New Sanyo laser to double capacity of Blu-Ray discs
Sanyo have announced that they have created a new blue laser diode that could double the capacity of your average Blu-Ray disc.
The laser works at up to 450 milliwatts, which is double that of Sanyo's current high-end Blu-Ray laser. What that means is that it can not only write four layers of 25GBs onto a standard Blu-Ray disc, but that Blu-Ray write speeds should increase as well, up to a maximum of 12x.
Unfortunately, it'll be a couple of years, minimum, before consumers sees the technology... which, given the uncertainty of Blu-Ray's mainstream acceptance, may mean that we might never see what Sanyo's new diodes can do.
Sanyo Laser to enable faster, higher capacity Blu-Ray discs [PC World]
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That sounds very powerful.
How long before it actually becomes unhealthy to sit next to these things?
chips running at that level of energy seem like they're uncased microwave ovens.
450 milliwatts is not a lot of power, man.. The CPU in your computer uses anywhere from 20 to 65 watts or more; as in 150 times as much power.
Now, the laser light it outputs would be really dangerous if it came anywhere near your eye. And it would probably cause some burning if it was to contact skin. But unless you're into taking stuff apart and trying to cause yourself harm, it'll all be safely held inside the machine.
How long before optical media is ditched? I hate CDs/DVDs, way too easy to damage...
But they make for great archiving.
Provided, you know, you don't touch them.