Pioneer Succeeds in Developing World's First 16-Layer (400 GB) Optical Disc

July 7, 2008, Tokyo, Japan - Pioneer Corporation has succeeded in developing a 16-layer read-only optical disc with a capacity of 400 gigabytes for the first time in the world*1. Its per-layer capacity is 25 gigabytes, which is the same as that of a Blu-ray Disc (BD). This multilayer technology will also be applicable to multilayer recordable discs. This development has bolstered Pioneer's confidence in the feasibility of a large-capacity optical disc, which is expected to become necessary in the near future.

For multilayer optical discs, it has been difficult to obtain clear signals from each recording layer in a stable manner due to crosstalk from adjacent layers and transmission loss. Utilizing the optical disc production technology that it has developed in the DVD field, Pioneer solved these problems by, among other things, using a disc structure that can reduce crosstalk from adjacent layers, resulting in a 16-layer optical disc that can playback high-quality signals from every layer.

http://pioneer.jp/press/release193.html

Wow. Very interesting.

How about developing a one layer, 400 GB optical disc?

Baby steps, Baby steps....

Somebody is making good use of the R&D money...

Those are for the Ultra-High Definition movies in a few years... lol