Right now, Sony's Blu-ray is, without a doubt, the optical disc format capable of providing the largest amount of space for one's data or movies. However, it would seem that things are about to change quite soon, since a company called Royal Digital Media plans to introduce, in early 2009, what can only be described as a possible killer of the BD.

Thus, it would seem that RDM has developed a high-definition system that exceeds the capabilities of Blu-ray, being able to offer storage capacities of up to 100 GB on a single disc, compared to 50 GB for the BD. Moreover, RDM's increase in storage capacity allows for a single disc to hold approximately four hours of video content at 1920p resolution.

"The mission of RDM is to replace traditional DVD technologies with a comprehensive, next generation HD system," said Eugene Levich, RDM's chief executive officer. "The industry's problem, which Sony has been unable to solve with Blu-ray, is how to transition into HD without destroying the existing DVD industry or gouging the pocketbooks of consumers. We have the solution and can solve this without having to drastically overhaul the entire infrastructure of DVD production."

Apparently, besides providing larger storage space, the red-laser technology from RDM will also bring about some pretty impressive price cuts, whether we're talking about the price of the discs themselves or that of the players. According to the company's own statement, the technology can be very easily implemented into existing DVD production processes through the integration of a proprietary software and firmware system, which means that existing DVD manufacturers will be able to integrate RDM's technology with only minor modifications to their production processes.

The price of the standalone players will also be considerably smaller than the one of BD-enabled machines, but these devices will also be able to play traditional CDs and DVDs, as well as upscale the video.

Of course, it remains to be seen whether this format will actually be able to go against the already well-established Blu-ray, but the company developing it seems to be quite optimistic, since apparently there are already a few hardware manufacturers out there quite eager to implement this technology in their future products.


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