New Optical Discs

There have been two new discs released from Ritek this week. They feature some new technology and speeds that are worth a look.

The first is a mini DVD-R with a capacity of 2.92 GB. Here's an excerpt of the press release:

Ridata Hard Coated, Double Sided, Mini DVD-R Features a 4X recording speed and each side can record up to 1.46GB.This creates storage for up to 60 minutes of Audio & Video recording time virtually eliminating the need to carry numerous discs. For security, the information on the DVD-R is permanently recorded (write-once) and cannot be altered or erased with an archival life span of over 100 years. The small discs are also compatible with DVD-ROM drives and DVD-Video players.

The special hard coating technology protects media against scratches that can occur when the discs are transferred between cases, camcorders and DVD players. RIDATA Hard Coated, Double Sided, Mini DVD-R 4X media are up to 100 times more scratch resistant than standard optical discs and will easily wipe clean fingerprints, ink smudges, and accidental food or beverage spills. Hard Coating features rapid static discharge to aid in preventing dust from adhering to the disc.

There are two exciting aspects to these discs. The first is that they are double sided. It's rare to find a recordable disc that is double sided. This doubles the storage capacity of the disc.

The other unique aspect is the protective hard coating. This should make the delicate optical surface less likely to be scratched. Perhaps we'll see this coating on other discs in the lineup as well. This is good news as up to now TDK has had the monopoly on protective coatings on discs with their ScratchProof technology. There really is no downside to this, and the even more sensitive next generation recording discs, like Blu-Ray will require it even more.

These discs are intended for use in camcorders. They will retail for $20 for a package of 10. More info here.

The other new disc is an 8x DVD+R DL disc. Here's an excerpt from the press release:

Advanced Media, Inc., manufacturer and marketer of the popular RIDATA brand of recordable CD and DVD media, electronic storage products, and digital media accessories, is introducing an 8x DVD+R Double Layer optical disc to its product line at Spring Retail Vision 2006. With an amazing 8.5GB of storage capacity, the advanced, single-sided disc is perfect for virtually any business or household application Shipments will begin immediately.

"Users of the RIDATA 8x DVD+R Double-Layer medium, featuring a dramatically increased speed, will enjoy fast, reliable storage with a wide range of playback options.," stated Harvey Liu, Advanced Media president. "We are pleased to first offer it to the retail industry that will be taking advantage of Spring Retail Vision."

The faster 8x speed greatly shortens the recording time of virtually any audio, video, or data file. The convenient double-layer configuration allows users to read, write, or view nearly twice the amount of data than with single-layer 4.7GB DVD discs without having to flip sides or change discs. The RIDATA dual-layer product stores up to four hours of DVD-quality video, 16 hours of VHS-quality video, or over 120 hours of MP3 audio.

These double layer discs, with their 8+ gig capacity, can take quite a while to write, and this new faster speed should speed things up. Also, now that the DVD-R DL discs are available at the 4x speed, this keeps the plus camp at the one notch faster speed, a position that they are used to being in. No word yet on pricing, so stay tuned.

More info here.

--Jonas