According to this press release, Germany's Degussa, specifically the film and coating division, has come up with a new protective coating for Blu-ray discs. We already heard of Tough-coat from TDK, but apparently this patent pending procedure is more economical or superior or both.
One aspect of Blu-ray that was worrisome, is that the data is so close to the surface. Just as it states in the quote below, it's a mere tenth of a millimeter from the surface, whereas rival HD-DVD stores it's data .6mm from the surface. But Blu-ray chose to use the close proximity to the top of the disc to create a better numerical aperture (NA), which results in more data that can be written on each disc layer. This is why a BD will hold 25GB while HD-DVD can "only" hold 15GB per layer. However, this also creates an opportunity for damage, so much so that initially a cartridge was considered for BD. When TDK came along with tough-coat, this concept was chosen and the cartridge abandoned. Now, it seems Degussa has even improved upon TDK's solution as it seems like this process is getting a very warm reception!
| The optical-disc format Blu-ray Disc (BD) is on the horizon. If BD is to be a success, the processes for manufacturing the discs have to be inexpensive. In a BD, the information layer is only 0.1 mm below the surface, allowing a smaller spot size of the laser beam and hence providing a much larger storage capacity than on a DVD. Because the 0.1 mm thick cover layer must satisfy stringent optical requirements, the manufacturing processes to date are expensive.
Cooperation partners Philips, Singulus and Sony have already manufactured functioning Blu-ray Disc samples based on EUROPLEX® PC 0F405 Film. Paul Put, General Manager of Philips Optical Media and Technology (OM&T): "We are very excited about this new breakthrough we jointly could achieve. This cost-effective, high quality 0.1 mm layer is the technology the media replication industry was looking for. The next step will be mass production of BD-ROM, BD-R and BD-RE based on the EUROPLEX® PC Film". |
We still have to wonder what impact this has on manufacturing costs and especially in comparison to tough coat or even with the rival HD-DVD. But, reading the above quotes, it seems that a decision has been made to go with Degussa, and it looks like soon we will see some media around too. With the Sony Playstation 3 supporting Blu-ray this could be welcome news for Sony, no doubt. You can read more about the Degussa company here.
If you need to know more about either HD-DVD or Blu-ray and what makes them different from each other, please stop by and read this excellent HD-DVD vs. Blu-ray article by two staff members spath & H3rB3i. It contains a wealth of information and will help you to decide which format you prefer. This could be quite important, as we can almost rest assured that we will have both discs, at least for a while.
Source: Degussa
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Hopefully then, manufacturers will be forced to up the quality, or those like TY will promote their own and make them easy to identify.
