I think this has somewhat been known for a while, though probably only recently proposed.

Quote:On Monday, the Blu-ray Disc Association announced upcoming specifications for high-capacity write-once and rewritable discs, including consumer versions.

The BDA proposed two new formats: BDXL, the name given to new 100-Gbyte and 128-Gbyte discs; and IH-BD, a so-called "Intra-Hybrid" disc that will incorporate both read-only and rewritable layers. Specifications for both disc types will be published during the upcoming months, the BDA said.

Both formats will be incompatible with existing hardware, the BDA said. However, new players designed to take advantage of the new formats will be able to play back existing Blu-ray discs (BDs) which are available in both 25- and 50-Gbyte capacity points, it said.

In general, the two new formats will be geared toward broadcast and document archiving, both industries that need to record and store massive libraries of digital content. But consumer versions will be available, "particularly in those regions where BD recorders have achieved broad consumer acceptance, " the BDA said.

"Professional industries have expressed a desire to find optical disc solutions that enable them to transition away from magnetic media for their archiving needs," said Victor Matsuda, the Blu-ray Disc Association global promotions committee chair, in a statement. "Leveraging Blu-ray Disc to meet this need provides professional enterprises with a compact, stable and long term solution for archiving large amounts of sensitive data, video and graphic images using a proven and widely accepted optical technology."

BDXL discs will be available in write-once formats in 100- and 128-Gbyte capacity points, and in a rewriteable, 100-Gbyte format. Each disc will use three to four layers to reach the new capacity points, the BDA said.

The Intra-Hybrid Blu-ray Disc (IH-BD) will incorporate a single BD-ROM layer and a single rewritable BD-RE layer so as to enable the user to view, but not overwrite, published data. The BDA said it envisioned a scenario where users would be able to add their own content to a published disc. Each layer (the BD-ROM and the BD-RE) will contain 25 Gbytes, the BDA said.

- Source: [PC Mag]

I can't really see this being of much use to most people.  For video, I think existing BD offers enough space already.  PS3 games won't be able to use this as the drive would need an upgrade (maybe newer PS3 models, IDK), and for data storage, most people are moving to HDDs.
As said, maybe for specific industries, though this seems a little iffy...

EDIT: perhaps 3D might be a selling point for these.

(This post was last modified: 05/04/2010 06:48 PM by ZiNgA BuRgA.)

(This post was last modified: 05/04/2010 07:16 PM by ProperBritish.)

(05/04/2010 07:16 PM)ProperBritish Wrote:  apparently all that is required on BD drives is a firmware update as the laser diameter doesn't change

I think that was different - not the case here:

Quote:Both formats will be incompatible with existing hardware, the BDA said.

Glad i won't spend no money buying a writer for that , and the next week they announce another one new model ....where this gonna end ,
the industries are with growing needs of storage every day or hour , this is so wrong.