Verbatim ready to release recordable Blu-ray discs

Single layer discs to be available first

18 July 2006 16:32 GMT / By Amber Maitland

Verbatim has announced that its new Blu-ray Recordable and Rewriteable media will be available in July.

The first products will only have a capacity of 25GB, but a double-layer disc is soon to follow.

"Our automated manufacturing equipment is in place and we have confirmed the feasibility of mass production of BD-R and BD-RE media", said Torsten Leye, Product Manager DVD at Verbatim.

He continues: "Our experience with DVD dual layer manufacturing also gives us a head start in producing 50GB dual layer Blu-ray media which will be introduced later this year".

Verbatim coats its discs with a ScratchGuard hard coat that protects the Blu-ray disc from scratches and fingerprints, and allows the usage of the media in bare disc form, without a cartridge.

With BenQ and Toshiba set to release Blu-ray recorders in the next few months, the recordable discs are making a timely entry to the market.

Prices for the new media are expected to be around £20 for BD-R and £24 for BD-RE.