Panasonic claimed the distinction on Monday of being the first company to ship a BDXL rewritable disc. The three-layer, 100GB disc gives users as much as eight hours and 40 minutes of full-quality, 24Mbps 1080p video they can write many times. It should theoretically be tougher than most discs with a coating to guard against fingerprints and scratches.
It can serve initially as a data backup but will ultimately be useful for home users who want to record a miniseries or another long-form video without having to split it up into pieces.
Being first will carry a significant premium. The disc will arrive first in Japan on April 15 for about 10,000 yen, or the equivalent of $119. Loading the data will also require a BDXL-capable drive, although hardware from Pioneer and others is already on store shelves.
