Getting 3 TB of Data on a Standard CD - SWEET!

[Audioholics]

We were alerted to an article on TechnologyReview.com today that talks about a Harvard research team that has piloted a way to bust out the wavelength limitations of traditional optical storage through the use of nanotechnology.... and who doesn't like news about nanobots? The technology is geared towards making better use of EXISTING optical discs - meaning that the processes used to stamp and recreate the discs wouldn't necessarily be any different than they are today. They've accomplished their goal by fabricated a "nano antenna" which they put onto an OEM laser. According to the article it "focuses light to a much smaller spot size than is possible with even the best traditional lenses, potentially enabling more bits to be written onto an optical disc."

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[Emusica]

HD-DVD who? Blue Ray what? That is pretty cool. 3T's of info on a STANDARD CD? Wow......

 

[GlocksRock]

So with this same technology, how much could be fit onto a standard dual layer DVD?

 

[Ken]

Move over HD-DVD and Blu-ray

I'm not sure about the stamping part. I didn't get out of the article that stamping would remain the same because I was wondering if they could make stamps with densities that small but I don't know much about that process.

I was talking with a friend about this news and thought we really don't need blue laser technology. He quickly responded "well now we have red, green and blue lasers." Imagine a laser display using these three colors, combine that with a 3 Terabyte disk and we could be watching 1,000,080P display resolutions.

 

[BMXTRIX]

As is always the case, it is far less about the technology, and far more about the reality of it all. Holographic storage is potentially in the multi-TB range, yet it has issues. Forget cost, you have to get CE and studio support behind it all. If there is a small company making a cool product, it will get destroyed if it doesn't have support from the major players in the industry.

Your Sony's, Microsofts, and Panasonics all matter a great deal in all of this. But, in the end, it seems that some version of this will all be reality instead of science fiction. In fact, the last hundred years of development seems as much sci-fi as reality. From lightbulbs and planes to PCs we carry in our pocket that have hundreds of times the computational power than the first rockets that put man on the moon.

Damn exciting I say!

 

[ivseenbetter]

Well, I guess I can stop shopping around for a HD-DVD player or a Blu-ray player as well. Of course, this will push back Sony's releas of the PS3 as they scramble to include this new technology into their system despite any delays it might cause.

I'm looking forward to watching HD movies with my CD player!

 

[JonBaker99]

Well atleast now when George Lucas does the 19th re-release of StarWars there won't be room for any excuses about not having room to put a proper DTS sound track and all of the original unreleased footage.

 

[racquetman]

Well atleast now when George Lucas does the 19th re-release of StarWars there won't be room for any excuses about not having room to put a proper DTS sound track and all of the original unreleased footage.

Wasn't George Lucas instrumental in the development of some of Dolby's technologies?

If I'm right, I don't think you'll see a Star Wars movie with a DTS soundtrack no matter how much space a disc has. That would be like Bill Gates using a Mac or something!!

 

[Jack Hammer]

Wasn't George Lucas instrumental in the development of some of Dolby's technologies?

If I'm right, I don't think you'll see a Star Wars movie with a DTS soundtrack no matter how much space a disc has. That would be like Bill Gates using a Mac or something!!

He was also a huge promoter of Divx and said he would "never" release star wars on dvd, that didn't really last too long. If dts is the big thing and there is a large enough demand for it, he's a businessman, he'll release a dts issue (and sell lots of them too).

 

[Jack Hammer]

Stability?

I wonder how stable a laser that small would be? As in would it track correctly or would it tend to "skip" when the subwoofer sends a big old explosion sound that shakes the whole house.

Besides that, it sounds pretty cool. I wonder how long it would take to bring to the general public. If I recall correctly, vhs and cd's took around ten years each from development to actually getting into consumers (general public) hands.

Jack

 

[racquetman]

I wonder how stable a laser that small would be? As in would it track correctly or would it tend to "skip" when the subwoofer sends a big old explosion sound that shakes the whole house.

Besides that, it sounds pretty cool. I wonder how long it would take to bring to the general public. If I recall correctly, vhs and cd's took around ten years each from development to actually getting into consumers (general public) hands.

Jack

You should begin seeing these about the time flying cars become the norm.

The internet is great in that you can be made aware of the newest technologies the second they are thought of, but, as you've mentioned, getting an idea to mass production for the public is a long process if the idea catches on at all.

 

[ned]

I'm not sure about the stamping part. I didn't get out of the article that stamping would remain the same because I was wondering if they could make stamps with densities that small but I don't know much about that process.

I was talking with a friend about this news and thought we really don't need blue laser technology. He quickly responded "well now we have red, green and blue lasers." Imagine a laser display using these three colors, combine that with a 3 Terabyte disk and we could be watching 1,000,080P display resolutions.

Vaporware.

 

[ivseenbetter]

I would think that it would be put in the public's hands a lot faster since it is the same media that is already in use. There wont be the long wait to develope cheap media (it is already in place) and it wont take forever to get the general public on board for using it (most everybody is already using this type of media). Just slap the new laser on writer's and develope readers for it. None of that tech is new or hard.

 

[sCiEnT]

Well the article mentions the use of nano antennas to focus the laser to create smaller pits and increase storage density and hence capacity. But can the current lasers on our cd and dvd players read such small pits? I don't think so...So wont some sort of modification be required on current equipment before we can use this technology?

 

[Jack Hammer]

Well the article mentions the use of nano antennas to focus the laser to create smaller pits and increase storage density and hence capacity. But can the current lasers on our cd and dvd players read such small pits? I don't think so...So wont some sort of modification be required on current equipment before we can use this technology?

I have no idea how discs are made, but I think he meant that possibly the industrial equipment used to manufacture discs wouldn't need to be fully replaced, just have certain parts upgraded. You would still need to buy a player capable of reading the material.

 

[Reorx]

Since the late 1990 - early 2000, I have read about at least 3-4 other technologies, that were developed to supercede DVD in every way (besides blueray and HD). 1 of them is just coming to bear fruit. It was speculated that these technologies were buried / postponed because of a few possible reasons:

1. The Industry didnt want them yet. DVD's were just beginning to be mass produced in force, to switch to a different format, it'd cost millions/billions of dollars to ditch DVD at that point.
2. Profit. Sony, Maxwell, Movie industries, all want to make money. DVD's were bringing in lots of it. Now that DVD sales are dwindling, and the technology is obviously dated, they can release the new stuff using their timetable which maxmizes profits. This in turn will make them even more money, as they re-release all the same movies, and consumers buy them.
3. Cost of manufacturing. Everything from making the disk's to making the players. Many were to expensive to create in mass quantities, and since the industry wasnt ready for them, nobody really wanted to back it, and put the money into it.

Unfortunatly, money drives the world. It can also stiffle technology. The 1 technology that seems to still be emerging is holographic.
A interesting read is below, or you can google and see alot more.

http://p2pnet.net/story/842 and story 7124

just my .02