A 300GB Bluray successor is being developed by a collaboration between Sony and Panasonic.
As previously reported by The Inquisitr, the Ultra HD TV standard is so high resolution a successor to BluRay might be required.
Panasonic released a statement on the BluRay successor collaboration . The two companies say “they have signed a basic agreement with the objective of jointly developing a next-generation standard for professional-use optical discs, with the objective of expanding their archive business for long-term digital data storage.” In previous years the two companies tended to compete with each other to make the next big media standard format. Panasonic was the loser with the HD-DVD format.
The BluRay successor will be “an optical disc with recording capacity of at least 300GB by the end of 2015.” Right now, a standard dual layer BluRay disc holds an average of 50GB of data. BluRay movie players use the MPEG-2 video format, while the old competitor HD-DVD used the more advanced MPEG-4 video compression. With processors getting so cheap to manufacture, it’s likely a variant of MPEG-4 will be used in the next generation media players.
The BluRay successor collaboration was mentioned on CNET but given more prominence on IGN since the next generation of video gaming consoles might benefit from higher capacity discs. BluRay was supposed to be capable of adding many layers to extend its lifespan, so it’s possible the future format might be somewhat backwards compatible with existing BluRay players. The average video game tends to easily fit on a DVD, but it’s possible the BluRay successor could benefit the Xbox One and PlayStation 4.
What do you think about Sony and Panasonic creating a new media format to replace BluRay? Do you believe it to be necessary or just a waste of money?
