OT – Sony and Panasonic Working on Pro Optical Storage Disc

[Craig Seeman]

That it can be done with optical, I have not doubt, the key is cost. What is “reasonable” cost differs for each of us. Personally I have mixed feelings about LTO tape so am very interested in optical disc systems. One problem is how widely used and available the record and playback mechanisms are…. or will be years hence.

[Jeremy Garchow]

300GB by 2015?

I’m not an analyst, but they are probably going to have to hope that they can squeeze a bit more out than that? I guess this is recording media, not archival, in which case, they will be on par with some ssd tech (like SxS).

A current 2.5 min project I am working on has over 7TBs of footage. This is for one measly video.

It would take 48 discs (on site and off site copies) to archive this one projects source material.

I’m with you, Craig, about the players/recorders needed now and in to the future. Currently, LTO seems to still be the best bet, especially having something that is bondable and recognized by insurance companies.

But it is not cheap nor is it exactly ubiquitous.

[Craig Seeman]

https://pro.sony.com/bbsc/ssr/product-ODSD55U/
300GB “starter” media up to 1.5TB
Both write once and rewritable media.

$6190 at B&H
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=&sku=980494&Q=&is=REG&A=details

$40 for write once 300GB cartridge
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/983358-REG/sony_odc300r_archive_cartridge_300gb_write.html

$280 for write once 1.5TB
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/983354-REG/sony_odc1500r_archive_cartridge_1500gb_write.html

$99 for rewritable 600GB
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/983355-REG/sony_odc600re_archive_cartridge_600gb_rewritable.html

It’ll be interesting to see what Panasonic contributes and what marketing will be done to make this more common and drive down prices.

[Craig Seeman]

And the video explaining it from Sony.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wHRg6E_Q3M

[Gerry Fraiberg]

Good find Craig.

[Jeremy Garchow]

But that’s the current technology.

The next gen tech will have a capacity of 300GB by 2015.

I guess I am more confused.

[Craig Seeman]

[Jeremy Garchow] “The next gen tech will have a capacity of 300GB by 2015.”

There’s no mention specifically what the “next gen tech” is. The current gen of Sony’s product supports 300GB up to 1.5TB. If there’s something new in the offing one would hope it’s more affordable if it is to be wide spread and viewed as a viable alternative to LTO.

Sony does have an optical disc archival system already available. I think being aware of that helps in pondering what Panasonic’s position will be in this.

[Devin Crane]

The first article is about a consumer based disc that is due out in 2015 to replace Blu-Ray, the archival disc system that is currently out is probably the pro version, based on similar standards and was released a couple of months ago. XDCAM SD came out years before blu-ray was released, looks like something similar is happening here but with archive.

[Jeremy Garchow]

[Devin Crane] “The first article is about a consumer based disc that is due out in 2015 to replace Blu-Ray, the archival disc system that is currently out is probably the pro version, based on similar standards and was released a couple of months ago.”

Are we all reading the same article?

Here’s the first sentence:

“Tokyo, Japan – July 29, 2013 – Sony Corporation (‘Sony’) and Panasonic Corporation (‘Panasonic’) today announced that they have signed a basic agreement with the objective of jointly developing a next-generation standard for professional-use optical discs, with the objective of expanding their archive business for long-term digital data storage.”

and part of the second:

“..and will target the development of an optical disc with recording capacity of at least 300GB by the end of 2015. “

[Daniel Ludwig]

hey guys,
calculate the discs that would be needed to replace ONE tandberg 50TB LTO-storage-loader! (8 catridges) 😉

I´m not kidding, that the max. size they have at the moment.

danny