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Engadget: Hitachi has announced plans to offer an 8-layer Blu-ray disc capable of storing 200GB of data.

The HD movie format war aside, there will almost certainly always be a need for a disc medium to backup our computer files with, and Blu-ray has been trying to fill that need since its release.

Unlike the other format, Blu-ray burners hit the market before the movie players did, and gave computer users the ability to backup more data than ever before on a 80mm disc.

Even if both formats are replaced by downloadable content, there will still be a need for big optical discs to store those movies. While 200GB this seems like a lot today, by the time it hits the market in 2009 it might not seem like much at the rate hard discs capacity is increasing.

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Macsimum News:  TDK says it’s achieved a capacity of 200GB that will double the capacity of their current 100GB Blu-ray prototype. One 200GB disc could store approximately 18 hours of high definition video.

The initial Blu-ray Disc standard allows for 25GB single layer Blu-ray Discs and 50GB dual layer Blu-ray Discs. However, a recent signal processing innovation stretches the physical limits of optical media, realizing 33.3GB capacity for each of the disc’s six layers. As with the 100GB disc, and other Blu-ray Disc media, TDK’s 200GB blue laser disc is single-sided.

The company’s 100GB prototype disc uses four 25GB layers to reach 100GB capacity. For the 200GB technology development, TDK has stretched the physical margins of the Blu-ray Disc format, enabling a disc to store up to 33.3GB per layer while staying within the tolerances of the BD playback specifications, according to Bruce Youmans, vice president of product research & development.

A single-layer Blu-ray Disc can hold 25GB, which can be used to record over two hours of HDTV or more than 13 hours of standard-definition TV. There are also dual-layer versions of the discs that can hold 50GB.

TDK has already begun shipment of its single-layer 25GB recordable and rewritable media in the first quarter of 2006.  50GB discs, which are dual layer, have now just begun shipping, retaililng at €35 for a write-once, and €45 for a re-writeable disc.

More at CD Freaks.com

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