Aussie whiz-kids can cram 1.6TB on a DVD-sized disc, go Outback tonight

[wraggster]

Don't take it personally, Blu-ray -- we still love you and all, but there's just something dreamy about baking 1.6TB of information onto a blank piece of optical media we can actually afford. According to a new report, a crew of researchers at Swinburne University of Technology in Australia have exploited the properties of a certain gold nano-rod that will theoretically enable them to shove 300 DVDs worth of data onto a single disc. Calling the method "five-dimensional optical recording," the technique "employs nanometer-scale particles of gold as a recording medium," and according to developers, it's primed for commercialization. Essentially, these gurus have figured out how to add a spectral and polarization dimension, giving them the ability to record information "in a range of different color wavelengths on the same physical disc." As for the chances this actually makes it out of the laboratory and into the lives of real humans? Slim, Jim.

http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/21/aussie-whiz-kids-can-cram-1-6tb-on-a-dvd-sized-disc-go-outback/

[gumgod]

nice. I want one. XD Of course if this does come out it will at least make Blu Ray cheaper :-P

I wonder what the lifespan of such a disk is like? It would suck to get a big scratch on that one lol

[Qmark]

DVD itself was just the result of someone screwing around with CD optics, and HDDVD and Bluray were just someone screwing around with DVD. This will be commercially viable in about five to ten years, unless everyone (meaning the media companies) goes to downloads.

[PoorKingz]

So gold disc are supposed to be cheaper than bluerays?

[mike_jmg]

LOL, blu-ray disc is going down

But yeah, Gold?
It says nano particles of gold, so It wont need much, it might be more affordable than Blu rays

[Krisando]

Give me a Blue Ray disk with sour cream ontop, Woo Blue Ray is on the out.

[pibs]

I will just wait and save up for the diamond encrusted DVDs that hold 1.7PB :D

[apex05]

Nano particles don't sound like much, but if it replaced Dvd's and Blu-rays it could sell hundreds of millions of them, and that's a mighty big pile of Bling so i very much doubt this will ever happen when there's cheaper materials around.

[PoorKingz]

It seems more complicated than the bluray. The device needs to read multiple wavelengths. The 1TB Bluray will be out in a few years. I don't think bluray is going down soon.

[Qmark]

They will probably end up being data-only. One layer transition on a DVD is bad enough, but these discs will have four.