With the recent news of Avatar’s Blu-ray release, it’s become abundantly clear 50GB may just not be enough anymore. It’s being reported on engadget that the Blu-ray Disc Association is planning on introducing the world to BDXL. This new format will still produce wonderful 1080p HD video, but will be capable of holding 128GB of data as opposed to the current generation of Blu-ray discs that hold only a mere 50GB.
The reason Blu-ray will now be able to hold 128GB of data is through the use layering. The current Blu-Rays that we’ve just gotten used to usually have two layers on the disc. The BDXL discs will us four. Therefore allowing for it store 128GB (write-once) or 100GB (rewritable). However, the bad news is that this means we are all going to have dip into our pockets again to upgrade our hardware. These extra layers (that will allow for more features and data storage) will more than likely require the use of a more powerful laser that most Blu-ray players (including the PS3) don’t have right now. It’s been made clear that currently the demand for this technology is mainly coming from the media houses for archiving purposes, but we can all be assured that this will eventually make its way into the general consumer’s home theatre.
http://www.collider.com/2010/04/03/d...a-on-4-layers/