14 DAY TRIAL // Blu-ray disks haven't even displaced the DVD from its place on the mainstream market, but it definitely seems to be evolving quickly in terms of capacity. In fact, not too long ago, the Blu-ray Disk Association (BDA) finalized the BDXL specifications needed to create such disks with up to an astounding 128GB capacity. Such products have not yet come into being, unfortunately, but Sharp has proudly announced that it has come within one step from realizing that dream. In short, the company has started providing BDXL disks of 100GB.
Akihabara News reports that Sharp has completed the first batch of 100GB BDXL disks, as well as the BD-HDW700/70 drives. These drives are, at present, the only optical disk units that are actually capable of reading and writing on them. The 100GB space was achieved by means of a triple-layer 'fairy dust' and, if not in PCs, will definitely prove quite useful for the PlayStation market, where games are entirely stored on such media.
Of course, Sharp still plans to go all the way and bring out BDXL disks of 128 GB as soon as it can. Those models, however, are slightly more tricky because, instead of three, they come with four layer of the same so-called 'fairy dust', as Engadget calls it. Also, though existing ODDs won't, sadly, be able to read from them, the aforementioned BD-HDW700/70 can read all previous types of disks. Unfortunately, as with all major advancements in a certain area, there is a catch.
As consumers may have anticipated, it is the price that will put most end-users off from buying BDXL disks. Specifically, a 100GB model circulates for about ¥5,000, which is the equivalent of $57, or the price of an external hard disk drive. It falls to the users themselves to decide whether such a purchase is worthwhile.