Sony & Panasonic Developing High Capacity Optical Discs

[Andy Wilkinson]

Apple said optical discs were dead. Well, Sony & Panasonic don't think so!

At 300GB per disc this would be mighty useful for all us video creatives, especially if 4K takes off.

I think this is great news. Press release below:

Sony Global - Sony Global - Sony and Panasonic sign basic agreement to jointly develop standard for professional-use next-generation optical discs

[John Vincent]

Agreed 100% - storage is going to really start being a problem in the open coming years.

[Thomas Smet]

Storage is already an issue. Archiving has become a massive pain for those who do shoot with higher datarate formats. Think P2 users, RED, GH2 hack users, GH3 users and so forth. With AVCHD I was using BD discs and they worked great for backing up a 16GB and 8GB card or 3x 8GB cards but that is no longer a good solution for the higher end formats. I think optical is a great archive format and in those rare situations where I do need material from them it doesn't take that long.

If they do make a 300GB optical disc I hope they make it faster as well. Nobody wants to wait an hour to transfer that 300GB of data.

[Jack Zhang]

To think that these two are still in competition for a AVC-Intra based codec. (XAVC vs AVC-Intra and AVC-Ultra) Anyone willing to bet a H.265 high profile 4:2:2 or 4:4:4 codec will come from a collaboration of both companies?

This is most likely going to strictly be a successor to Professional Disc. (Used in XDCAM HD(422) Don't expect this to be used in any consumer applications.

[Ron Evans]

Originally Posted by Thomas Smet

Storage is already an issue. Archiving has become a massive pain for those who do shoot with higher datarate formats. Think P2 users, RED, GH2 hack users, GH3 users and so forth. With AVCHD I was using BD discs and they worked great for backing up a 16GB and 8GB card or 3x 8GB cards but that is no longer a good solution for the higher end formats. I think optical is a great archive format and in those rare situations where I do need material from them it doesn't take that long.

If they do make a 300GB optical disc I hope they make it faster as well. Nobody wants to wait an hour to transfer that 300GB of data.

Since I moved to all AVCHD I have been using LTO3 data tape as a backup. Its fast and low cost. I shoot with 4 AVCHD cameras theatre so a 2 hour show is almost 100G. I am still using the LTO3 but if I were to upgrade would go to the LTO4 or 5 now. HH deck is about the same cost as one of my small Sony cameras and tape is about $25 for 400G. Backup or restore speed is as fast as my hard drives will go about 65MBps sustained.

Ron Evans

[David Heath]

Originally Posted by Jack Zhang

This is most likely going to strictly be a successor to Professional Disc. (Used in XDCAM HD(422) Don't expect this to be used in any consumer applications.

Don't be too sure....... BBC News - Blu-ray successor plan unveiled by Sony and Panasonic

[Ron Evans]

Yes 4K TV's are with us and I think, and hope 4K cameras will be with us shortly. Sony Vegas already has support for the codecs these 4k cameras will use, Edius 7 mentions support when the cameras are available, so they must be coming soon. That will mean a need to show those movies somehow. Disc is the obvious choice.

Ron Evans

[Jack Zhang]

Originally Posted by David Heath

Don't be too sure....... BBC News - Blu-ray successor plan unveiled by Sony and Panasonic

Sure this would be brought to consumer, but once Netflix and streaming services start offering "Convenience" 4K, disc would only be relevant to the enthusiasts.

[Mark Morreau]

Originally Posted by Ron Evans

I am still using the LTO3 but if I were to upgrade would go to the LTO4 or 5 now.

Any reason not to go straight to LTO6, Ron? I've heading in the tape backup/archive direction, and LTO6 seems to make sense to me...

[Donald McPherson]

And just in time for the depart of Adobe Encore.

[Mark Morreau]

Originally Posted by Donald McPherson

And just in time for the depart of Adobe Encore.

Encore hasn't gone anywhere. (Though that's perhaps the point you're trying to make!).
It's still available either as part of the CS6 "perpetual" licence, or to Creative Cloud subscribers.
The only thing that's "departed" is the dynamic link between PremiereProCC and Encore CS6.

If Sony and Panasonic can revive the optical disk industry, good luck to 'em, I say.

[Ron Evans]

Originally Posted by Mark Morreau

Any reason not to go straight to LTO6, Ron? I've heading in the tape backup/archive direction, and LTO6 seems to make sense to me...

If I was starting with no history then LTO-6 would be the way to go. They are about 30% more expensive than the LTO4 which in my case would give me backwards compatibility with my LTO3 tapes. Cartridge is 3 times as expensive for 6 times the native storage so very convenient and economical with 2.5TB native storage. I have currently 60 tapes of LTO3 so needs to be able to at least read them. LTO-5 will read the LTO-3 tapes and the LTO-5 tapes are only a few dollars more than LTO-3 for 4 times the capacity. LTO-4 is read and write compatible with LTO-3 tapes with the tapes being about the same price and twice the capacity. So if I was just going to buy a new drive to add to the one I have now I would have to go with the LTO-5 for tape compatibility I don't think I can face transferring 60 tapes to LTO-6 format !!!! . If the one I have failed I would get the LTO-4. Starting from new the LTO-6 would be the way to go.

Ron Evans