Mini Blu-ray Discs Serve Up HD to Go

Verbatim will be the first to manufacture the discs in their miniature three-inch form factor, which will hold 7.5GB.

A Blu-ray’s disc’s full 50GB capacity may be rarely used for movie releases, but the density of data that can be packed onto the discs means that smaller incarnations can still store useful amounts of data. Verbatim launched the very first Mini Blu-ray Recordable/Rewritable discs on Thursday, which measure only three inches across but can carry 7.5GB of data.

That translates to about an hour’s worth of 1920×1081i high-def video, or two hours if the lower resolution 1440×1080i standard is used. When used in HD camcorders, that makes the discs comparable in video storage length to the VHS tapes of yesterday.

Although there currently aren’t any HD camcorders using Mini BD stateside, Hitachi has already released such a camcorder in Japan, where Verbatim’s discs will be launched first in August. Hitachi is bringing those camcorders to the U.S. in October; Verbatim plans to bring the Mini BD discs to North America at the same time.

The discs will feature the same proprietary hard coat as Verbatim’s larger discs, as well as a manufacturing process which the company claims guards against deterioration. Verbatim did not announced what the discs will cost when they reach the market.