TDK begins shipping 25GB Blu-ray media

We're not quite sure what you can use them for at this point (other than, maybe, as coasters for when you serve the good stuff), but TDK has begun shipping blank single-layer Blu-ray discs with a 25GB capacity. The discs are available in BD-R (recordable) and BD-RE (rewritable) formats, for $19.99 and $24.99, respectively. That's per disc. Yes, we were doing the math in our heads as well: That's about 79 cents per GB for the BD-R, which does come out to a bit more than the roughly 10 cents (or less) per GB of budget DVD-Rs. But those prices are sure to come down by the time TDK begins offering these in 50-disc spindles later this year. (By then, TDK will also have dual-layer 50GB discs available, for $47.99 and $59.99.)  And maybe by then you'll actually be able to use these in some kind of drive.

[ronm @ Apr 10th 2006 5:13PM]

Yes, but think how much DVD-R/DVD-RW media was when it first came out. The laws of market demand will come into play here too.

[Jason W @ Apr 10th 2006 5:22PM]

WOW thats expensive. I think my dvd recorder and a nice up converter for me for the next few years.

[Foo @ Apr 10th 2006 5:28PM]

I think it's just part of the format war.

They try to say: BLue-Ray has arrived! When in fact it hasn't.

[simon @ Apr 10th 2006 5:29PM]

So what did blank DVD-R's cost when they hit the market?

[Afterthought @ Apr 10th 2006 5:58PM]

$59.99...it's a steal compared to this:

http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/07/kangurus-64gb-flash-drive-max-only-2-800/

[Sam Krupa @ Apr 10th 2006 5:59PM]

You guys are so needy! You need media....AND a drive?!

Jeez.

Sam Krupa

[Christophe @ Apr 10th 2006 6:03PM]

Doesnt seem like a great deal to me, a "re-writeable" (RE or RW) hard drive that holds 80GB is only $47. I rather back up to a large hard drive that costs less per GB and throw it in an external enclosure if i need it to be portable.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822144102

[Razib Ahmed @ Apr 10th 2006 6:11PM]

It is expensive for the time being and not many people will feel interested to buy it. But very soon it will become afforadable. That's the way every new product behaves. I am excited with the prospect of 25GB capacity. That is a lot of space.

[archie4oz @ Apr 10th 2006 7:03PM]

Blu-Ray recorders have been available for a couple of years in Japan. They just don't support playback of any of the BD-ROM material that will be coming out. This article is pointless other than it applies to recordable media being avialable in the US now I guess

[john @ Apr 10th 2006 7:19PM]

the negativity of engadget articles (on all-things-not-apple) overwhlems me

[Michael @ Apr 10th 2006 7:23PM]

If Apple started installing Blu-Ray drives in Macs then Engadget would be reporting what a steal they are...

[MuDoggy @ Apr 10th 2006 7:26PM]

Even if there is a small amount of demand, there must be a source. Companies have blu-ray drives for implementing in their new hardware releases coming this year, they need a supplier of media, so TDK is that source. I for one DO have a Blu-ray drive already and am glad there is media for it.

[Captain Obvious @ Apr 10th 2006 7:52PM]

Didn't Sony release a Blu-Ray recorder in Japan back in 2003?

Anyway, having the media available before the drives in the US is FANTASTIC. Anyone recall when Sony first released dual layer DVD RD drives? You couldn't find the media for months!

[Bruce @ Apr 10th 2006 8:21PM]

Hmmm.

25$ for 25GB = 1$ per GB

And I can buy 300GB SATA-II drives for 100$. 1/3rd the price.

I know what I'll choose.

[Shannon @ Apr 10th 2006 8:50PM]

An ungodly amount of storage space and a price to match....when will they make them last a lifetime?

[robert preseau @ Apr 10th 2006 9:06PM]

#5 and #14 make very good points. 25GB is a lot of data to trust to a medium which we know can be easily destroyed. I'm sure the same was said about "non-steroidal" DVDs and CDRs, but man, that's a lot of data to lose to a scratch.

[blah @ Apr 10th 2006 9:16PM]

eesh... 25 GB at 2x

[Huh @ Apr 10th 2006 10:35PM]

Well if the transfer speed for Blu-Ray is 72 mbps at 2x then...

72 megabits = 72000000 bits
72000000 bits / 8 = 9000000 bytes
9000000 bytes / 1024 = 8789.06 kilobytes
8789.06 kilobytes / 1024 = 8.58 megabytes

So that's 8.58 megabytes per second? Which is ~515 megabytes per minute?

25 gigabytes = 25600 megabytes
25600 megabytes / 515 = 49.71 minutes

If anyone wants to go over my math please do as I'm not the greatest at unit conversion.

[embassy @ Apr 10th 2006 10:37PM]

2x...ouch...that must take a whole day to burn if u fill up the disc.

[Andrew @ May 29th 2008 9:15AM]

Why would it take a whole day? 2x for CDs took 30-45mins.. 2x for DVDs took 30-45mins... Why would Blu-Ray be any different?

[RedWolf @ Apr 11th 2006 12:29AM]

Trust me. You complain now, but these BD-Rs will be less than $1 a piece in two years. I remember when CD-Rs were $10 a piece and now people wipe their butt with them.

