy executives believe that this protective coating will prove to be a major boost for Blu-ray.
| In order to meet Blu-ray's specifications, TDK's coating had to be less than 0.1 mm thick, be hard enough to take a beating and be transparent enough to be easily read. "We could have developed a metal alloy that would have met the protection requirements, but then it would have been opaque and impossible to read," said Bruce Youmans, vice president of marketing at TDK. "We've come up with the right polymer mix and production method to balance all three conditions." ADVERTISEMENT
Despite the fact that the surface of a TDK DVD-R disc with protective coating was scratched and smudged with fingerprints, a DVD drive was still able to read the disc's content. |
All the improvements around Blu-ray in the past makes me believe more and more that Blu-ray will win the war for the next generation storage format.
Those of you who want more information should read the really interesting article over at Digitimes.
Source: CNet News.com
