Pioneer and Buffalo have introduced the world’s first Blu-ray writers with BDXL support, the standard that was approved by the BDA in June.
BDXL discs are quad-layer 128GB Blu-ray discs. The standard also allows for triple-layer BDs with 100GB capacity.
Available soon, the companies have shown off the external BRXL-6U2 and the internal BRXL-6FBS-BK.
Both writers can handle up to quad-layer discs at 4x speeds for the higher capacities.
Support for BD-R/BD-R DL and BD-RE/BD-RE DL are standard.
On the downside, there are no mainstream players that support the standard with only Panasonic and Sharp even introducing players, all of which cost over $2500. There is no word on pricing for the writers.
For now, the format is targeted at professional applications such as archiving and medial imaging.
Result for: panasonic
Last week, Toshiba announced they are currently developing 3D HDTVs that do not require any special glasses.
Sony has made a similar announcement today, working on 3DTVs it hopes can be released by early 2011
“Seeing 3-D without glasses is more convenient,” says Yoshihisa Ishida, Sony SVP. “We must take account of pricing before we can think about when to start offering them.”
Panasonic and Sony have already released 3D HDTVs, both the displays require special (and usually expensive) glasses.
Sony says it will take the top spot in 3D TVs and Blu-ray player market share in Japan, thanks to its movie studio.
Result for: panasonic
Sharp has announced today that it will begin selling 3D HDTVs in the U.S., China, Europe and Japan starting this summer, in an effort to play catchup with rivals Sony, Samsung and Panasonic.
The company had originally played down 3D TVs, calling them little more than gimmicks, but with 3D becoming the new trend, they have quickly switched gears.
Japan will get the first displays, starting in July, with the other markets getting them in the Q1 2011.
There was no word on pricing or other details as of yet, but they did say the displays will use Quatron technology, which adds yellow to the standard R’G’B (red, green, blue) to make tons of new vivid colors.
Says Shigeaki Mizushima, group general manager: “Our product shows a far brighter image. The difference is going to be clear to anyone. Brightness is just so easy to understand.”
