Pioneer and Mitsubishi Announce Low-Cost BD-R

Pioneer and Mitsubishi, who have been working together on recordable media since 2004, jointly announced that they have successfully created a dual layer BD-R using organic dyes. Up until this point, BD-Rs used more expensive non-organic dyes. The new process, called Low-to-High (LTH) manufacturing is expected to significantly reduce the costs of BD-R production.

LTH discs, which are part of the Blu-ray Disc Recordable Format Ver.1.2 specification, are not compatible with current Blu-ray writers, though a firmware upgrade could add compatibility. Specific LTH drives are expected to arrive Spring 2008.

Manufacturing these discs is significantly cheaper as current CD and DVD lines can be modified to manufacture the discs. This allows for a significantly smaller investment and smaller manufacturing lines.

Pioneer and Mitsubishi plan to release the BD-Rs on the market either this year or early next.