Sony pushes paper Blu-ray disc

Sony and Toppan Printing are making a new mark on Blu-ray disc technology.

The two companies have been working for about a year on printing data onto Blu-ray discs made mostly of paper. The companies are aiming to produce lower-cost discs and expand the use of the technology.

Sony and Toppan announced the 25GB discs Thursday and said more details will be revealed at the Optical Data Storage conference this weekend in Monterey, Calif. The discs will be able to store more than two hours of high-definition video. Representatives from both companies were not available to comment on their plans.

The Blu-ray Disc format uses blue laser light and is considered a successor to today's red-laser DVD drives. Blu-ray discs can store more than five times the capacity of current DVDs.

Blu-ray disc drives are just starting to hit the market. Sony introduced a Blu-ray drive in Japan last year.

Toppan said the paper discs add a level of security in some cases. "Since a paper disc can be cut by scissors easily, it is simple to preserve data security when disposing of the disc," Hideaki Kawai, managing director of Toppan, said in a statement.

Sony is part of a group of companies called the Blu-ray Disc Founders that promote the Blu-ray Disc format. Others include Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Hitachi, LG Electronics, Matsushita Electric Industrial, Pioneer, Royal Philips Electronics, Samsung Electronics, Sharp, Sony and Thomson.

Another group, including Toshiba and NEC, have been working on a competing blue laser disc technology. Their technology is designed to be compatible with current DVD standards.

[jimbobe21]

blue disc made from paper

If they are made with paper, how long will they last. The current ones will last for 100 years or 100,000 plays. Will paper ones last that long?

[Fray9]

More durable than it seems

Actually in order for the paper-based discs to hold together at high RPMs they will have to be pretty dense and coated with a film that will, as a side effect, make them pretty impervious to water.

From what Ive learned so far about the paper discs they are very similar to plastic CDs in normal use durability they are just easier to intentionally destroy.

[Michael Grogan]

Disk life

The current disks will last how long? Only if you never touch them. The manufacturers of the current plastic cds and dvds have never heard of the concept of scratch resistance and the disks need to be handled with kid gloves if you want them to last a week. Paper can't be much worse.