The Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA) announced that it expects to release in the next few months specifications for High Capacity Recordable and Rewritable discs (BDXL) and Intra-Hybrid discs (IH-BD).

According to the statement, the BDXL specification, which is targeted primarily at commercial segments such as broadcasting, medical and document imaging enterprises with significant archiving needs, will provide recordable and rewritable options on 100GB (33.3GB triple-layer) and recordable 128GB (32GB quadruple-layer) capacity discs. A consumer version of BDXL is also expected, particularly in those regions where BD recorders have achieved broad consumer acceptance.

“Professional industries have expressed a desire to find optical disc solutions that enable them to transition away from magnetic media for their archiving needs,” said Victor Matsuda, Blu-ray Disc Association Global Promotions Committee chair. “Leveraging Blu-ray Disc to meet this need provides professional enterprises with a compact, stable and long term solution for archiving large amounts of sensitive data, video and graphic images using a proven and widely accepted optical technology.”

The Intra-Hybrid Blu-ray Disc (IH-BD) incorporates one prerecorded (BD-ROM) layer and one rewritable (BD-RE) layer so as to enable the user to view, but not overwrite, critical published data while providing the flexibility to include relevant personal data on the same disc. This allows for consumer specific applications where combining published content with related user data on a convenient, single volume is desirable. Both the ROM and the RE layers on IH-BD discs provide 25GB of capacity.

Be aware that new hardware and software is required to play, record or rewrite BDXL and IH-BD media. However, because the new media specifications are extensions of current Blu-ray Disc technology, BDXL and IH-BD devices can be designed to support existing 25GB and 50GB Blu-ray Discs.

For more information visit: www.blu-raydisc.com