Blu-ray is officially old news, as Sony has announced plans to introduce a higher-capacity physical storage format by the end of 2015. According to the BBC, the Japanese giant has teamed up with Panasonic to produce a new breed of optical discs that could store up to 300GB of data. For comparative purposes, existing double-layer Blu-rays can only manage 50GB.
With physical media on the wane, some may argue that a new format is not needed. However, the manufacturer cites large 4K movies – which can weigh in at up to 100GB apiece – and inconsistent Internet connections as evidence of the super-disc’s necessity. The solution is also likely to be employed by businesses looking to backup large amounts of data.
Do you think that there’s still room for another major disc format before the Internet takes control completely? Feel free to eject your opinions in the comments section below.
Comments 21
capped internet is another huge thing......all these companies want us to go digital but yet ISP's introduce bandwidth caps. Caomcast for now has removed the cap.....i can see i already went over for the month but it states under my usage already of 750GB of data that the disclaimer has changed to cap space at this time is removed
I knew these caps would only be temporary now only if mobile carriers can stop being such greedy BAS*****.....honestly its so stupud, i have to keep buying phones at full price to keep great coverage and unlimited data to boot.
@ViciousDS Mobile carriers are ridiculous. Here in the UK most providers give you a monthly limit unless your on the upper tier of thier price plans. I ended up going with 3 due to thier all-you-can-eat data plan filtering its way down to lower price brackets, altho the service can be a tad lame (I only pay £15 a month for my package n get unlimited net) I dont think the industry has caught on yet that people use thier phones for more than just the odd bit of web browsing n it seems like they are stuck in the millenium bug days lol
Internet here aint too bad. There deosnt seem to be much in the way of caps, on Fibre anyway, but most companys employ a 'Fair Usage Policy' or 'Traffic Management'. They dont cap your usage, just your speed. Makes Fibre-Optic net kinda pointless.
If this 300GB disk comes true, I can see it probably being the last optical storage medium. People already seem ready to go digital even with all the constraints of current networks so it won't be long till disks go the way of the ol' tape
I think it's a good idea. Now we can have bigger game collections on one disc.
@MadchesterManc I pay 5 euros for a 4GB 3G data plan and this is exclusive to University students. I would pay 20 euros for an unlimited plan but these connections don't seem to be available in Greece and the 3G coverage is good but not perfect away from big cities of places with lots of tourists. These prices don't include mobile phone calls.
However in my house I have better internet. Unlimited data, up to 15Mps (one of the better connections available here), unlimited calls almost everywhere for 40 euros per month.
@ObviouslyAdachi That's what I thought too but PS4 may not be able to play these disks.
I love the internet as much as the next person but if digital is the next step after these, count me out. That goes for video games, dvds, music etc. I like being able to physically touch what I own if i spent money for something. If I can't I dont really own it.
Also another thought, with the release of these at least blue ray will get cheaper. Still currently kind of over priced imho
@Subie98 Not when you consider those awesome DVD+Blu-ray+3D+ (sometimes even "Ultra-violet") combo packs! =p
Yeah still too much and I dont get the 3D movie hype. personally I find it ruins the movies. It never feels like anything is jumping out at me. I just get to watch a movie with an annoying pair of glasses that add zero effects.
That's great. If PS4 can play the discs then that would remove any memory constraints for gaming on the PS4. I also think there is always room for a lager disc before we go all digital as I don't want all digital to ever happen.
@Subie98 lol I agree wholeheartedly. And if they make a movie for 3d then it messes up all the colors a lot. Saw 7 was 3d so the normal DVD had pink blood, which ruined it. 3ds kinda works, but it'll be another 20 years before holograms give us true 3d. Current holograms use the same principle as those red LED things you spin around like noisemakers to make the pulsing lights seemingly spell stuff out. I want to put my hand thru it tho : )
Discs! If they change to super bluray then I'll at least need a new optical drive for everything... If bluray players could still read the new ones, I'd revert to the light side of the force, but ugh I don't wanna switch everything lol. Digital might be preferable just to avoid the hardware expense. Love the idea of huge games, but will it even be used for that? Maybe the complete Floyd anthology in FLAC on one disc could persuade me, but it sounds like Zip drives to me = only used for weekly server backups
@Subie98 3D is very much one of those "you either LOVE it or you HATE it" kinda deals. For some people it makes them sick, while others it's a rather enjoyable experience (for me at least).
I know one thing for certain: Big Boss from Metal Gear Solid would never be able to enjoy 3D =p
I've actually been wondering about this. Some ps3 games (uncharted 4,mgs4) were 50 GB. So how are the going to fit next gen games on last gen media when the last gen games barely fit.
As Red vs Blue's Sarge would say, by the end of 2015-2016, "This year's Blu-Ray is gonna be Red-Ray. Hehe" Or maybe HHDDVVDDBVDs. Lol! JK XD
Of course there is room. There is always going to be a need to carry have large amounts of data in a portable way and data requirements are just getting bigger and bigger. The importance and use of that type of storage will change as other technologies grow alongside it, but it will still have a role to play.
discs, are old news in general i'd say. they scratch, they can break. it's a less reliable form of backing up.
i'd rather see high speed USB 3.0 thumbdrives capable of 300gb than a disc.
but that format would be rather unreasonable in price, i'd imagine. then again, maybe not? a 1tb hdd goes for about $100. 300 gb thumb drive for $30?
wonder how much a 300gb disc would cost...
4K TVs have already hit the market and in due time I am sure we are going to see content in 4k. The way the network infrastructure is in the US I don't see digital media being feasible to handle 4k or even 8k content in the near future. For now I think another disc option will be needed until our infrastructure improves and I definitely see it being used in the business environment. There is already a 1,000 TB disc in development.
@PMasterTy9
Haha, a petabyte disc... you could fit EVERY single PS1, PS2, PSP, PS3, and probably PS Vita game ever made and going to be made into one of those. Imagine the convenience! =p
@Grockumus Now that would be awesome if that actually happened! You would probably have room for other consoles' libraries on it as well.
Good news.
As for internet bandwidth, I use BT FIBRE in Uk unlimited usage, even after using 200GB my meter says allowed usage left 'Unlimited'. It is the top tier as someone else mentioned. But it's worth it.
For 4k tv, the problem will be how the disc is used for data and bandwidth available. At the moment the HDTV you have can display far more quality than a blueray disc can deliver because of its limitations. So a 4k tv may be great, but not if the blueray disc can't deliver the bandwidth to that tv and have the ability to store enough data for that picture quality, just because it can hold 300GB doesn't mean it can deliver FULL 4k picture quality, and certainly will not do if the bandwidth is not increased significantly.
On the flip side, this gives publishers an excuse to have even more bloated budgets for their games only to crumble when they don't sell millions of games. I don't really see the need for 300 GB discs.
I prefer Retail over Digital, since there just something over having a Box with the game.
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