Blu-ray Dimensions

Panasonic 50GB Dual-Layer Blu-ray discs

It is certainly a sign of the times when a emerging technology like Blu-ray is compared to a mature technology like DVD. Many people have a hard time understanding the costs in product development and manufacturing.  Then and only then does the product line start to “bring in money”.  However that money (or revenue) is paying off the original investment in the R&D.  True profitability is not achieved until after a economy of scale has been reached.  In some cases that point is never reached.  DVD Recordable is a great example of this.  Some media manufacturers have been trying to capture the market by undercutting one another and have only succeeded in driving the price down below their costs.  This was an attempt to jump start the recordable DVD market (which it was successful at) but also made it very difficult to make any profit or recover the investment in manufacturing.

Recordable Blu-ray discs is somewhat different in that there is not a viable competing technology like DVD+R and DVD-RAM.  HD-DVD was abandoned by Toshiba and so only one format is available.  This excludes some of the more boutique optical discs like UDO and some of the Chinese formats.  In comparison to recordable DVD evolution Blu-ray has been far faster.  Perhaps that is why there is some impatience in the price decreasing in the same way DVD did.  It took recordable DVD around 5 years to mature and it was not till the last several years that prices started to decrease: sharply.

Blu-ray recordable is still developing.  At this point dual layer Blu-ray recordable discs (BD-RE) can store 50 GB of data, single side can store 25GB.  The road map looks to a 100GB disc in the near future.  All this takes capital to finance.  Essentially the technology is shrinking the method of storing the data and creating multi layers that each store more and more data.  The technology uses a different type of laser (that’s how optical discs are read). With all that it does not compare to when a DVD recorder drive was $13,000.  Yes those days (years) really did exist.  This is not where we break out into a story about walking to school in bare feet in the snow but it really is a matter of perspective.  Recordable Blu-ray is not as inexpensive as recordable DVD because DVD is a mature market.  Demand has leveled off  and despite the crazy forecasts from some manufacturing sectors, the same ones who dump product on the market because they are always wrong, prices have drifted down.

Falcon 2x Blu-ray Recordable with White Inkjet Hub Printable Surface

One of the most frustrating things with BD-R is that there are not a lot of printable surfaces. Falcon (FTI) has introduced a professional grade of recordable Blu-ray discs with a excellent ink-jet printable surface.  Not to rest on their laurels Falcon also has released a thermal printable BD-R surface too that works well with the Rimage Everest thermal re-transfer printer and the Teac P-55 dye sublimation printer.  This is a industry first as the only printable surface was a ink-jet printable white surface by TDK.  Imation has the AquaGuard discs but they have become difficult to come by.

FTI’s printable BD-R features a 2x recording speed, 25GB of storage and utilizes a unique inorganic recording material formulation. The inorganic solution helps achieve better stability for longer archival and superior data protection. Falcon has added a special hard-coat surface to protect against scratches for greater data integrity.  FTI BD-R media is compatible with all Blu-ray recorders and PlayStation 3.

The Falcon inkjet hub printable BD-R is also available as non-hub printable surfaces in white and silver pearl.

About Falcon Technologies International:

FTI is dedicated to creating optical media solutions that deliver the ultimate performance, reliability and durability for professional applications. An unyielding commitment to excellence supported by a world-class production facility featuring cutting-edge production equipment, as well as skilled international management and highly-trained, dedicated personnel are key components of FTI’s strategy.

FTI is a joint investment between Swiss-based investment and management company, PrimusTech Investments, and a large group of UAE corporate and private investors. FTI’s marketing and sales activities are conducted by the company’s fully owned, Swiss-based subsidiary, FTI Europe SA.  For North American markets, a liaison office was recently established in the West Coast.

FTI has a technology sharing and license agreement with a prominent Japan-based media technology provider. The engagement gives FTI unprecedented access to groundbreaking technologies for solutions including recordable Blu-ray Discs and archival media. FTI leverages this partnership to offer its customers truly differentiated products with capabilities and features not available elsewhere.