Sony ships the first 50GB Blu-ray disc!

Sony Electronics has begun U.S. shipments of 50GB dual layer Blu-ray Disc recordable (write-once)media. The company also confirmed that it plans to start shipping 50GB dual layer rewritable BD media later this year.

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"The arrival of 50GB Blu-ray Disc media is an important milestone in the evolution of this new format," said Mike Lucas, director of marketing for Sony Electronics' Media and Application Solutions Division. "The capacity represents more than four hours of HD quality video, at a 24 Mbps transfer rate" Lucas said that Sony's AccuCORE technology has been re-engineered for Blu-ray Disc media, with its major benefits including scratch guard, archival reliability to prevent data/image corruption and deterioration, stable writing that reduces fluctuation as the disc spins, and temperature durability to prevent warping during severe changes in temperature and humidity.

Sony's 50GB dual layer recordable disc has a suggested retail price of around $48. Sony didn’t release any information on when the rewritable disc will be available and what would be the retail price.