Victor Company of Japan (JVC) has developed technology that enables Blu-ray Discs to be produced at a fraction of the conventional investment costs.

The new technology allows current DVD production equipment to be used almost as is, thereby reducing the capital investment costs needed to shift to the new format to about 20 mln yen, or less than 10 pct of the normal costs, the report said.

JVC's technology is for the creation of master discs, which are used to produce read-only discs such as movies. A single-layer Blu-ray Disc can store 25GB of data, while a dual-layer disc can record 50GB.

According to the report, production of a Blu-ray master disc until now required firms to introduce specialized beam devices and vacuum equipment ranging in cost from just over 200 mln yen to more than 400 mln.

To create the master discs, JVC uses a far-ultraviolet laser, which has an extremely short wavelength. In addition to low initial costs, Blu-ray master discs can be produced at similar cost and efficiency as conventional DVD master discs when Blu-ray discs are eventually mass-produced, the report said.

From wanadoo