Sony creates Cheaper Blu Ray

NyffTotal90 | January 28, 2008 | News | Playstation 3 Gaming Tech/Hardware

With Sony looking more than likely to win the HD War, this news will not come at a good time for Microsoft. Sony have downsized the laser unit to a minuscule 3mm. Which means this should help the manufactures develop smaller Blu Ray drives. The drive will be simpler to manufacture and in mass production alot of savings will be made.

After the inevitable clamour to declare Blu-ray the 'one true' high-definition optical disk format, comes the drive to make the technology more compact and - crucially - cheaper.

Foremost in the hardware race is Sony, which has developed the world's smallest Blu-ray reader/writer module that also happens to be less costly than existing models.

Developed jointly with Nichia of Japan, the new laser unit is just 3mm thick and should help manufacturers miniaturise the hardware in their Blu-ray drives. Sony says it imagines the device ending up in 9.5mm laptop drives sometime this year.

Cost savings come from a simpler manufacturing process that will yield dividends in mass production, while other features include the ability to handle dual-layer BDs and disks with organic dye in the recording layers. Organic disks can be churned out from existing DVD production lines, so it's a win-win situation here.

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Images about this story:

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Comments

Comments with -10 or lower "thumbs" are removed from display.

0 thumbs!
the new era | January 29, 2008

Thats cool, now the cost is less xD
0 thumbs!
Final Blade | January 29, 2008

Interesting, i hope at one point this will help lower the price of the PS3.
1 thumbs!
Red 9 | January 29, 2008

What effects will this have on the PS3? What about the thousands of PS3s that have normal sized drives? And how do PS3 owners feel about the constant price drops they missed out on? All questions to be pondered.
- -2 thumbs!
  Final Blade | January 29, 2008
  
  Well i don't care about the price drops, cause i got my 60GB version lower than the 40GB price now. Besides I like the price drops it will help increase PS3 sales and Sony.
- 2 thumbs!
  jmac353 | January 29, 2008
  
  The drive is no smaller, it's the laser unit that is smaller, that's all, and cheaper too.
  
  How do PS3 owners feel about constant price drops? It's irrelevant. You don't purchase something and go, I hope the price doesn't drop. If you think about this before buying something then there's a good chance you don't want it or don't need it that badly at that moment in time.
1 thumbs!
Bri | January 29, 2008

It all remains to be seen, but this is a step in the right direction for Sony, because not many people I know are happy with paying 30 bucks a pop for movies anymore. This is something that had to happen.
-1 thumbs!
iLLmatic | January 29, 2008

The news doesn't come at a good time for Microsoft? What does any of this have to do with Microsoft?
- 2 thumbs!
  Existenz | January 29, 2008
  
  Sony have Blu-Ray... Blu-Ray drives sales, Blu-Ray costs alot of money, cheaper Blu-Ray means cheaper PS3. And in turn with cheaper Blu-Ray more people adopt it, Blu-Ray wins the format war and PS3 sales go through the roof, just like the PS2 with DVD.
2 thumbs!
Charuzu | January 29, 2008

Because they are losing the hd dvd war??

And wow ps3 just keeps getting cheaper!
-1 thumbs!
redneonfish | January 29, 2008

Shops do something call price skimming anyway, which is when they sale something (in this case a console) at the highest price for a while to get all the people who will pay top wack for it, then lower it a little and get all the people who will pay that price, etc etc. Good news none the less though.
-2 thumbs!
Kinetic | February 04, 2008

Damn. How many price drops is the PS3 going to get? =/