Sony begins sampling Blu-ray components
Sony is to begin sampling optical pick-up heads for next-generation DVD recorders in December this year.
The optical heads will feature GaN-based blue laser diodes, which are the cornerstone of the Blu-ray Disc technology that Sony has adopted for its next-generation data storage format.
The company already has a product featuring the blue laser technology on the market, and recently confirmed that it will use the 405 nm GaN devices in its successor to the hugely-successful Playstation games console.
As well as the optical head unit featuring the laser, Sony will also begin sampling other key components of the technology, including a photodetector IC, a laser diode driver, a front-end signal processor and a digital signal encoder/decoder.
Sony says that the sampling strategy will allow other manufacturers to develop Blu-ray products, thus supporting the overall acceptance of Blu-ray technology, which has not been approved by the DVD Forum industry consortium.
The optical pick-up is by far the most expensive Blu-ray component to be made available, with a sample price tag of ¥100 000 ($900).
The Blu-ray Disc format features a maximum capacity of 27 GB for a single-layer disc and 54 GB for a double-layer disc. The double-layer version offers significantly more data storage than the 15-20 GB HD DVD format being developed by Toshiba and NEC.
The double-layer Blu-ray capacity is enough to store 4.5 hours of high-definition broadcast content.
Sony has a long-established manufacturing partnership with Nichia, the company that first developed the GaN laser diode, and the two companies have cross-licensed the intellectual property contained in over 800 patent applications.