[JD @ Apr 11th 2006 12:32AM]

nice to see some people who havent thought things through on this site, the same guys who complain about the launch price of things never think about 1 - 2 years down the track...technology gets cheaper to produce over time. learn that fact, it will serve you well.

Orignal CDR's were expensive, same with DVD's...look at DL dvd's still today...

25gb is a lot...now.

I remember when I struggled to fill a 650mb cd-r with my 2x burner....now i backup my email onto cd-r.

Rant #5474

[duke @ Apr 11th 2006 12:39AM]

"To burn a full 25GB Blu-ray disc at 1x speed would take approximately 90 minutes. It is expected that as the format matures, the overall speed of the drive will be 8x or more writing a full 25Gb in just under 12 minutes." -cdwriters.com

50 minutes for a disc @ 2x, seem about right, Huh.

its said to be single layer 23.3 GB, highest tested capacity 100GB, theoretical limit 200GB, all and all still very promising format, i'll wait a while tho, until burning rate gets a boost to 8x, and price down to $200 too.

[Rick @ Apr 11th 2006 12:40AM]

Blu(nder)-Ray will go the way of Betamax and UMD.

[Murc @ Apr 11th 2006 12:56AM]

I'm rootin for Holographic discs. Since they promise much much more...who doesn't wat a single disc that can hold over a terabyte? I know I do...I would probably take every dvd movie that I own, and rip it and put them all on one disc...that would be sweet to only have to grab one disc and know it has hundreds of movies on it.

[miznig @ Apr 11th 2006 1:03AM]

5 bux to anyone that can wipe their ass with a CD-R

[Jamesology @ Apr 11th 2006 1:37AM]

I remember when CD's came and everyone bashed it and called it useless b/c it was durable like cassettes. I also remember when cellphones became cheaper to buy everyone bashed it too calling it useless and dangerous and now everyone has it.

[David @ Apr 11th 2006 3:01AM]

Blu-ray is not new, so why the expense?

As I understand it, Blu-ray has been out in Japan for at least 2 years. Perhaps not the writable and rewritable media, but at least Blu-ray players have been available now for a while.

So then, why on earth are Blu-ray products still going to be more expensive than HD-DVD when they debut to the rest of the world? And why are the Blu-ray players coming out later? Does anybody know the answer to this? Shouldn't "economies of scale" already have begun to have SOME effect on the price?

[Curious Party @ Apr 11th 2006 4:09AM]

Miznig, do you require video or pictoral proof?

[Sega @ Apr 11th 2006 5:38AM]

Does everybody really think that 25GB is such a large amount of data compared to 4.7 of DVD? Just think of how long it will take for the BD to establish itself and after that it will live for say 5 years so 25 or even 50 GB is NOT a lot. Thinking ahead I would have expected more.

[yuppicide @ Apr 11th 2006 9:55AM]

I don't mind that the media is say $19.99 for a BD-R because it'll be taking a bunch of information and storing it on one disc as opposed to a bunch.

What I do mind is that they're most-likely more fragile than DVD media, which is more fragile than CD media and I want my stuff to last a long time.

I'm really only saving tv episodes I capture, but 30 years down the line it would be nice to be able to go back and say "I feel like watching that episode of The Gary Coleman show?", okay so maybe I'll never say that, but you get the idea. I record far too much.

[Andrew @ May 29th 2008 9:24AM]

How do you figure they're more-fragile than DVDs and CDs?
Actually, they're less-fragile. Blu-Ray discs use a hard-coating technology. Virtually unscratchable. There are videos circualting the net where someone takes steel wool to the discs and don't get scratched.

Look for yourself.. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blu-ray_Disc#Hard-coating_technology

I would probably trust putting my data on a blu-ray disc over a DVD or hard drive if I was lugging it around any day

[howdy doody @ Apr 11th 2006 11:00AM]

miznig,
i imagine that it's more like scrape and trowel your butt. good luck curious party.

[Jason @ Apr 11th 2006 1:55PM]

#27 Blu-Ray players are not out yet because they are just the "movie" players... the entire time they have been mostly working on copy protection. More than anything HD-DVD and Blu-Ray are coming into the picture to give movie studios a better form of copy protection... that is why neither of them are out yet... which of course is a complete waste of time... people will find ways around whatever copy protection they put into these discs.

Blu-Ray has been around since 2003... besides the PS3 will KILL the Blu-Ray format... if Sony makes the price of the PS3 around $700 NO ONE will buy a stand alone Blu-Ray player for $1000... they will alienate other hardware manufacturers if they set the price that low. If they set the price of the PS3 too high they will price themselves out of the market for the typical gamer and Blu-Ray will still fail.

Look at UMD's... how many other manufacturers make a UMD player??? Sony doesn't even make one... the because you can get a PSP for less than $200.00... there is no money to make in creating a hardware device that can play UMD's... studios are already scaling back movies releases on UMD and I am sure before too long the only movies released on it will be Sony Pictures movies.

People don't need Blu-Ray for its storage capacity... they need it to watch HD movies... something the HD-DVD camp already knows and will most likely cater to much better.