Posted at 2:15pm EST Mon Dec 12 2005 at Geek.com by J. Eric Smith:
Panasonic begins producing Blu-ray DVDs
Who says you can't mass produce these things?
The long-running battle between Toshiba's HD-DVD and Sony's Blu-ray format has frequently hinged on one key point: Toshiba claims Blu-ray's technology--while superior to HD-DVD's in terms of capacity--might not actually be mass-produceable, and even if they are, they'll be more expensive than HD-DVD. If that's the case, somebody better let Panasonic know, as the company started up mass production of Blu-ray discs last week.
Using a new spin-coating process, Panasonic claims it's getting yields of roughly 80% on discs coming out of its foundry right now. That percentage seems to bolster some of Toshiba's claims, as yields in excess of 95% are common on existing DVD production lines. But Panasonic counters that this ramp-up in yield is common with such new technologies, and it expects to see improved yields shortly.
Read the entire article here.
Panasonic begins producing Blu-ray DVDs
Who says you can't mass produce these things?
The long-running battle between Toshiba's HD-DVD and Sony's Blu-ray format has frequently hinged on one key point: Toshiba claims Blu-ray's technology--while superior to HD-DVD's in terms of capacity--might not actually be mass-produceable, and even if they are, they'll be more expensive than HD-DVD. If that's the case, somebody better let Panasonic know, as the company started up mass production of Blu-ray discs last week.
Using a new spin-coating process, Panasonic claims it's getting yields of roughly 80% on discs coming out of its foundry right now. That percentage seems to bolster some of Toshiba's claims, as yields in excess of 95% are common on existing DVD production lines. But Panasonic counters that this ramp-up in yield is common with such new technologies, and it expects to see improved yields shortly.
Read the entire article here.
