14 DAY TRIAL // Although most of us still rely on DVDs in order to pass information from one device to another, this procedure will soon be considered history. That's because Blu-ray technology can now allow more data to be stored on a single disk. But maybe, just maybe, this standard still has a fighting chance, that is if industry manufacturers plan to adopt a new breed of DVDs, which has been developed by a couple of university researchers.
Apparently, some people still believe that these optical discs haven't totally lived out their days and can still be considered a reliable standard for storing and transferring data. A team of university researchers has managed to develop a new kind of DVDs which can hold more data than any other high-capacity device. Although their discovery is significant, it is not clear why they even bothered, especially since no one will be able to use their device.
The team succeeded in developing this high-capacity optical storage solution by changing the shape of the pits on the surface of the optical disk, enabling each pit to hold more data. Apparently, V-shaped pits can provide more room for data as compared to normal flat pits. The result of the experiment was a DVD that can hold 42GB of information.
Unfortunately for them and other DVD fans out there, their solution cannot be used on any of today's machines. This means that if no manufacturer plans to adopt this technology for a mass production, their discovery will not make it on the market. Also, considering the fact that current Blu-ray disks can offer 50GB of storage space, the discovery has arrived a bit too late.
There are no details concerning the price tag for manufacturing one of these disks, but if it's considerably lower than what it takes to manufacture a Blu-ray disk, then the discovery might give DVDs a fighting chance. The researchers who made this discovery are part of the Institute of Multidisciplinary Research for Advanced Materials at Tohoku University in Japan.