As some of you will certainly remember, we've already tackled the subject of large-size (as in 100GB and 128GB) Blu-ray discs in the past, since the BDXL format, which enables such storage capacities, was finalized earlier this year. To be honest, we weren't really expecting the first BDXL discs to arrive this early to the market, but it looks like Sharp's decided that it shouldn't wait any longer and announced the release (at least on the Japanese market) of the first triple-layer Blu-ray Disc media (write-once) that conforms to the BDXL format specification, called the VR-100BR1.

As the manufacturer informs us, this disc media product conforms to the new BDXL format specification that extends the storage capacity of Blu-ray Discs to 100GB, twice the 50GB storage capacity of existing dual-layer discs. This new format enables recording approximately 12 hours of terrestrial digital TV broadcasts or approximately 8.6 hours of BS digital TV broadcasts.

Naturally, the larger disc size expands the range of applications for Blu-ray Discs to include recording and saving long-duration HDTV programs or multiple episodes of serial dramas onto a single disc with the same high-definition image quality as the original. Plus, there's a whole lot more space for 3D content as well.

The storage capacity of Blu-ray Discs was pushed up by increasing the number of recording layers. The dual-layer structure used up to now has been augmented with an additional layer where image data can be recorded to create a new triple-layer structure.

Unfortunately, pricing for these disks is absolutely huge for the time being, since we're talking about roughly 5,000 Japanese Yen per disc, or roughly $57. Not particularly enticing, is it now?


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